Skip to content

Aug 5

Vietnamese lamb and green bean stir-fry

Lamb_stirfry3

The markets around here are pretty astonishing, these days. I’m amazed at what new bounty there is each week, and how quickly things come in and out of season, and how frantic I sometimes feel about taking full advantage of everything while it’s around. When we lived in Southern California it always felt like I had plenty of time to get my fill of various items – but here, seasonality is accelerated. February doesn’t seem that far away in either direction, and it’s astonishing how different the produce landscape is now compared to the other side of the year. So each time, I leave the market barely able to carry my load, and we spend a few days puzzle-piecing together menus to use it all up. Read more

Jul 20

New classes, new email newsletter, and a few mixed links

Pie

Summer’s starting to slip away at a somewhat alarming rate, putting a bit of pressure on the to-do list I set for myself a few months back. (Let it be noted that I am not very good at that whole “quiet, slow, relaxing summer” thing.) But: here I am! Getting things done! Here are two important things I’d like to pass along to you:

Registration is open for the rest of my summer classes. There are three classes offered in my home kitchen and my first class at the Madison Whole Foods Market (exciting!). I’m in talks with a few other venues to start teaching in the fall, so stay tuned!

I’ll soon be sending out the first edition of the Bowen Appétit email newsletter! Approximately each month, these emails will drop in your inbox with an updated class schedule, a fun recipe, special offers, kitchen tips, and more. Woo hoo! SIGN UP HERE

AND: The first 15 people who sign up for the email newsletter will receive a $5 discount on a future Bowen Appétit class (or a $10 discount on two registrations!).

Just a few other notes of interest:

If you’re as firmly embedded in picnic season as I am, you might find some fun ideas in the picnic post I wrote for The Kitchen Gallery’s blog.

We’re having one of our rare at-home weekends this summer, and just enjoyed a leisurely brunch of these waffles, perfect for when you didn’t plan for my all-time favorite overnight yeasted waffles.

It’s not really chocolate chip cookie season, but this is an incredible read.

I’m seriously behind on my plans to grill fruit for cocktails.

Jul 3

5 Comments

Homemade rhubarb liqueur

Rhubarb_liqueur2

My cooking in the summer becomes a lot more like assembling than really cooking. Assembling, and laying things on the grill, and tossing together vinaigrettes, and washing fruit to eat it straight out of the bowl. That’s one reason, among others, that I haven’t said much around here lately, but the important point here is to note that now I am here, with something that deserves your attention, especially as this long weekend approaches. (Not that you need a long weekend to make it – really, you need about five minutes.)

This recipe is a doozy, and boozy – a boozy doozy? – and if you’re a person, like me, who actually likes flavored alcohol when it tastes like flavors of actual, real-life ingredients, this one’s for you. Get yourself a couple of pounds of rhubarb, abundant at our markets these days and perhaps abundant in your yard, your neighbor’s yard, your grandmother’s yard, etc. etc., then submerge it in alcohol with a bit of sugar and orange and in a few weeks, you’ll be set for summer host gifts and picnic contributions and those evenings that require just one more sip of summer before heading to bed.

Read more

May 29

1 Comment

Summer licuados

Not sure what happened to spring, exactly. I suppose a late arrival doesn’t necessarily push back what comes next, but I had hoped we’d have a few more weeks between down jackets and tank tops.

That said, there’s plenty to look forward to here. We’ve grilled every night since we brought home our new grill, our home life seems to have shifted entirely to the porch, and yesterday at the market I bought a big, red, ripe tomato. A tomato! Three months ago, sick with Tundra Vision, I never thought I’d see this day again.

Memorial Day was a hot and heavy one, and I mean that in the least fun way possible, and in the hour or two before we really awake and had breakfast on the table, I blended a honeydew licuado to stave off hunger and defend against the heat. A licuado (also known as a “batido”) is a Latin American version of a smoothie, generally simpler than its northern counterpart with one or maybe two fruits, some milk (usually), and a small bit of ice and other flavorings. I’m not a big smoothie drinker, usually finding them a bit too acidic and on the wrong side of both beverage and meal (too heavy to be the former, too light to be the latter), but a licuado is a light, more refreshing alternative that is perfect for summer. They’re meant to be consumed immediately after blending, since they separate a bit as they sit, but they’re also meant to be an icy cold respite in very warm places, so it’s not difficult to get them down quickly.

Honeydew_licuado Read more

May 16

Why I do what I do, plus Gram’s oatmeal raisin cookies

Sorry for a bit of silence over the last week. You may have noticed there weren’t Weekend Links on Monday. I apologize for doing that without warning or explanation! Bare with me for a moment, and you’ll get both an explanation and a cookie.

Oatmeal_raisin_cookies3

Next week I’m speaking at Ignite Madison, a story-telling event where participants give a talk based on a theme (in this case, “All About Food”). I’m speaking about eating joyfully and overcoming fears about food and cooking, and in the process of putting together the talk I’ve been thinking a lot about why I do all of this – why I love teaching, and why I have this site, and why I’m so eager to let it all eat up my evenings and weekends and keep my kitchen a perpetual disaster zone. All of the food work I’ve been doing over the past four years has been pretty consuming, in both good and bad ways. I spend a lot of time happily planning classes and daydreaming about the little kitchen I eventually want to open, but I also spend a decent amount of time feeling a little tired, a little self-conscious, a little confused about the whole thing, and sometimes even a little defeated.  It’s hard trying to figure out what you want to do when you grow up, and sometimes it’s even more difficult figuring out how to make a stable living out of it. 

So why do I keep doing it? Read more

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →