We’re on the edge of glory. The cusp of the freezer
A few hours into a New Year after another now past, that once again, felt more akin to three in one.
We moved twice. Yeah, it was a lot.
Once within the same small neighborhood to escape a cliche upstairs “neighbor from hell”. In related news, that’s the name of a subreddit that’s both cathartic and maddening, for anyone else with the reality of sharing walls, ceilings, or nearby space on this planet with others who don’t make life easier.
Moving on, literally.
And then we moved again. The big epic one down to the lower 48.
I’m on my third kitchen of the year.
The coziest yet - which is really a story and practice in organizational prowess for many, many other days. My sister and I jest that it's city living, yet, very much not.
This one feels less permanent, and that feels okay.
Curiousity as to how this all unfolds. And what’s next.
I grasp why this comes across a smidge melancholic.
Alaska was other-wordly compared to anything I’d known before.
On the plus side, I’ve developed some serious unpacking skills and I’ve never been more familiar with our “supplies” and pantry goods. Perks. Never again, will I overlook those butterfly pea-infused rice noodles or Scandinavian cake decorating sugars in the back of the cabinet. Right? Suuuure.
As this missive is a place to peer through a culinary lens to my heart/mind/stomach, I’ll do my best to dial it in after the requisite perusal of my phone’s camera roll through the past year.
Reflecting on the moments and meals that made me pause. Thinking about why that particular day stood out - besides the stellar lighting.
The cooking projects I eventually got around to. The supplies I no longer had to order off the internet, and could peruse and acquire in person (granted, still after a 2.5 hour drive, it’s cool). That wistful + final Alaskan produce summer. Foraging strolls and a few more batches of jam.
Cooking for comfort, cooking for convenience, cooking for glee. Repeating favorites and and go-to dinner plates. Scratching the itch with new cuisines. More simple spaghetti as needed.
Happenstance, delights, and “dinners in denali”, ba da bum. You know a move is for real when you rename the insta.
Scroll with me through some stand-outs: linear edition…
The juxtaposition of two weeks in Mexico with gorgeous & accessible tropical fruit, awesome tacos, and getting really, really, really sick upon re-entering society (“not covid” but eh, close enough). Finally getting a bit of my tastebuds & appetite back during our return layover at SFO. Ah, vacation.
Purposely making our way to the Millbrae Farmers Market on an overnight layover at SFO - a nice walk from our hotel - where we picked up these pomelos in our produce haul. Days later, we were back home in Alaska with a spicy, sweet & piquant pomelo som tam during a time of year no other professionally imported citrus could dare taste that fresh.
Another citrus explosion, inspired by Jules’ following of Padma Lakshmi’s social media. My partner became a devotee of this fruit salad arrangement: orange, cinnamon, dates, pomegranate seeds.
Behind the scenes. Making a fire in a wintery, frozen campground. Jules dug out a firepit in late February so I could take photos for a piece that went along with a “campfire pasta e fagioli” aka rather smokey “fazool” that appeared in a past issue of Edible Alaska magazine. How wildly appropriate.
I first made this “controversial” cast iron supper at a campground in British Columbia on our first drive up in 2018, and it became a family favorite. Everything really does taste better over a fire. Even moreso when it’s in the lower digits (F).
Back to Portland! Which, spoilersssss, I’m heading to the Northwest once more in due time. This “Portland Fog”, an earl grey doughnut, was just as good as I remembered. That rarely happens.
That fierce feeling of delicious nostalgia that delivered was last fully felt over a young coconut curry via The Curry Shack in Pai, Thailand, circa 2015?!
Next stop, Brooklyn: where I spent one pleasant morning at the Brooklyn Museum, and then biked over to Crown Heights for this top notch veeeeeegan pepperoni slice at Screamer’s. It’s a sweet (and fabulously greasy), casual tradition that I do plan to repeat one of these days.
Returning to Alaska for our first overnight car camp out on the old Denali Highway. First [on the right], sampling handfuls of over-wintered alpine bear berries. Intriguingly bold, inky, easily bitter, precious. I hadn’t seen these in person before. Next up, throwing par-baked pizzas onto the grill grate at a dispersed campfire, overlooking the seemingly endless tundra & wild swans below. And why yes, I made them. How else would this go?
The calm vibes of foraging bountiful rose petals on my daily hike. There, I said it - hike! I embraced solo strolls on Denali’s frontcountry trails. Five years in Alaska and I overcame primal & personal fears, up the wazoo. These prickly rose petals went into scones, btw.
Collecting a shiitake ton ! of burn morels with good friends in Clear, Alaska. Getting lost for a bit while following a sole bird off into the burned forest grounds. Coming home with more morels than I’ll ever know what to do with. Gifting large amounts to friends and neighbors. Frying + drying after days of sorting/cleaning/storing. Special as can be.
July = what an action-packed and fullfilling month.
An amazing U-pick day at Big M. The utter peak and beauty of interior produce.
I really, really liked these. Despite all my Italian American pride, I hadn’t made calzones in years. These were filled with wilted beet greens, mozzarella, garlic and chiles in lieu of the more traditional swiss chard-centric recipe in Giuseppe’s Italian Bakes. Psst, there’s white wine in the dough. <3
Getting my hands on the first bags of Spinach Creek Carrots of late summer. A rite of passage in the greater Tanana Valley. This time via The Roaming Root Cellar in Fairbanks, a local produce market that impressively operates year-round. Carrot cake, anyone? Just as groovy? Carrot jam! Trust me.
My sister made one more visit to Alaska before we departed. Arguably during the best time of year for it. Here’s a perfect pasta she cooked up one night after a day of adventurin’. You can tell who had the vegan chz shreds and who had the actual ricotta. ; )
Huh, it really was a year of pizza. Go figure. This photo is from my 41st birthday eve, spent at a seriously rustic lodge overlooking the Delta River off the “old” Denali highway, which I mentioned in the berries & campfire pizza scene earlier.
We dined on more pizza, natural wine, and the first of an ongoing series of blueberry + friends galettes in our lives & bellies as part of operation: berry archives. We woke up to the first snowfall of the season - which at that point, is definitely autumnal chill meets ‘here comes winter’.
Photo quintet: ordering sustenance on the roadtrip. The returning normality of enjoyable avocado on menus. Feeling like a real person after even better coffees. The awe of visiting a vegan bakery after years apart. Enjoying our pastries as one cat howled his head off and the other chilled in his carrier as we all headed south. Again, stories for another day.
Behold, the surreal comfort of sitting down for a quick brunch at a modern diner in Bozeman, MT for plates of breakfast-y tofu and potatoes.
Seriously listening to a pack of wolves howling in our new neighborhood as I took photos for an upcoming piece on traveling with (and for!) fresh produce & my preferred take on the subsequent “fancy” avocado toast affair.
I made injera!!!!! After years of contemplation and a fateful 24 hours of fermentation, I did it. I was delighted. Ditto for dosas. And frankly, I was even more stoked with the sambar-making process and the home-grown curry leaves from our friend in Santa Cruz that inspired every element of this South Indian dinner. Gosh. Thanks, Amey!!
So, what did I cook the most? Noodles. Garlicky pastas w/ greens, Thai curry stir-fries, lentil soups and apparently, a whole lot of pizza.
What did you cook on repeat?
What culinary memories stand out for *you* in 2023?
Year-End References + Relevant Links for ya:
Chinese Homestyle by Maggie Zhu
Foolproof Pan Pizza, Serious Eats aka last night’s dinner and perhaps my most-cooked recipe of 2023
Giuseppe’s Italian Bakes by Giuseppe Dell’Anno [psst SPOILERS for anyone years behind on Bake-Off - I can relate…]
How to Make Dosas from Scratch + Potato Payla is the Buttery Potato Stir-fry You’ll Make on Repeat + Coconut Chutney, The Kitchn
The morel-i-sode, these scone archives August 6, 2023
I'm really enjoying these. I keep rereading, in part for the appetite-inducing descriptions but another part keeps dodging back to the landscapes. Alaska is a place I'm drawn to. It's not just a Brand/Falsey thing...
2023 was the year I left catering for a living and went back to school to begin learning librarianship. As one last gig I cooked a buffet for 140 friends of a friend (75th birthday shenanigans) and this went down well. It's loosely based on a Senegalese one pot recipe but is good served with fried rice and roast nuts.
When you find the ingredients are there in your kitchen it's a quick prep, slow cooked warmer.
4 sweet potatoes, 1 inch rough cubes
3 onions chopped roughly
Half a head of garlic, grated
Scant tsp of crushed chilli, or whatever heat source you have lying around
Two tsp ground coriander
Scant tsp ground cinnamon
A pound tin of chopped tomatoes
A pound of smooth peanut butter
A slug of oil
Salt
Brown the onion in the oil, add the garlic and a good pinch of salt and sweat for ten minutes, stirring. Add the spices and fry them in. Add the tomatoes and chilli and let them come to a bubble and, when this has thickened slightly add the sweet potato and enough water to cover by about an inch. Let this simmer for three quarters of an hour, or until the potatoes are just falling. Check the seasoning and add the peanut to thicken. Great with some chopped greens or cauliflower/carrot tops stirred through to serve. Keep an eye on the liquid! It can get very thick, especially on a reheat.
Sharing!