So, Marc aka Mental Masala and I and our friend Rachel (the Mistress of Club Grub here in the East Bay) are getting ready for canning 50 pounds of Lucero’s San Marzano and Early Girl tomatoes tomorrow, along with dill pickles, dilly beans, and bread-and-butter pickles. Seems like the perfect Labor Day activity, and I’m […]

I started by cooking the chopped red onion and the hot pepper in a bit of olive oil over low heat, letting them take their sweet time to carmelize…. Peaches and Herbs Salsa Makes 1 pint of salsa 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil 1 small red onion, sliced thin and chopped coarsely 1 hot pepper, seeded and minced 1 clove garlic, minced 1/2 tsp minced fresh basil 1/4 tsp salt 5-6 peaches, peeled, pitted, and chopped 1 1/2 c chopped tomatoes 1 tsp minced fresh mint 1/2 tsp minced fresh basil Juice from 1/2 lime In large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-low heat.

After I built the solar oven, it was time to test it. Being an engineer, I wanted to start out with some measurements.
My first two tests were as simple as it gets: heating water over the course of a sunny afternoon. To monitor the performance of the oven, I inserted a thermocouple (a […]

A little while ago, I was inspired to reduce my energy consumption in the kitchen by Ed Begley, Jr. Mr. Begley is a well-known environmentalist, the frequent butt of jokes, and an actor who played a supporting role (Stan Sitwell) in Arrested Development, one of the funniest sitcoms in TV history, in my opinion. […]

Come August, I’m usually knee deep in tomatoes, and there’s no escape but to fire up the stove and start canning… again and again.

Peter shares his recipe for “spring salad” aka egg-less chopped egg salad.

Are you up for some true grassroots marketing? Let’s claim Real Food for reality-based food communities everywhere.

Sometimes I get so pissed off by the world we live in, all I want to do is scream.
Instead, I garden.
I can’t believe what people are putting into my food, into your food, just to get rich. Is money that important?
I don’t make a lot of money, but I have an apartment, a television, a […]

People who enjoy sausage and respect the law should not watch either being made.
That curt assessment is usually attributed to 19th-century statesman Otto von Bismarck, and I can certainly agree with him about the second part. For example, it’s hard to see how all the maneuvering and wheeling-and-dealing and horse trading going on around the […]

A while ago, I mentioned Food and Wine’s feature on eating locally, and noted that I had sent a few recipes of my own for their consideration. I’ve not heard back from them, and with winter drawing to a close, I decided to share one or two that can be enjoyed through much of the […]

Last Sunday I made bacon and eggs for breakfast.
Nothing earth shaking about that — but I didn’t buy the bacon from the farmer’s market or even Farmer Joe’s. Actually, I made the bacon myself — from a 2 lb. package of pork belly I received through Operation Pork.
The pig who provided the pork belly was […]

Last week the Potato Non Grata and I cooked a three-course dinner for six people. In less than three hours from prep to plate, we made our own hand-cut fettucine with shrimp, peppers, and leeks; braised short ribs with pommes anna; and chocolate hazelnut soufflé cake. Oh, and a little appetizer of […]

Really Big Organic: Whole Foods has just announced it’s buying competitor Wild Oats for $565 million. Shares of both companies, neither of whose workers are unionized, jumped on the news. CBS Marketwatch
Trays ambitious: John Birdsall has a terrific feature on Allison Negrin, who counts Chez Panisse on her cooking CV (who doesn’t?) and is now […]

I used to make fun of the Dairy Queen Mother for talking to strangers everywhere she went — in elevators, grocery stores, even movie-theater bathrooms. Actually, she still does it, and I still tease her about it, partly because she has no “psychodar” (sorry, Mom).
But when the subject is SOLE food, I’m finding it […]

First of all, let me state for the record that I love potatoes. LOVE THEM. So much so that Man of La Muncha gives me a hard time about my potato love. Baked, boiled, mashed, or fried–potatoes in all forms are typically a welcome addition to our dinner table.
However, I admit that […]