365 Days of Food

We had things to discuss, which was too bad, because normally I dislike discussing things, and when I don’t like what I’m doing I’m also unwilling to cook. So we went to the local Ethiopian restaurant called Erta Ale (named for an active volcano) and tried fish cut into cubes in a tomato and jalapeño…

It’s not often that I’m in the mood to cook anything when I get home at night, and usually it’s a safer bet that I’ll feel like watching a reality show and going to bed. Sometimes I cook anyway, and sometimes the routine of preparing food takes away the stress of the day’s activities and…

It’s an assembly line of comfort food at El Pollo Rico, the local charcoal broiled chicken place, where your ears ring as you watch them slice the chicken in half and the butcher’s knife slams on the counter. You get sides of rice, beans, coleslaw, or fries, and two sauces: a yellow sauce (which tastes…

We were looking for a bar to watch UVA lose its chance to make the Final Four, and this being Easter, the neighborhood Irish pub was closed. A new place, called Unplugged, is a sports bar with a divey interior that plays a mix of reggaeton, classic rock hits, and out-of-nowhere choices like a DJ…

A spring morning when the haze of buds on the trees greeted us out the window and my daffodils were opening up like Easter eggs. So of course this was the day I would be stuck inside catching up on chores. I took a break later and made devil’s food cake, and then I plucked…

I wandered over to the Tidal Basin after work. Most people know the cherry trees are there; what many do not know is that it smells like the sea. It’s at the point where the Potomac becomes tidal and the salinity of the water increases, and the waves lap at the shore as you look…

Domino’s Pizza. The crust still feels like sand on the bottom and it still tastes like melted cheese, dipped in salt. There are two periods of my life for which I have strong associations with Domino’s. The second period is from when I was working on the college newspaper, and every week, around midnight, we’d…

I still had more strawberries left, so I made a strawberry-walnut quick bread. It takes five minutes to prepare, and your reward is an elegant breakfast or hearty dessert that tastes like a cheese plate filled up with nuts and jam. I had never understood how it is that store-bought banana bread or zucchini bread…

A strawberry foldover pancake: I found a bag of strawberries at the bottom of the freezer. I made the batter using mostly egg whites and a little flour, then poured it into an omelet pan and cooked it on the stove until the sides were set, finishing it in the oven. I folded the completed…

Smoked paprika ketchup, with cloves added. It was made at a farm in Pennsylvania (a lot of the meat and produce I buy comes from a farmer’s market and ultimately from the area around Gettysburg). We were cooking a steak and the dog, who we were watching for a few days, seemed indifferent when I…

I made lamb chops. Since a four-year-old was coming over for dinner, I also made pasta. This led me to conclude I should make a pasta sauce that also goes well on top of lamb, so I sautéed carrots and onions in olive oil, added canned tomato sauce, and used Spanish pimentón dulce to mask…

Butternut squash risotto. This is one of my fall and winter staples, and it’s probably the last time I’ll make it until November. I cook the squash (or whatever the vegetable might be) in the oven until it’s five minutes away from being done. Meantime, I heat up a bowl of chicken broth infused with…