Peach cobbler

July 20, 2011

almonds, biscuits, buttermilk, cobbler, nutmegs, peaches

[caption id="attachment_1361" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Peach cobbler with some blueberries."][/caption] You’ve got, what, another 4 - 6 weeks before peach season ends? I would strongly advise getting on this peach cobbler recipe ASAP. Normally I don’t like to make cobblers - or the related slumps, Betties, or Crumbles - because they’re not that satisfying from a cooking perspective. They taste good, but the presentation is lacking and there isn’t always a distinct separation of flavors or textures; it feels as if everything is put in one bowl, and you don’t get to experience different textures and flavors independently.

Electron pushers

July 20, 2011

computers, information, mcluhan

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Moving information"][/caption] Here’s one of the things Marshall McLuhan, writing in 1964, had to say about productivity in the modern age. "The main 'work to be done' is actually the movement of information. The mere interrelating of people by selected information is now the principal source of wealth in the electric age." A pretty prescient comment, right? This is in 1964, before a home PC was even seriously contemplated.

What does it mean to "do what comes naturally"?

July 17, 2011

I’ve spent a lot of time this summer trying to pin down once and for all (or perhaps just for once) what I might like to do for at least the next 5 - 10 years. I’m creative, I like making things, and I’m very interested in either starting the right company or in joining one. This is what I know. And I think I’m in a much more knowledgeable position now than I was even a year ago.

How to roll pasta dough with a rolling pin

July 16, 2011

dough, pasta, pasta machine, rolling pin

[caption id="attachment_1315" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Starting with a small piece of dough..."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1316" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Slightly bigger..."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1317" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Bigger..."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1318" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Bigger... it's not easy to tell but I'm rotating the dough at each step"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1319" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="About half the final size."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1320" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Nice, thin pasta dough."][/caption] When I decided to make this beet ravioli, I knew that I was also deciding to make pasta dough from scratch.

Catering 2

July 15, 2011

avocadoes, bananas, barbecue, blackberries, buttermilk, catering, chicken, chocolate, cilantro, condensed milk, cornbread, cornmeal, cream, cumin, dill, eggs, evaporated milk, flour, garlic, honey, ketchup, lemon, marshmallows, mayonnaise, milk, oil, onions, orange, oregano, parsley, pepper, potatoes, salt, strawberries, tomatoes, vinegar, worcester sauce

[caption id="attachment_1306" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="One of these days I need to learn how to work a grill."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1303" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Cornbread and (in the background) a couple of different types of salads. I made too much cornbread, but people were happy to take it home with them..."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1305" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Tres leches and strawberry country cakes."][/caption] Note: This is a followup to this post. A month or so ago, I wrote about some of the constraints I faced with catering a barbecue for 40 out of my tiny Philadelphia kitchen.

Better living through adjectives

July 14, 2011

peaches, writing

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="400" caption="What is it like to eat a peach?"][/caption] A while ago, in an attempt to learn how to write better, I bought this book: Will Write for Food, by Dianne Jacob. The book talks about all kinds of food writing, how to improve it, how to make a career out of it, and how to increase influence and readership. Useful book overall. I read the book pretty quickly and decided that I would naturally remember the bits that interested me, and I’d leave the rest for some other time.

Miniature carrot soufflés

July 14, 2011

arugula, carrots, eggs, parmesan, pudding, souffle, tomatoes

[caption id="attachment_1286" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Sitting in a bain-marie, waiting to be put in the oven. The batter is a mixture of carrots, milk, orange juice, eggs and other flavoring ingredients"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1294" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Served with a simple arugula salad with roasted tomatoes on the side."][/caption] I had a bunch of carrots left over from another recipe, and I also have been waiting to make another soufflé for quite a long time.

Thinking more about the open source business plan idea

July 10, 2011

entrepreneurship, open source, open source business plans

A week ago, I posted an entry about the idea of open-sourcing business plans. The basic theory would be to put a business plan up on the web, possibly in a Wikipedia-like format, and let people comment and edit on it. I have no idea whether this is a good use of time or not, but I like it for a few reasons: I can set it up cheaply and without too much time commitment (a couple days of setting up a server and putting some notes and other content in)

Virtual grocery shopping

July 8, 2011

physical cloud, shopping, supermarkets

Here’s a story from Design Boom about new “virtual grocery stores” that are opening in subway stations / on subway platforms in Korea. The way the grocery stores work is that they show images of grocery store aisles. When you see a product you like, you can scan a QR code (a fancy type of barcode) and it’s added to your shopping cart. When you’re done shopping, all the items you purchased are delivered to your home the next day.

Homemade beet ravioli

July 8, 2011

beets, poppyseeds, ravioli

[caption id="attachment_1237" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Preparing the filling of grated beets and ricotta."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1238" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="You put the filling on half of each dough round, and then fold it over."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_1239" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Cooked in butter and poppyseeds."][/caption] A couple of years ago, when I was first starting to cook, I tried to make some pasta and failed, perhaps not spectacularly, but thoroughly. I may have set my sights a bit too high - I began with the legendary uova da raviolo, which are giant ravioli with a whole egg yolk inside.