I made chicken soup, using whatever spare vegetables I could find. On the other side of the window was the ongoing soundtrack of sub-20 degree winds. I spilled some of a gin and tonic into my soup, but this did not seem to hurt anything. In fact, the alcohol and juniper flavors may have even…

Coffee, from Kefa Cafe in Silver Spring. It was a blend that included coffee beans from Brazil and Sumatra, but to my unpracticed palate what dominated was the taste and texture of Ethiopian coffee. A quick search finds that “winey and fruity” are common words used to describe it, and I thought I could taste…

The weather has shifted to a phase where it is not only cold, but creatively unpleasant outside. To evade the wind storms and ice storms, I usually stay indoors this time of year and move from one routine activity to the next, from my house to the Metro to the office and back without feeling…

Stir-fried frozen broccoli with tofu. I used some dried Thai basil from my garden to add an exotic garnish to what would otherwise be a rather depressing meal with college dorm associations. The Thai basil gives you the flavor of the unexpected and breaks any taste habits you might have acquired from Western cooking. I was…

Clementine almond cake, from Jerusalem by Ottolenghi and Tamimi. I always get compliments for this one, and with good reason. When you bite into it, the taste of an almond confection is followed by a rush of clementine juice. You can probably find the recipe online, but I’m not going to copy it here because…

Beef stew. The landscape outside was gray, not too cold, no wind, inert, with nothing happening of consequence. I didn’t leave the house until late afternoon when I walked to the garden to pick up some thyme, which had survived the snow. I used chianti for the broth, and I don’t know if that’s an…

Mussels. There’s a sensual aspect to their preparation, like you’re picking up seashells. There’s the percussion you hear as they slide together or when you tap a live mussel on the table so it closes. All I did was steam them in a pan of Verdejo white wine, adding a little garlic. For better results,…

Vermicelli noodles in chile peanut sauce, at Baan Thai. For some time it had been puzzlingly easy to get a table there considering how good the food is, but our luck finally ran out. There was probably some brand identity confusion left over from the restaurant’s previous name, Tsunami Sushi, and also because it’s on…

If I had to name my ideal bowl of something, during the winter I would describe it as “some kind grain, smothered in tomato sauce.” It could be a stew of pearl couscous and vegetables. It could be a lamb ragu. It could be mole rojo with chicken and rice. But it will probably be…

I made cinnamon spice muffins, using a pre-made muffin mix our friends gave us for Christmas with some blueberry and peach preserves. They could not have tasted better. Then I watched the Seinfeld episode where Jerry convinces a struggling local restaurant owner to start serving Pakistani food instead of standard American dishes. The new menu…

Peanut butter snickers, from the convenience store next to my office. There aren’t many snack food options nearby and if you get hungry late in the day, the choices are leftover food from the Asian buffet place, or there’s Subway (their cookies aren’t bad), and then there is buying candy. I’ve lamented for some time…

I want to speak for a moment about the ideal coffee cake. I don’t claim to know how to bake the ideal, but it should taste like a block of honey, solidified and transformed into bread. That isn’t to say you necessarily use honey in the recipe, and yet the final product should taste like…