This ginger syrup is a favorite for me. It makes the best ginger ale. It’s sweet and spicy and complex. I used to imagine ginger ale was one of those mysterious beverages that required a lab or a factory or complicated equipment to produce. (I used to feel the same way about tonic.) It turns …
Recipe
Orgeat is a funny word. I remember seeing it for the first time in a row of bottles of flavored syrups available to add to lattes and cappuccinos and Italian sodas at an independent coffee shop in the 90s, the kind of place that had lumpy couches and open-mic nights and a patina of patchouli-scented dinge. …
When I get overwhelmed by things beyond my control, I distract myself by turning my attention to the simple and the routine. Exercising, walking the dog around the neighborhood, cooking the kind of nourishing meals that I know so well I can make them without thinking. Which brings me to this cabbage. Cabbage. It’s such …
Cookies. You wanted cookies. Cookies with milk chocolate and semisweet chocolate and butterscotch chips. Cookies that are generous with butter and vanilla and salt. Cookies made with three kinds of sugar to make them chewy and crisp with a hint of caramel and molasses notes lingering in the background. Or maybe that’s just me. (I …
I woke up this morning to discover that the United Kingdom has voted to leave the European Union. It’s a shocking result, that leaves me feeling like the whole world has gone utterly mad. Even as an American, I’ve been able to enjoy the benefits of open borders between EU countries in my travels and …
I recently watched the first episode of the new season of Netflix’s excellent documentary series Chef’s Table. It focused on Grant Achatz, the highly acclaimed chef behind Chicago’s own Alinea, Next, The Aviary, and Roister. It was a compelling episode, in part because it is so satisfying to watch a person doing what he so clearly should be …