I buy a sausage at the airport before I leave Poland. Kielbaska, kielbasa, kabanos, kabanosik. This, my transcontinental dowry. The sacrificial baby of my tongue. Foreign gods hover over us. If God lets my sausage in, I will eat it like a saint wreathed in incense, circle a table with Gregorian chants. Folkberg variations. The… Continue reading Sausage Poetry by Ewa Chrusciel
Menage a Trois Cookies
Menage a Trois Cookies I’ve had cookies on the brain recently and with a very specific point of view: make one batch of cookie dough and then through minor adjustments make three flavors of cookies. Simplicity in execution and finding a simple hack for cookie season can be sexy, no? *Keep the butter at room… Continue reading Menage a Trois Cookies
Acorn Squash Sliders with Blue Cheese & Fig Mustard
I have a quibble with pumpkin. Okay, maybe it’s aimed a little bit more at the legion of people who have taken the humble gourd and exalted it as god just as Labor Day splits into white jean permissible and white jean not permissible. But that will be a tiny rant for another day. Instead,… Continue reading Acorn Squash Sliders with Blue Cheese & Fig Mustard
Apple Tartines with Cinnamon Ginger Cream Cheese
It almost happened. In my haste to go, go, go, I almost missed throwing a round of confetti and blowing out a candle. Six years ago I restarted something begun in poetry school, though back then, my blog’s purpose lay somewhere between chronicling adventures in studying for my MFA and reminders of what restaurants I… Continue reading Apple Tartines with Cinnamon Ginger Cream Cheese
Ginger Carrot Soup
From the open window, a breeze tickles the tall trees outside in such a way that lets me know rain will soon fall. This morning I lolled in bed for an hour longer than usual. Do you find lazy mornings one of the most luxurious and decadent ways for the day to unfold? The ultimate… Continue reading Ginger Carrot Soup
Avocado- Poem by Arthur Kayzakian
Avocado my dad once told me to never mess with an unripe avocado he said if you cut it open too soon then it will know you are not interested in its growth so it will begin to die even if you do not eat it that in some parallel universe the avocado is a… Continue reading Avocado- Poem by Arthur Kayzakian
Tastemaker Tea Podcast: Episode 4 – Numi
In Oakland, over on Broadway, there’s a co-working space in a bustling complex known as the Hive. As you open the front door, you’ll probably see the smiling face of Numi Organic Tea co-founder, Ahmed Rahim. He and his sister Reem are the founders of local and nationally distributed tea company Numi Organic Teas. I had been… Continue reading Tastemaker Tea Podcast: Episode 4 – Numi
Jalapeno Cheddar Chicken Burgers
Thigh or breast? Growing up, the answer wasn’t even a question. I picked off chicken skin all crackly and dripping with flavor and exiled it to the outer rim of the plate, eager to eat the chicken breast below. I’m not sure when I learned that we ate chicken thighs because they kept the grocery… Continue reading Jalapeno Cheddar Chicken Burgers
Pink Peppercorn Fudge Popsicles
Growing up, popsicles always seemed like the sad substitute for ice cream. The one exception to that rule were the creamy paletas we would pick up at the bodega when visiting our family in Mexico. Back home in Texas though, purple, red, and neon orange frozen confections resembled rockets that required licking and furtive patience… Continue reading Pink Peppercorn Fudge Popsicles
Ginger Lemon Limeade
I never knew an Oakland summer might transport me back to Texas. And yet, last summer if the house already pulsated with warmth as we woke up, we knew the day would unfold, sticky and sweltering. I contemplated visiting a mall or seeing a movie just for the coolness of the commercial space or darkness… Continue reading Ginger Lemon Limeade
Obsessions: Ginger Juice
Talking about food is almost as good as actually eating it. Obsessions can start innocuously. Trolling the farmers’ market and tasting the sweetness of the season’s first albion strawberries. Tasting beets as if for the first time in Santa Monica. Once an obsession is in its full throes, it makes a person practically quicken creatively in… Continue reading Obsessions: Ginger Juice
Mother’s Day Giveaway
Big news! My book, Steeped: Recipes Infused with Tea is now available at Cost Plus World Market. Does your Mom love tea? Does she love to cook? This is the book for her. Inside, I share fresh ways to cook with tea, full of vibrant plant-based recipes like how to make a California Tea Leaf Salad.… Continue reading Mother’s Day Giveaway