Black walnut ice cream, chunky-full of nuts and smelling like heaven Most people wouldn't put black walnut and "delicious" together. Black walnuts may LOOK like English walnuts, but the very first bite mugs your mouth with a musky, who-died-on-my-tongue putrescence. Ugh... Eating ICE CREAM with those things? "Spit me out, NOW." Hush a minute. Ignore your yammering brain, close [...]
Tonight's version of Hungarian Mushroom soup included crimini, oyster, and shiitake mushrooms. Plus a LOT of sour cream. I hadn't lived in Portland long before my friends Joel and Jim flew in for a visit. They announced--two minutes after arrival--that "We're taking you for Hungarian Mushroom Soup." That was my introduction to an incredible soup at a place [...]
I was GONNA take a picture of the hominy casserole, fresh out of the oven in all its glory...but it didn't last that long. You couldn't say my ex-mother-in-law and I got along, exactly, but I'd be the last to criticize her cooking. She could make cardboard stew delicious...mostly because her three favorite ingredients were sour cream, butter, [...]
"I'm thinking the chanterelles are probably up, now that we've had our first good rains," said The Resident Carpenter, tentatively, "Would you be too disappointed if we went mushroom hunting in the mountains instead of Oktoberfest?" We'd planned to spend Saturday at the Mt. Angel Oktoberfest (though it might be more accurate to call it Septemberfest). Nathan's European [...]
OK, so this week's tuna fishing expedition wasn't nearly the Freddy Kreuger-style bloodbath I feared. In fact, it was kinda glorious. Turns out that the Wilderness and I are best buds if it improves the quality of my grub... and tuna "loins"* are about as improving as grub gets. The Resident Carpenter and I set out for Depoe [...]
As I've said before, I'm definitely NOT a chef, and I seriously doubt if you could call me a cook. I'm a recreational foodmaker, who just fixed a pretty scrumptious pot of chili and wants to share.
"Do you have a cane?" Brenda-the-PT asked, and I nodded, "Good. Bring it next time. I want you to graduate from your walker to a cane." Heady stuff. Me, not lugging around walkers and wheelchairs? Wow. "No long walks on a cane yet, only short trips," she warned, "And no carrying heavier stuff when you're on the cane, at least [...]
If you added up all my blogposts since 2003, you’d have something like 7,200 separate articles. Only about 650 are actually searchable on morganica.com right now. Tried to import the rest, but so far can’t figure out a way to do that without spamming the heck out of the 1,500 or so subscribers who asked to be notified when I [...]
Fruitsicles--fresh fruit puree popsicles in push-up tube bags-were a delicious accident on my road to sorbet...and a great way to use summer fruit. They're also relatively good for you; you get the vitamin C, fiber, and all the calcium, iron, magnesium, etc., found in fresh fruit for a measly 47 calories per fruitsicle (52 cal for wineberry, probably 60 cal [...]
"No, no!" he corrected, "We are not chocolatiers. We are chocolate MAKERS. We MAKE the chocolate here." Ahhh. Apparently there's a big difference: Chocolatiers make stuff out of someone else's chocolate, like Hershey's or Varlhona or Guittard or Ghiradelli. A chocolate MAKER, such as Coleman & Davis, is where those people get the chocolate from. "Yes, that's right," he nodded, [...]
