Love Letter to my Book Club
Dear Friends, I admit, I was absent Thursday night for reasons beyond my control and circumstances within my control. Having worked a health fair that afternoon, I raced homeward at 5:45 only to find myself stuck between W. Parmer Ln and the Office Space-esque start/stop cattle drive that is southbound Mopac. At 6:50 I pulled into my driveway and set about flash-frying shallots with Kitchen Pride mushrooms – shitake and baby bella. Snipped a few fresh herbs from garden, then drizzled Texas Olive Ranch olive oil atop the pretty pile as I toasted half a baguette. I went to my computer to look up the address at which I was already overdue at that point, and si

Val’s Cake (Finally!)
All right, all right. Without further adieu, here are some shots of the cake I made for Val and Fede. Lightsey Farm peaches with organic vanilla-bean buttercream and a touch of peach brandy: Applause for the new Norises! So, Val is Argentine and Fede is Italian. There is this incredible cake-related tradition in Argentina I had never heard of before, and I thought I knew all the cake lore! Instead of a bouquet toss, all the single ladies (all the single ladies) gather &#

Back on a Bike
It’s high time for a sunny, rosy post on things. So here you go. What a truly fantastic Halloween we had. Folks were out in full effect with some of the most creative (even for Austin) costumes I’ve ever seen. The Zombie Ball was pretty cool and then the evening got even weirder when we headed across the street to Justine’s and ran into Dai Due + Duplechan crew enjoying a post-Cathedral of Junk dinner, dressed as USDA inspectors. I tol’ Tamara it was the best costume idea EVER. Unfortunately Justine’s was out of duck confit so we ate some cheese and bread. Eh. Then, back outside, we hopped a

Ground Beef Takes Another Life
The Times published this Cargill-damning story a few days ago, set against the narrative of a 22-year old woman whose bout with E. coli-tainted beef paralyzed her for life. Likening the U.S. beef industry to roulette, the writer takes us on a tour of the reasons industrially farmed beef is such an unsound product. One of the best passages follows: Ground beef is usually not simply a chunk of meat run through a grinder. Instead, records and interviews show, a single portion of hamburger meat is often an amalgam of various grades of meat from different parts of cows

Pleased to Meet You; Hope You Guess My Name
But what’s puzzlin’ you is the nature of my game. I was deeply disappointed to see McDonalds among the list of restaurants for the Go Texan Restaurant Roundup this past week. It is in such poor taste on so many levels that I’ve chosen to boycott the event altogether. In visiting the website, one can read that to qualify, establishments must be located in Texas and serve Texas products. “