Cloud

I love learning about a place by learning about its food. Seeing similarities to other cuisines but with subtle differences adds to the understanding of a place. In The Food of Oman , of which I received a review copy, I learned about the mix of Bedouin traditional foods and ingredients and flavors brought there by the Indian Ocean trade routes. Those flavors that make up Omani cooking are found in the Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, and East Africa. Many ingredients are used in dried or preserved from like dehydrated coconut milk, dried limes, and salt-cured fish because of the history of needing those foods to last for distant travel both on land and at sea. I’ve used dried lime before , appreciate the concentrated flavor, and couldn’t wait to use it again. There are comfort-food rice dishes that are common for lunch meals in Oman like Arseeya, a savory chicken and rice porridge; Omani Lentil Soup made with dried lime, ghee, ginger, coriander, cumin, turmeric, and more; and Sur ...

I’ve always loved tacos, but for the last twenty-three-plus years of living in Austin tacos have been a way of life. There are breakfast tacos, lunch tacos, fancy tacos, quick and cheap tacos, and occasionally home-made tacos. But, I had never ever made my own tortillas. To my mind, it was like a Parisian making her own baguettes. All of that just changed last week. I had read my review copy of the new book Tacos: Recipes and Provocations by Alex Stupak and Jordana Rothman and was convinced I needed to make fresh, homemade tortillas for the best homemade tacos possible. It’s made clear in the book that the just-off-the-griddle-ness of the tortilla has everything to do with the quality of the taco. There’s even a break-down of ways to store warm tortillas if necessary, and each taco recipe suggests when to cook your tortillas in relation to other steps for ideal timing. I was ready to give tortilla making a try. What I really appreciated about the message of this book is that “authen...

Aaaaaand, I’m back. We’ve moved back to our permanent property, into our new house, and I’m finally using my new kitchen. Regarding moving into a new house during the holiday season, I only recommend it if you’ve been waiting way, way too long for said new house to be completed. Otherwise, the whole process is much better suited to a time when you’re not missing all the celebrating and relaxing going on all around you. But, we’re so glad to be back. Waking up in the morning and looking out the window at our own yard and our own plants and trees is a delight. As soon as I got somewhat organized in the kitchen, I located my always-growing, to-try stack of recipes. The stack gets shuffled and reordered from time to time, and I lose track of what’s in there. After spending a few minutes flipping through the pages, I found some gems I couldn’t wait to make. First, I whipped up the Mafaldine with Shrimp and Lemon from last March’s Living magazine . Next, I found the open-faced sandwich show...