Unappealing title, huh? Luckily, though chapstick is a key ingredient in this cookie recipe, no chapstick actually goes into the cookies. Butter, flour, almond, sugar, and jam make these bite-sized shortbread cookies lip smackingly good.… Read More
I can hear you grumbling already. “I know my banana muffins,” you say. “There’s absolutely nothing special about a banana muffin. Banana muffins are the ones that you find sitting untouched, amid blueberry and lemon poppyseed crumbs, when you arrive late for your motel’s continental breakfast. Nobody really wants banana muffins.”
WRONG!… Read More
Let’s all stay politically correct here, okay? Nobody wants to eat smaller-than-average bread with a complex. These went straight from my oven to a fancy dinner party at a local museum. In case you’re not important enough to be invited to such an event, these can also be rolled flat and cut into exciting shapes, like dinosaurs or ferocious undersea predators.… Read More
This all started because I had too much feta. I know, right? Difficult to believe. The thing is, this one package of feta seemed endless. I used it in salad, with potatoes on no fewer than four occasions, I even snacked on bits of it from time to time. The feta continued. I was starting to think that I was at the beginning of a bad horror film: “The Feta that Ate Tangier!”… Read More
The weather is beginning to turn cold here (in Moroccan terms, that means it rained a little this week) so of course my thoughts turned to soup. (Actually, my thoughts turned to stir-fry first, but broccoli was not to be found for love of money. Since I’d already bought the other ingredients at our delightful Berber Sunday market, I had to rethink my meal plan.) Erm. I mean, I began craving soup.
I have always loved minestrone, but it never made me giggle until I watched Green Wing for the first time.… Read More
“I want hummus.” You know how many times I heard this from a friend over the course of a single week? I don’t know either, because I lost count. Neil would be over watching a movie, and suddenly: “I want hummus.” Walking through the medina: “I want hummus.” Discussing time travel: “I want hummus.” Taking self-defense lessons: “I want hummus.”
So do you know what I did? No, I didn’t banish him from my presence, my home, and the whole of Africa. I made hummus.… Read More
This post represents an important landmark: my first experience cooking traditional Moroccan food. After nearly three weeks of walking through my apartment building, surrounded by tantalizing smells, I finally learned how to make harira, one of the most delicious soups I’ve ever tasted. And lucky you, I’m going to post the recipe! This soup is usually the first thing served during iftar, and it’s a Moroccan specialty.… Read More
I’m aware that there’s a good deal of ambiguity in the title of this post. Could this be a chili consisting entirely of beautiful vegetarians? Or maybe after consuming it one acquires irresistibility. Or perhaps it is just an extremely mouth-watering concoction. You may select your favorite interpretation.
For those of you not “in the know”, as well as those of you who haven’t yet deemed it necessary to sneak GPS tracking chips onto my person, I moved to Morocco two weeks ago. In an effort to experience the culture here more fully, I have been fasting for the first week of Ramadan.… Read More
Well, technically these could be antelope cookies or star cookies or platypus cookies or… well, anything. Although I challenge you to find a platypus cookie cutter. Baking sugar cookies is guaranteed to make your inner child very, very happy. So dig out your cookie cutters, rolling pin, and food coloring, because you’re in for an evening of unbridled, floury fun.… Read More
Dear friends, family, colleagues, casual acquaintances, and indifferent web surfers,
You may have thought that I had stopped cooking delicious deserts to pursue other, more social pastimes. Maybe I threw a wild party, watched a football game, or even went clubbing. Not so. I’ve been quietly cooking and baking away during my few waking hours away from work, but simply haven’t found the time to share my experiments.
I’m of the firm belief that tarts are among the most rewarding of desserts to bake, because it always looks like you’ve put way more effort into them than you actually have.… Read More