#1 tuna salad

David Letterman's Top Ten Lists; Top Ten [fill in the blank] from High Fidelity; the tip lists from the Happiness Project... I don't know what it is about lists but if I see a headline with a number like "11 speedy ways to get ready for summer" I cannot stop myself from reading it.


My inspiration for this mayo-less tuna salad came from yet another list: #5 of "101 Simple Appetizers in 20 Minutes or Less" (with a bonus number component--time!).

Trying to use up: over-ripe bananas

Confession: I don't like bananas. I know, what the hell is wrong with me? It's just that I have to be in the right mood for a banana, and then when I am, I like ripe bananas, so ripe they're peppered with spots. But markets don't sell them like this. So sometimes I'll buy under-ripe bananas, hoping that I'll be ready to eat them when they are perfectly ripe.


This was the case recently, and I managed to eat two bananas before I got sick of them. I still had three bananas left. I could see them getting more and more brown, beyond ripe-ness, bordering on rotten. Suddenly it was trash day and I thought, I can throw these out (but what about the starving children?!) or do something with them.

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!?