I brought a bottle of vermouth back from Spain and waited to open it until oranges were at their peak flavor, because what you do is pour it over ice and garnish with orange peels and olives. I added a dash of orange bitters. A true aperitif, vermouth is what you drink first. Vermouth is…

Spicy risotto with tomatoes, which we received as a gift. It was cold enough to be Minnesota outside and I came home really wanting soup, but we had no ingredients and I was running out of ideas. All you do is cook onions in butter, then open the bag and add the rice mixture, stirring…

Grocery store steak sauce, made with something called “natural flavor (contains soy).” I thought I could taste lime along with cinnamon, but neither are among the ingredients. Rather, along with tomatoes and vinegar, there is molasses, tamarind, and grated horseradish roots (and HFCS). To me it tastes like Australia, or at least it’s my culinary…

Roast chicken. I rarely cook this successfully, and I think it’s because food safety is the top priority when it comes to chicken even if taste goes out the window. And to cook it evenly, it’s also advisable to let the chicken rest on the counter until it gets to room temperature, but this step…

Three-fourths ounces each of gin, green Chartreuse, maraschino liqueur, and lime juice, shaken and strained into a martini glass. It’s called The Last Word and the ingredients were a Christmas present from friends. (Photo: San Juan, Puerto Rico, 2012.) >> January 11 << January 9

Granola bars. I spent the day in a meeting at a nonprofit and had skipped eating breakfast because I’d assumed they would at least have muffins. They did not have any muffins. Sometimes there’s a romance in social services organizations that meet in windowless conference rooms or church basements and won’t splurge on any extras….

Lamb burgers. I used dried mint and dried thyme, although I could have picked some of the latter from my herb garden, where the parsley finally died but the rosemary and thyme are still going strong. I soaked the frozen bread crumbs in water, though I’m not sure if I should have, and made the…

Loosemeat sandwich. This variation calls for mixing ground beef with five tablespoons of sriracha. Then you add one egg, half an onion, three garlic gloves, and an eighth-tablespoon of soy sauce, stirring it all together and cooking it all at once. I served it with corn tortillas instead of hamburger buns, which I can recommend….

This was my dream. We were hosting a dinner party, except we lived in a campsite in the woods, in a tent. The hour of the event arrived and I realized we didn’t have any ingredients, such as yeast to cook the pizza dough. Waking up disoriented and perhaps concerned for the welfare of our…

I will tell you a story. After work I took the skyway passage from the metro station and walked through a parking garage to the mall. Then after I’d walked the length of the mall I realized I’d forgotten a coupon from home, so I went to another parking garage where we’d left our car,…

Vietnamese spaghetti bolognese. You need six garlic, and even though peeling garlic is annoying (to me) it’s worth it for the flavor you get. Cook ground pork with a tablespoon each of sugar and Vietnamese fish sauce (nước mắm). Set the pork aside and cook the garlic with half an onion, followed by a can…

Brussels sprouts in garlic-flavored oil. In restaurants brussels sprouts are usually cooked with bacon or at least a lot of butter, and I didn’t know how I could possibly match the excitement. I didn’t have bacon and I used olive oil, and they ended up tasting more like cabbage, their cousin, rather than a substitute…