This chili will clear your sinuses.

That’s kind of the point, thanks to my current bout of snuffliness.

Chili is more an event than a recipe, but my version of Tyson’s black-and-white chicken chili provides a handy excuse to talk about Switchfoot’s recent album Vice Verses. ‘Cause, you see, the theme of the album is how “every blessing comes with a set of curses,” so we have black and white, and the chili has black and white beans…

It seemed brilliant when I thought of it, ‘kay? And no, I do not have an assigned symbolism for the jalapeño. Be grateful I didn’t throw in any yams. Shall we? Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s shred things and put them in pancakes!

My promises to explore The Vegetable fell apart on incubation of the style of cold more suitable to six-year-olds: scratchy throat, sniffly nose, stuffy head, and stupid amounts of energy paired with a propensity to drop to the floor and wail over nothing. My spirit waffles between “how difficult could turducken be?!?” and “all I really want to do is drink coffee with bourbon and read about how to decorate vintage travel trailers.”

This calls for making Pancakes With Stuff In Them, as everybody’s Inner Germ-Ridden Urchin appreciates pancakes. Last Sunday’s Gavin DeGraw show had gotten me thinking about songs about celebrity, which got me thinking about songs about fans, a path that leads inexorably to The Kinks, so let’s heat the griddle and get kinky. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s proof that “nuts to you” is a compliment.

My first mission with the Secret Recipe Club was to choose a recipe from The Gonzo Gourmet. Since she handily lists the recipes every girl should have in her repertoire, I started there and found… lo! Spiced Nuts. No store-bought flavored nuts have ever measured up to the ones my grandmother made at home… and this recipe has no blanching of almonds to make me blench.

Since The Gonzo Gourmet writes about San Diego farmers’ markets, a San Diego band was a natural match. One of the big local indie bands, Echo Revolution, turns out to have a Beatles- and Depeche Mode-influenced alt-rock indie vibe that works for me to the tune of buying its most recent album, Counterfeit Sunshine.  For a taste of the sound, let’s pull up the band’s MySpace page and get nutty.

Read the rest of this entry »

Suddenly, I was craving a green vegetable.

This happens once in a blue moon, so although I’d promised to make tomato sauce, I diverged into pea pesto from Smitten Kitchen, on the theory that it’s always the right time to make a pesto of myself.

While writing this, I’m listening to Leah and Stephanie (web site here) perform live in the brutal heat of Tempe Marketplace, which may not be ideal concert-goer behavior; but since I’m sitting in the soft chairs behind the performers, and I’m one of the few people applauding, I think I’m forgiven. Plus, I’m going to tell you all about it while we make mushroom ravioli with pea pesto. Read the rest of this entry »

When the grocery puts grapes on sale for 74 cents a pound, you know they have the gleam of rot in their little grape eyes. Since I wasn’t eating them particularly quickly, I thought it was a good time to take a second shot at grape cake, which is an olive oil cake with grapes embedded in it. Close scrutiny of — or, indeed, a superficial glance at — the original recipe will reveal that it calls for red grapes. We’re going to be insensitive and pretend we have red-green colorblindness. (Actually, we’re going to acknowledge that all modern supermarket grapes have the exact same vaguely grape-like flavor, regardless of color or creed.)

A project this frivolous was meant to accompany… well, a really good album that I’m saving for later. Frivolity calls for frivolity. On a Sunday afternoon, the most frivolous approach that came to mind was “Billy Joel covers.” Thanks to The Covers Project, we gots ‘em. Read the rest of this entry »