Archive for February 2012

Last night, we had our 42nd meeting of Mag Club. Or something close to it – we’ve been meeting almost monthly for three and a half years!

Phoebe wrote about these Crispy Pimenton Chickpeas with Spanish Rice and Mag Club’s recent predilection for bean dishes. It’s not all that surprising that beans appear often, considering we do try to keep things vegetarian. But you don’t really want to be feasting from a buffet full only of beans on a regular basis, even if some are in hummus form, others part of…

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It’s funny how in the last month, Pinterest has captured the attention of reporters, who have analyzed and unpacked it from all different angles. Funny in part because the people I know went through the angst and the confusion about the visual social media network (or whatever you want to call it) many moons ago, back when we joined in August.

It’s not that I’m a super techie early adopter types. It’s just that Pinterest and I had a bunch of mutual friends. Sarah, one of my best friends from high school, blogs over at the beautiful…

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Roasted Carrot Red Curry Soup • Coconut Vegetable Rice Pilaf • Sweet and Sour Cabbage Salad

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I love a good salad, but I haven’t always: a forkful of greens used to give me the chills! In my youth, I discovered that if each bite of salad were paired with a bite of something with a less leafy texture, it was much easier for me not just to get my salad down but to enjoy it. That non-leafy addition? Cheese, avocado, crunchy raw vegetables, rich roasted vegetables, croutons, or even plain grilled chicken.

Even now, I prefer a salad with toppings to one that’s just greens. And these are some of my favorite salad toppers: choose…

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Creamy polenta has always seemed like a rather daunting dish to serve a crowd of guests. It takes longer to cook than one would imagine, and in my experience, it can transform from a soft, pillowy cushion into a rubbery, coarse brick in seconds. Because of this, I’ve always intentionally gone for the brick version for dinner parties.

Recently, I came across this Bittman article and discovered a different way of preparing polenta. Instead of pouring the cornmeal into boiling water in a steady stream and whisking furiously to prevent any lumps from forming, you…

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Alex and I started The Wire on hurricane weekend (that’s August 27-28 for those of you not on the East Coast). We were glued to the TV for at least an hour a night, sometimes more, til December. We watched the last episode not long before Christmas. I was heartbroken (spoiler alert!) at the unresolved trouble that had befallen 98% of The Wire‘s characters. But I am not unhappy to be unglued.

Full disclosure. I’m not a TV person, not even necessarily for the Oscars or the Super Bowl. I grew up under an iron rule:…

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Phoebe will be hanging with the Buckeyes this weekend, teaching a class on cheap dinners from the book Friday night, the 24th, followed by an author talk in the Ohio State Union Traditions room at 7pm. All OSU BGSK fans are encouraged to join the fun!

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SEE ALL OUR QUICKBREADS, MUFFINS, AND SCONES!

If you scroll just a little bit back in our archives, you’ll see that between the two of us, we’ve been taking an awful lot of inspiration from Heidi of 101 Cookbooks.

I’m not going to make any generalizations about why, beyond to say that Heidi’s cooking is original and, well, inspiring. Any explanation of the phenomenon would distract me from showing you why this bread, which I call Oatmeal Quickbread with Walnuts and Heidi names “Easy Little Bread,” is so…

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Eggplant Caponata Crostini • Mushy Pea Crostini • One-in-the-Pot-One-on-the-Floor Lobster Rolls • Pesto-Potato Focaccia • Atlanta Oven-Baked Ribs • Slumdog Samosas • And-Then-I-Blackmailed-Him-for-Almost-$60,000 Pass the [Puff Pastry-Wrapped] Asparagus • To-Infinity-and-Beyond! Chicken Finger Rockets • You-Never-Know-What-You’re-Gonna-Get Chocolate Bark

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One of the foodie new year’s resolutions I suggested for 2012 was that we all make more pancakes. Pancakes was really just a stand-in for any slightly involved, completely delicious breakfast treat. And I didn’t suggest it so we’d all enter 2013 all chubby from eating coffee cake instead of yogurt every morning (I have a wedding dress to wear in late 2012–remember?). On weekends, I like to make pancakes for Alex or cake and baked eggs for friends I’ve invited for brunch. It’s fun to spend longer in the kitchen than the time it takes to…

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