i hope you eat good food, grow beautiful things, and have more love than you know what to do with.
I have been getting cabbages in my produce box lately, and while I do like cabbage in other applications (like crispy tasty fried kaki-age), here is a really simply way to use up cabbage. The winter cabbage is naturally sweet and crispy, perfect for breakfast …
If you find yourself with an abundance of leftover, semi-stale shokupan and wondering what to do with it, I highly recommend an Italian bread salad. This east meets west fusion recipe is a perfect breakfast if you crack an egg over it, or for a …
After a harrowing incubation and hatching period, eleven cute, fluffy little celadon quail are now growing happily in a brooder in my mud room. My hognose snake, the dashing Mrs. Pigworm who was the original inhabitant of the makeshift brooder, is now relegated to a small tank while she brumates for the winter, which is sort of like hibernation lite. By the time spring rolls around, the quail will have outgrown the container and moved to their outdoor coop, and Pigworm will return to her abode, none the wiser.
This batch of quail is of particular interest to me, since it will be the start of a long term quail keeping project. Earlier this year I made the tough decision to pivot away from muscovy keeping due to circumstances beyond my control (read: eagles.) These tiny birds are carriers of the Celadon gene, which makes them lay blue eggs instead of the normal beige speckled. There seems to be a few problems with this gene, in particular some seem to have feet and size issues, and indeed I lost a few hatchlings, far more than I normally do with quail. I have one that, while it has survived thus far, has a deformed leg which may cause it problems down the line, but I always like to give them a chance. Update: The one with the bad leg didn’t make it.
The baby quail are hilarious creatures, spending their time running from under the heater to the food to the water at a dizzying pace, and falling asleep just as quickly when they’ve had their fill. They also chirp their tiny hearts out, quite often to summon me from another room. Surprisingly, despite their small size, they aren’t afraid of me and will jostle one another for the chance to sit in my cupped hand,
I continuously marvel at their antics, and find myself wiling away the day watching them and their little squabbles and drama. For such little things, barely a day or so old, they’re already sizing one another up, displaying dominance behavior, and even starting to scrap. I worry about the day they hit puberty because I’m sure there will be injuries. Funnier still is when I play video of other quail in their vicinity, since they all come running intent to start a gang war with no fear in their eyes.
They grow fast, and I swear they nearly double each day which is quite alarming. Their colors will also change, although I am excited about the rainbow of colors that came out of this batch. I like them very much and already have plans to expand this program once I get everything settled.
I know I don’t usually write actual blog posts about what’s going on in my life, but I got back into drawing and wanted to do some illustrations—the quail being a perfect excuse to draw cute things.
You got chicks coming in, either by mail or eggs in the incubator, and you want to know which heating option is the best for your fluffy and adorable new arrivals. You know there are a few types out there, but what are the actual …
I love scrapple, which is made from the leftover “scraps” of pork which often means the headmeat and organs. I first had it a few years ago, during a trip to Atlantic City, where it caught my eye on an unassuming diner breakfast menu. I …
I’m going to preface this by saying that unless you have a lot of time and nothing else to do, don’t do this. You can easily make a deconstructed one where you just pile the tebasaki (Japanese style fried chicken wings) high with melted cheese, corn, kimchi, etc. and glaze and be a happy and whole human being. If you happen to be insane like me, then by all means spend your time removing the two wing bones from a bunch of raw chicken wings, cursing your wretched existence.
This is a recipe inspired by a little hole in the wall restaurant in Flushing, NY called Debasaki, that only opened at night, filled with Korean/Japanese bar food like curry with mozzarella cheese, kimchi fried rice, lots of shochu, and of course, stuffed fried chicken wings. In college, I would go with friends after a night out, and after I got married and still lived in the area, Adam and I would satisfy late night chicken cravings by going there.
Of course, now that I’ve moved, it’s been several years since I last tasted these crispy, juicy, cheesy wings, but it’s always been in the back of my head to make this.
There are many tutorials on the internet about how to debone a chicken wing. I’m not here to teach you that portion (unless you have no other choice, in which case it is a matter of separating the wingettes from the mini drumsticks, then using a knife or scissors, separating the two bones where they are connected at the end where you just separated it from the mini drumstick, separating the tendons from the bones on that end, and then twisting and pulling each bone until they slide out.) My only tip is, grip it firmly, and twist hard. The raw chicken wing can take a bit of roughing up before falling apart.
The tebasaki of my yesteryears were stuffed with 1. corn and cheese, 2. kimchi and cheese 3. vegetables (carrots and scallions… if I remembered correctly) and cheese but actually… you can probably do whatever. I’m not here to stop you. If you don’t have kimchi, sriracha or gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) and cheese are fine substitutes. The soy glaze is a delicious Asian style tangy garlic glaze, perfect for the crispy skin to soak up.
You can definitely fry this in the air fryer if you prefer it to be lighter. Serve it with shredded cabbage and thousand island sauce.
I make no apologies for this monstrosity, since in the words of my husband, “It’s glorious.” East meets West in this dish, which is a re-imagining of a meal my sister and I would make during middle and high school when we got home after …
Another recipe out of my childhood, this is one of my (and my dad’s) favorite dishes. My mom told me when she and my dad first married, she knew how much he liked steamed egg, but because of the lack of the internet (recipes were …
When we were young, every winter my dad would get tickets to the annual Feast With Famous Faces, which was a charity event orchestrated by the not-for-profit League of Hard of Hearing which one of his friends was a part of. This event had restaurants from all over New York City showcasing their specialty dishes, with a cute gift bag at the end of the night that contained new products for attendees to try. This was the event of the year for me, and my love of food only intensified thanks to this.
Amongst monk fish liver pâté over crackers, yellowtail tartare, miniature creme brûlée, steak carpaccio, and all sorts of goodies that my sister and I would flit from table to table sampling for while my parents conversed with their friends, was a dish I had never forgotten—a simple creamy polenta with beef ragu. I have to confess I don’t remember which restaurant made it but I still remember how it tasted: smooth, soft, and not at all heavy like the polenta I would later come to be familiar with. It was almost porridge like in consistency. What I also remember is that I went back for thirds on that one!
I’ve always tried recreating it and have still not gotten anywhere near the polenta in my memory, despite my mother’s insistence (she is quite fond of polenta too) that it is already extremely delicious. Perhaps I never will reach that summit, or maybe the event itself made it extra memorable, but I have gotten close enough that a bowl of it brings a smile to my face. Fork tender short rib ragu makes for a wonderful topping, or meatballs and marinara, or some roasted veggies, especially on a cold winter’s day.
I pre-soak the polenta because otherwise it really just takes too long. Some people blend it a couple of times in the food processor as well, to make the pieces smaller. These two processes also make it extra soft which is what I’m after. Instead of pure stock, I add a dash of cream as well. This is not a terribly good recipe if you are looking to fry your polenta the next day (which is quite delicious), as it will fall apart quite easily, but it is a recipe that is absolutely made for leftovers and a good movie.
This is a super simple dish, and to be honest, my selfish reason for blogging it down is because the recipe is from my mom (and grandmother) so it is a taste of home and my childhood for those days that I’m missing it, rather …