Cooking
Oh, Ovo-lacto Pescatarian!
I’ve pretty much been a lifelong omnivore with about three years of eating no mammals. (I used to love telling people that and they’re reaction would be, “But you’re eating chicken!”) Since then, I’ve rarely cooked pork or beef, substituting in ground turkey, turkey bacon or turkey sausage. Now, I see the writing on the … Continue reading
Dietary Adventurer
En route to my mother’s surprise birthday party, which happened a full two months after her real birthday, one of my cousins, who carpooled with us, was reading “The Plant Paradox.” Essentially, the premise of this diet is to eliminate, or at least seriously restrict, the amount of lectins in one’s food. Lectins are proteins, … Continue reading
Chips na Mayai
I cannot believe that it’s taken me this long to come up with this crowd-pleasing dish. The “crowd” being only myself at this point. I’d first had chips na mayai (fries and eggs) in Tanzania as a Peace Corps Volunteer. In that case, the thick-cut potatoes were fried in a deep skillet of grease and … Continue reading
Broccoli-Encrusted Cheese & Basil Pizza
I’ve not bought a pizza since I left my latest dead-end job, which used to feed us every college student’s favorite meal, despite the amount of money we collectively brought in. Yet, this recipe, using broccoli, cheese and spices as the crust was intriguing enough to prepare. I made a marinara sauce, using my blender, … Continue reading
Frybread
A few writers who have participated in my monthly spoken word and storytelling show, The Austin Writers Roulette, have written about frybread. Many different cultures around the world have their staple breads, but I’ve never tried any Native American bread before. Now that I’ve cooked up ethnic dishes for the past couple of weeks, I’ve … Continue reading
Liberian Rice Bread
As I read Madame President about Ellen Johnson Sirleaf becoming both Liberia’s and Africa’s first female president, I felt humbled, angry and intrigued. Humbled by all the creature comforts I’ve been born into and yet have the nerve to complain about the challenges I’ve faced, which pale in comparison to what Liberian woman have had to face. … Continue reading
It’s All about the Butter
“Life teaches you how to live it if you live long enough.” –Tony Bennett I’ve lived and traveled around the world as an international math and science teacher for 11 years, starting as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Tanzania straight out of college since I didn’t want to get a real job, then as an … Continue reading
Pill Making
Once I finally tired of putting turmeric in every smoothie to help remedy joint inflammation, I ordered a 1000 empty gel capsules to fill with the spice. I’m not quite sure why this size was considered “0,” but I was happy they weren’t “horse pill” sized. I’m not used to referring to nonelectrical devices as … Continue reading
Ham & Cheese Casserole
Lots of people fret about what to do about all those Thanksgiving leftovers. Talk about your first-world problems! Not me. Ever since I went through a strange time last year, where I obsessed about food since my grocery budget was $30/wk, I’m joyous every day I have food in the house. I was gifted a … Continue reading
Mom’s Potato Salad
I signed up to bring potato salad for a cooking meetup group. I was weary about this particular dish since it was based on my mother’s recipe. My mother is a wonderful cook, which is somewhat of a disadvantage for me. In the past, I’d tried to get recipes out of her. The most successful had … Continue reading