Posted in appetizer, bacon, brains, bread, breadcrumbs, Castilla-La Mancha, Castillano, castille, cheap meal, Chorizo, cumin, easy, Garlic, hearty, manchego, offal, peppers, pigs, racione, Restaurant Review, Spain, Spanish, tourism, tradition, travel, trotter, unhealthy on Feb 16th, 2016
“The pen is the tongue of the mind.” – Don Quixote de La Mancha I have been told that the Inuit have more than 30 words for snow and a similar number of descriptors for the myriad tones of white, blue and grey that color their environment. If desert-dwelling Arabs had a similarly nuanced vocabulary […]
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Posted in America, appetizer, cheap meal, chives, easy, lower fat, peppers, Philadelphia, pistachios, restaurant, shrimp, soup, Spain, tomato, vegetables, vinegar on Aug 13th, 2014
The longer we live, the more we understand that our lives, especially now that we have two children, are about compromises. These are often in the form of compromising what we want to do, more or less completely, because our children are either unwilling or unable to do it. Recently though, a new kind of […]
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Posted in America, appetizer, cheese, Chorizo, easy, feta, Olive Oil, Spain, Uncategorized, winter on Mar 3rd, 2014
While awake in the middle of the night, hoping like hell one’s infant will go back to sleep soon, one experiences a range of emotions, including, but not limited to, joy, frustration, fatigue, anger, sadness, despair and, with any luck, relief. And, as one sits rocking away or pacing incessantly in the inky blackness of […]
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Posted in bisto, British, butter, easy, egg, England, entertainment, flour, Garlic, gravy, kale, milk, mushy peas, onions, Recipe, Recipes, sausage, toad in the hole, tradition on Dec 3rd, 2012
In his rather witty book, French Lessons, Peter Mayle attends the annual Fete de Grenouilles (Festival of Frogs-Legs) in Vittel, France, and describes an episode at the festival banquet in which an attendee, elbow deep in amphibian thighs, tells him that if he thinks eating frogs is unusual, she had heard of an even more […]
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Posted in alcohol, baking, British, butter, Christmas, culture, custard, Delia Smith, dessert, easy, England, festival, festivals, fruit, history, holiday, holidays, nuts, spices, tradition, winter on Jan 2nd, 2012
Most Brits associate mincemeat with Christmas – its intoxicating mix of fruit, spices, booze, nuts and mixed peel provide Pavlovian stimuli, stirring memories of cherubic choirs a-caroling, roasted poultry, and the Queen’s speech – whereas I associate it with Easter, because it was always around then that we finally ran out of mince pies. I […]
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Posted in ale, America, beans, beer, braised, British, carrots, Christmas, easy, England, family, holiday, holidays, Meat, onions, pork, Potato, rosemary, sauce, stew, tradition, travel, vinegar on Dec 20th, 2011
I often think that living in a small scruffy New York City apartment is akin to a pioneer life in a log cabin somewhere remote. Sure, the commute is easier, but the myriad quotidien affronts and man traps of a city existence certainly resemble the perils of life on the range.
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Posted in beans, British, cognac, easy, family, fennel, fish, France, Garlic, history, Manchester, Provencal, Provence, spicy, white fish on Dec 3rd, 2011
I’m not very old, but for much of my youth in the north west of England, it was almost impossible to find fresh foods that weren’t local. Today such a statement seems like an echo of Victorian times, but, literally, that’s how it was until a supermarket was built behind the Knutsford courthouse in the […]
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Posted in avocado, ceviche, chile, cilantro, easy, fish, juice, lime, lower fat, olives, orange juice, shrimp on Nov 16th, 2011
Since parenthood came into my life, so has weight gain. It hasn’t been all that bad but I think I weigh a bit more now than I did in the days after I pushed that child out. Why? Because the gym is now a long-distant memory. Since we clearly like to eat, the gym was […]
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Posted in chicken, cream, dining, easy, France, French, Garlic, mushrooms, tarragon, tradition, unhealthy, wine on May 12th, 2011
Classic French cooking doesn’t get much more classic than chicken in tarragon cream sauce. This bistro menu stalwart has all the unctious elements you instinctively associate with Gallic gastronomy: butter, cream, wine and mild herbs. Likely originating in that blessed triangle just north of Lyon where the famous blue-footed chickens of Bresse neighbor the Cotes […]
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Posted in brown sugar, chile, chipotle, Chorizo, cilantro, easy, Fall, France, Halloween, Mexican, pimenton, pumpkin on Nov 25th, 2010
It’s one of the ironies of being a new parent that even though we are spending more time than at any other point in our adult lives at home, we are finding it virtually impossible to do any cooking. Even when we do steal a few moments of quiet to get behind the burners, by […]
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“Reach into your memory and come up with … what food actually regenerated your system, not so you can leap tall buildings, but so you can turn off the alarm clock with vigor.” – Jim Harrison, The Raw and the Cooked We’re certainly not the first bloggers to find ourselves stretched thin between the demands […]
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Posted in British, celery, cheap meal, chicken stock, curry, easy, England, Indian, lentils, lime, soup, spices, yogurt on Feb 13th, 2010
One finds mulligatawny soup on an Indian restaurant menu the same way one always finds buffalo wings or nachos on a bar menu. It just has to be there – if it wasn’t on the menu you just know there’s something wrong with the place. But how many of you have ever ordered it over […]
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A quick, sweet post to kick-start your weekend about a ridiculously simple, ridiculously delicious Argentinian dessert – Chocotorta. This very popular dulce de leche-spiked, layered dessert reminds me a bit of tiramisu with an Argentine twist. What could be more Argentinian than dulce de leche? When Joan of Foodalogue revisited her Culinary Tour food event […]
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Posted in Alba, butter, cream, easy, French, indulgent meal, Italian, Italy, nuts, Pasta, Recipe, vegetarian, walnuts on Dec 1st, 2009
As with a few other fellow bloggers, we were lucky to receive one of my favorite “blog freebies” to try recently – truffle products by La Boutique de la Truffe. Cha-ching! As some know, for most of us, blogging will barely help us buy a cup of coffee at a year’s end – that is […]
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Posted in cheese, chipotle, chops, cilantro, easy, Olive Oil, onions, Potato, Recipes, side dish, squash on Oct 28th, 2009
Perhaps surprisingly given that we’ve been deluged with guests for the last month, we haven’t actually cooked for them much, or at least, cooked anything we’d dare post. As anyone who’s been a host knows, having guests is an exhausting experience, but especially so when you’re playing the role of tour guide too, so here are two […]
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Originally, I was going to simply write a one paragraph post helping people understand that they should not be afraid to use butter when necessary. Unfortunately, I realized how much emotional turmoil I have when it comes to this subject and others. A nice recipe for a Buttered Pea and Potato Salad had somehow turned […]
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Posted in butter, crimini, easy, egg, Europe, French, Italian, Jacques Pepin, Jeffrey Steingarten, mushroom, mushrooms, quick meal, Recipe, Recipes, truffles on May 3rd, 2009
In several of his well-known paeans to Provence, Peter Mayle describes, both lyrically and at great length, his love affair with the black truffles of that region. Sometimes couched as a cloak-and-dagger chase involving bizarre and nervy rendez-vous’ along dimly-lit back roads, or illicit dealings with “men with dirt under their fingernails and yesterday’s garlic […]
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During last fall’s McCain-Obama Presidential election season, TV channel Comedy Central’s website had a feature called “remember when you cared about…” which reprised some of the now (& then) farcical action from the previous Presidential campaigns of W. Bush and John Kerry. The 2004 race was my first such campaign-season as a resident of this […]
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Posted in British, coffee, dentist, dessert, easy, eating, healthy, kumquat, pannacotta, Recipe, teeth on Mar 7th, 2009
The 20th anniversary of The Simpsons is being celebrated soon, and our recent long-overdue trip to the dentist reminded me of one particular episode in which Lisa is persuaded to give in and get braces on her teeth just like all the other Springfield kids when she is shown the “Big Book of British Smiles.” […]
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Posted in Bologna, bolognese, Bon Appetit, bread, easy, egg, Florence, food magazines, ground meat, hearty, Italian, Italy, magazine, Meat, New York City, Recipe, Recipes, sauce on Jan 7th, 2009
It’s a truism of my life that some of the more sickening feelings of depression are experienced immediately after the most smugly satisfying. But, I think this maxim applies almost universally when that wonderful sensation of happiness in having discovered the perfectly authentic tapas bar turns to acrid bitterness and choking rancor as a bloated family in sweatsuits and fanny-packs strolls […]
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Posted in alcohol, alcoholic drink, anise, bay, beverage, British, brown sugar, Christmas, cinnamon, culture, drink, easy, England, holiday, holidays, juice, lemon, orange juice, oranges, Recipe, spices, sweet, tradition, wine, winter on Dec 20th, 2008
Even though mulled wine should remind me of being in the church choir as a cherub-faced youngster and singing Christmas carols with frosty breath overlooking a seasonally-decorated nave and a sea of pink-cheeked parishoners, it doesn’t. In spite of this being the way I was introduced to this most famous Yuletide beverage, my abiding memories […]
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Posted in Brooklyn, chops, Coco Lezzone, easy, Europe, Florence, Garlic, herbs, Italian, Italy, Olive Oil, pork, Recipe, Recipes, rosemary, sage, thyme, travel, Tuscan, tuscany on Dec 11th, 2008
I feel kinda cheesy. I admit it, I feel cool about using a butcher. I understand this is lame and that butchers have been around for ages, but, truthfully, in the recent year, we’ve really gotten to know our neighborhood butchers. Growing up in the ‘burbs, meat was only bought pre-cut and pre-packaged. Yes, every […]
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Posted in anchovies, appetizer, butter, condiments, easy, Fall, fondue, Garlic, grilled, Italian, Italy, Liguria, Olive Oil, Piemonte, Potato, Recipe, tradition, travel, vegetables, winter on Nov 29th, 2008
And, while you’re at it, good fellow, I’ll have a warm bath with virtually anything you’ve got on the menu: pasta, potatoes, fish, chicken, soup, bread… Stop me if you’ve heard this one before… A man goes to the doctor complaining of neck ache. The doctor gives him some painkillers telling him to take two […]
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Posted in breadcrumbs, butter, easy, egg, Fall, flour, Garlic, herbs, lemon, liver, lunch, mushrooms, Olive Oil, Recipe, thyme, veal, weather on Nov 19th, 2008
A month or so ago we bought a package of veal liver at our local grocery store telling ourselves that we going to cook them, but not really having any idea how. We’ve made veal kidneys before without relying on a recipe so we were convinced we could do the same with the beast’s liver, […]
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Posted in ale, batter, beef tallow, beer, British, butter, capers, chips, crispy, easy, egg, fish, french fries, fried, history, Jewish, lard, Manchester, mushy peas, oil, olives, peas, Portuguese, Recipe, Recipes, salt, sauce, seafood, side dish, tartar, tradition, travel, vegetables, vinegar on Oct 31st, 2008
Happy Hallowe’en, WANF readers! Instead of posting shots of us dressed up in costume as the tastiest parts of a pig’s anatomy, we’re celebrating All Soul’s Day and the arrival of a much-needed weekend with a classic Friday night dish from the British Isles (where in truth, Hallowe’en has never really caught on in the […]
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Posted in asparagus, Bon Appetit, cheese, cold cuts, comte, cream, crimini, easy, egg, Gourmet, gruyere, healthy, mushroom, mushrooms, petite jurassic, pie crust, puff pastry, ricotta, salami, soppressata, tart, tomato on Sep 29th, 2008
In recent years, I’ve become a food magazine junkie. I’ve pretty much ordered every single one over the past 10 years (no Rachael Ray & Martha Stewart mags don’t count in my world) and found that only a small handful are worth reordering (ahem, Saveur, Gourmet, Cucina Italiana, Food & Wine). One that I keep […]
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Posted in appetizer, Chorizo, easy, Garlic, hearty, Jose Andres, Olive Oil, onions, paprika, Paul Bocuse, pimenton, piquillo peppers, Potato, Rioja, Spain, tapas, tradition, travel, wine on Sep 16th, 2008
It’s widely known that humble ingredients prepared with simple techniques often produce the best dishes, and it’s becoming more widely known that this philosophy lies at the very heart of Spanish cooking – a cuisine that has, in the last five or so years, become one of the most celebrated “new finds” of foodies everywhere. […]
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Posted in cheap meal, chile, easy, Fino, fried, Garlic, healthy, Olive Oil, quick meal, Recipe, seafood, shrimp, Spain, spicy, tapas on Sep 10th, 2008
Perhaps the most common, and implicitly, therefore the most popular, tapa in Spain and in Spanish restaurants world-wide, gambas al ajillo, or fried garlic shrimp, is rightfully so admired. The hot tang of garlic and red pepper flake-infused extra virgin olive oil, perfectly coating tender pink shrimp (king prawns for our UK readers), makes for […]
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Posted in basil, breadcrumbs, cheap meal, cheese, crispy, easy, Garlic, herbs, Olive Oil, Recipe, Recipes, tomato, vegetables, vegetarian on Aug 23rd, 2008
Hey,We Are Never Full readers. We haven’t been posting as frequently or visiting other sites because, well, we’re on vacation. We are in California for the next week but brought our laptop to attempt to blog a bit. As you all know – when you’re on vacation, blogging just isn’t a priority. But we have […]
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Posted in butter, easy, fennel, fish, healthy, lower fat, Olive Oil, quick meal, Recipe, shark, skate, superman, sustainable, tomato, vegetables, vinaigrette, white fish, whole fish on Aug 8th, 2008
Please forgive the headline — I couldn’t resist, but in all honesty, there are some similarities between the subject of this post and Clark Kent’s alter-ego. You see, the skate is to the world of fish what the nerdy-looking Kent is to the Daily Planet —a journeyman, overlooked and underrated by those who should know […]
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