Trying to use up: half-and-half

Cran-walnut scones
Every time I go home to visit my parents, I am astounded by how much random food they've accumulated in their fridge and pantry, especially considering it's just the two of them. (I blame Costco.) A couple of Christmases ago, I had gone home and noticed several large bags of dried fruit, all opened and partially eaten. There was a bag of blueberries, cranberries, and another with mixed berries. (Yup, Costco.) All these years of living in New York has forced me to be very efficient with space, and to use what I have on hand before I get anything else. Seeing all that dried fruit made me a little crazy and I swore I'd use it all up before I left. So that winter, I made about four or five batches of Alton Brown's scones--and still did not manage to use up that dried fruit!


Pastry-cutter--one of the best kitchen-gadget investments I've made. Unlike the lemon-juicer shaped like a bird. Don't buy one, no matter how cute it looks.

I had a little bit more success this time around when trying to use up some half-and-half. Who buys half-and-half? I do, just to put a little in my coffee, which I only make on the weekends. Not very efficient of me. For some reason, half-and-half does not go bad as quickly as milk does (I have never bothered to look into why, and am almost scared to know), which is why I sometimes buy it. But then I am often left with at least a cup with the expiration date looming. Which is when I resort to making something like quiche, or in this case, scones.

I heart garlic

Especially when it flavors my olive oil.


A couple of years ago, in an experiment to 'preserve' basil, I bought a ginormous vat of olive oil. Once finished with the preserving, I had plenty of olive oil left in a most inconvenient container (a 'splash' inevitably became a glug). So I bought a small bottle with one of those little pour-spout things and kept it by the stove for easy access. And then one day I added some garlic.

I wish I was smart enough to think of this

From Gourmet.com's Test Kitchen:



Ingenius. My issue with making tomato sauce using fresh tomatoes is primarily the hassle of crushing tomatoes, but now I have no excuse. I cannot wait for prime tomato season.

Rocket pasta

Continuing my transition to summer foods, here's a really simple pasta dish with some arugula I bought at the farmer's market over the weekend. (I love making meals based on my bounty from the farmer's market.) Did you know that arugula is called 'rocket' by the British? I have a couple of cookbooks, which were originally published in England, that have some recipes using rocket. I had no idea what rocket was, I thought it was a type of fish, despite there being no fish in the recipes. They also call eggplant 'aubergine' which is an infinitely prettier name than eggplant. Although I do not advocate for calling it 'aubergine' unless you grew up doing so.

The transition

Asian noodle salad
There's always that time of year when I put away my heavy sweaters, coats and flannel sheets and take out my shorts and skirts from storage. Just as I do with clothing, I change my diet--I start drinking iced coffee instead of hot, and crave salads instead of stews. It's a little bit like flipping a switch--one day it's a spicy Asian noodle soup, the next a cold Asian noodle salad.


I found this recipe a while ago while searching for uses for cilantro. A quick Google search turned up this food blog, the first I've ever read. It was very entertaining and led me to one of my favorite meals ever. And how could you resist a recipe called My Favorite Salad Ever. Ever, Ever, Ever!?

Second chance at raab

If there is a theme to this blog, it might be 'second chances.' There are foods that, on the first try, I loved. I'm not talking about foods I grew up eating but stuff I discovered later in life (post high school), like Thai and Vietnamese food, kale, polenta, steel-cut oats, chana masala. Then there are some that I didn't like at first but am so glad I tried again, because now I love them: goat cheese, cilantro, beets... and broccoli rabe (or raab, I've seen it spelled both ways).

The first time I ate broccoli rabe, I thought I would like it because it's a gorgeous, green veggie (one of my favorite types of food) but I was unprepared for the unusual, bitter taste. I thought I was eating something that had gone bad. And I said so.

'Ew, I think this went bad,' I said to my cousins, who I had joined for dinner.