Author Archives: Ol' Mick
Can Thanksgiving be exciting?
The Thanksgiving food ads started some weeks ago, and in newspaper food sections, magazine articles and the various TV cooking shows, we’re urged to try something different. Maybe an Asian twist, or an Hispanic taste. Couldn’t hurt to make an all-vegan meal this year, right? Hah! Not likely. There are two meals that are sacrosanct […]
More Fall Food!
I liked Janine’s Beef Bourguignon recipe (see her post); I’ll add to the fall food idea. Biscuit gets excited when fall rolls in; she says it’s her favorite time of year, and she doesn’t even like football that much. The other night was our turn to host our little movie group, so, of course, it […]
You’re on an island….deal with it
I’m slow in writing, but I’ve been affected with island lassitude. This summer, we rented a home on San Juan Island. Ours overlooks San Juan Strait, with lots of fishing boats, various ferries, big and little yachts, stunningly beautiful sunrises, sunny days and then gorgeous sunsets bouncing off Orca and Jones Islands to […]
Tomatoes already?
I kind of went crazy at the farmer’s market the other day and bought too many tomatoes. I was anxious to try first really good ones of the year that are tasty. I take a slice of good bread, cover it with mayo, sprinkle dill and slice the tomatoes on it. I can eat way too […]
Always room for herbs
Couple of issues back, Bon Appétit had their cover photo of pasta with a parsley pesto. I was reminded of how tasty a simple pasta dish is with just one or two good herb flavors. A few years ago, I looked at our patio, which is just off our kitchen, and decided we should have […]
Murder and Gourmet Food?
When I was a kid growing up in Wyoming, long winters encouraged outdoor sports: skiing, ice-skating and snow-camping, but at night, sometimes eschewing homework, I’d read voraciously. One of my favorite childhood authors was Rex Stout, who wrote at least 50 or more Nero Wolfe novels and/or short stories. Between 1934 and 1974, he wrote […]
Strawberries! Raspberries! Blackberries! Oh My!
OK, so it’s the time of year for the obligatory fresh fruit blog post. And you’d have to be totally gastronomically clueless not to know we live in Berry Heaven. Sure, nowadays, you can get, year-round, strawberries from California, raspberries from Chile and blackberries from Mexico. But it’s when Pacific Northwest fruit floods the markets […]
The Conqueror’s Diet
One of the best books on food I’ve read doesn’t have a single recipe. It’s Jared Diamond’s Guns, Germs and Steel. You’ve probably already read it; it was first published in 1997, and I’ve picked it up a couple of times since. This isn’t a book review, but initially, Diamond had me when he referred […]
Pac NW bests: Salmon!
Saturday, fishing for spring salmon reopened, and I caught a nice 21 lb. hen Chinook. I went with one of my fishing buddies, Custus, to our secret spot on the Columbia and used our secret lures. We hooked four but were able to bring just the one to the net, so the two of us […]
Cooking life begins…..
OK, full disclosure. My mother was a terrible cook. She married young, lived with her mother during WWII, and was busy giving birth to two children. So after the war, when our young family moved out west, she apparently took few cookbooks with her. At the same time, the aluminum industry was searching, searching for […]