wingding

Trolling the Polish stores in Greenpoint,I spied a bag of white beans with the subtitle Handsome Johnny Beans,which made them an irresistable purchase. Picked up a smoked ham hock and did my best to keep the beans handsome with some aromatics. Sauteed greens with anchovy bread crumbs (love those spicy dried and fried candied anchovies that I pick up in the Indonesian store on Mulberry street j. Con-fusion cooking

No,it’s the weariness and wariness of trying to make ends meet.

Delaware and Hudson is closing at the end of this month.

You can always leave the oven door open for 5 minutes or so to make the temperature come down fast. Overly high temp. Will not be good for anything with a lot of eggs or butter,especially free form baking like cookies.

How can chickpeas and turnip greens be so good ? Start with a soffrito,add some tomato paste,grenada peppers and white wine...simmer down,add cooked chickpeas and quickly boiled greens. Season,then make a meal with some nice smoked sprats from one of the stores in Greenpoint, and maybe a nice piece of cheese to finish. To drink ? Cos Nero di Lupo....what a great rich but dry nero d’avola.

Many years ago,I purchased a cap made by Jenny Holzer,with the phrase. “The Future Is Stupid” stuck on the front. It has come to pass,writ large. More money being laundered is how I read events like this...

Cooking for family as medicine for sorrow on a dreary Sunday: fried smelts,roasted peppers ,panelle. Prok shoulder ragu on fresh papardelle, salad,cornmeal almond biscotti. I like to spread out the cooked chickpea a little thicker than traditional...gives a nice balance of crispy creamy

I had an unexceptional dish of sambar while out last week,and wanted to do better.... so got involved with making sambar, hoppers and a pumpkin coconut stew. The sambar was good,though not quite my ideal (I love sambar),needed more fried shallots in the spice mix. I hadnt made hoppers in a long time,worth the effort. Warming meal on a chilly day....

The markets in Sicily: catania,floridia and palermo have fine ingredients and great vocals,which just sound like music when you don’t entirely understand them .

true. of course, if one really wants to be a boss or a leader, one probably should also be prepared to step up and lead. she needs to step up for turning a blind eye, which she clearly did, in favor of her success over the dignity and safety of her female staff. i also recognize that she was being bullied, too I don't think that young cooks thrust into the position of heading a kitchen really know what they are getting into a lot of the time, especially when they and their partners decide to open one restaurant after the other, along with the attendant hiring, firing,and babysitting is

This stuff is just so dismal. People have personalities,good,bad, and ugly, which are exaservated under pressure. They might be good cooks, but lousy leaders, or need the time and self awareness to learn to be leaders. Too easy to judge from the outside...Who knows if they can really change, what else that they should do with their lives if run out of town.

Free and easy is fine in the hands of the top of the line staff,maybe not when they have to crank out a lot of food. Free and easy in the hands of new hires ,or not all that talented ones is bullpoopy...

Greenmarket goat is not inexpensive,and when you are rid of the bones, you are not getting very good bang for the buck. I gave up on it, after I couldn’t salvage free leftovers from the restaurants that I was working in. After purchasing a not all that cheap piece of lamb breast the other day,I would add that to the list of not much bang for the buck either, unless you like to eat fat.

I pickle some every year, in thick slices,using Sean Brock’s pickling recipe,which is my favorite...good in a samwich with other pickled things,smoked sprats ,and mayo.

I wonder, more often nowadays...who gives a sh#t what I cooked for dinner...but anyway , some food and opinions : Picked up some nice mackerel,turnips and cranberry beans today. And a bottle of the skeptically named Friend of a Farmer Verdejo,but steel tank fermented and cheap.,but clean,floral and light. Cooked the beans with padron peppers and tomatoes,finished with parsley, lemon, and garlic. mackerel pan seared and finished with garlic,pimenton and lemon. Raw thinly sliced turnip on the side. I have to shout out to two really good Sicilian olive oils: Partenna,which I buy by the gallon on