There are days when all I want to eat are crispy chicken tenders. And maybe some french fries. (Though crispy roasted potatoes will work, too.) And I’ll be honest that is pretty much every day. It’s not that I don’t love a broad range of cuisines, from Sichuan fish-fragrant eggplant to Mediterranean baked sweet potatoes …
Main course
It is officially spring. But official spring never feels like the spring that exists in my imagination. The mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful spring with green shoots and sun peaking through rain and warm breezes and new beginnings. Official spring in Chicago is something altogether different. It is one day in a series of false starts. It is …
January has been a month of getting back into the ordinary and the routine. Since we packed up our old apartment, moved into our new condo in October, travelled to both ends of the country in November, and enjoyed the usual rumble of holiday frivolity in December and the beginning of the new year, we …
For much of my life, I was largely indifferent to cauliflower. It was something I might pick from a veggie tray if the carrots and cucumbers were gone. Raw, it was Bunnicula’s broccoli, sort of crunchy and faintly bitter. It was, I guess, okay. I felt similarly about steamed cauliflower. It was milder and softer. It was fine. …
Now that it’s fall, can we talk about butternut squash for a minute? I love its flavor, but I have to confess that I find it to be kind of a pain to break down. It’s such an awkward shape to cut, and I’m short enough that it’s difficult for me to get good leverage …
Eggplant is a fickle fruit. It is technically a fruit and not a vegetable, despite its savory leanings. Its flavor can be unpleasantly bitter. Its texture can be too chewy or too mushy if it is over or under cooked. It can act like a sponge when it’s in a pan with oil, becoming heavy …