These are neither the best cookbooks nor the most trendy. They are simply my personal favorites, books I’ve re-read over and over and dip into again and again. Often, a sentence I’ve written will jump back and remind me of … Continue reading
According to the research I’ve done, pastrami, my favorite cured meat in the world, developed from the Turkish pastirma or the Armenian basturma. Story goes that Jewish merchants supplied the spiced, air-dried meat to the Ottoman Empire, liked the idea, … Continue reading
Emboldened by last year’s success turning a couple of pounds of ripe peppers into homemade hot sauce, this year I told my farmer I wanted about 50 pounds. Took delivery of about 15 pounds last weekend and took some time … Continue reading
Sometimes it’s all about memory. After a weekend of seemingly endless stacking of wood, cooking various hot sauces, and cooking out of our out-of-control refrigerator, Monday night I wanted something comforting. Preferably nothing that looked like anything in our refrigerator. … Continue reading
My first encounter with homegrown meat was in my first year in grad school. I was living in Belchertown, about 15 miles from Amherst, in a sprawling old faramhouse in the center of town. Only one of my housemates was … Continue reading
A couple of months ago, my friend Julian Olf, a playwright, actor, director and former head of the Theater dept at UMass Amherst, stopped by to read me a monologue he was planning to act. An old man gives the … Continue reading
In New York this past weekend, I had a chance to try the Sabrett’s onion sauce on a dirty water dog. It was more tomato-y than I remembered, tasting like there was a shot of ketchup in it. The onions … Continue reading