Quite literally, đồ chua means “sour stuff” — or Vietnamese pickles, in this case. It was a staple in my parents’ house while growing up, and eventually became a staple in my own grown-up house. It’s a very Vietnamese thing and reminds me of all the wonderful home cooking from my childhood. I can eat [...]
kitchen concoctions
This is one of my favorite times of year… The season that straddles spring and summer, when the days are long and warm and my lemon tree is bursting with bright yellow ornaments. These sunshiny days simply beg for the clink of ice cubes in a mason jar and the cold sip of a fresh [...]
It’s Saturday. And tomorrow is Sunday — Cinco de Mayo, to be exact. That means you still have all day to collect the ingredients for this fiery cocktail that’s sure to light up your weekend fiesta! First, we have agave: 100% agave tequila (I prefer the bold, biting flavor of blanco for this recipe) and [...]
Every season, I let a few of my radish plants flower and seed. Some I leave to collect seed for next season, and some I leave to harvest the pods. Amid this tangled mess of vines is a handful of daikon radish plants — plants that had grown over 4 feet tall, full of little [...]
I can’t get enough of chimichurri. After trying it for the first time in an Argentinian restaurant over a decade ago, I found myself slathering the tangy condiment on nearly everything I ordered, from bread to potatoes, churrasco to empanadas. I started buying my favorite version of it from a local carnicería and for years [...]
Sometimes, you just don’t have time to wait around for your pickles to pickle before you can eat them. For those times, there’s quick pickles. Well, quick enough, anyway… These are my favorite quick pickles to make — deliciously tangy in just a few hours and scrumptiously served with the barbecue platter of your choice. [...]
When I think of spring, I think of this salad. Fresh, green, earthy, full of life. Luckily for us southern climates, winter tends to feel like spring most days, so I’ve had the ingredients for this salad growing in my garden all season and this recipe makes perfect use of them. As the superstar of [...]
