Recipe: Spicy garlic noodles (with peas)

Wow, sorry it’s been a while. I seem to have stumbled upon a series of social opportunities this week that took my usual routine of EatCleanBlogBed and chucked it out the window. Happy news is that, while absent, I was off lunching at one of my favorite spots in Sacramento, Magpie (home of the carrot cake cookie!); enjoying course after course of handmade Italian fare at Osteria Coppa with some of my favorite ladies; and enjoying the original jazz tunes of the smokin’ hot Adam Walter Band at the aptly named The Cats tavern in Los Gatos. Who knew there was … Read More

My running story

Hi friends. This Sunday, having completed one of the longest (if not the fastest) runs in my short career as a wannabe jogger, I thought I’d take a break from food for a moment to talk about something that is so closely associated with food, sad as it may be: fitness. More specifically, I know there are thousands of foodies out there (granted, they probably don’t read The Pig & Quill!) who swear just as much by their fitness regimen as they do their vast culinary prowess — and the thing is, I am not one of them. Or at least … Read More

Recipe: Restaurant-style, oven-baked potato rounds

Do you ever have one of those nights when the only thing you can possibly fathom for dinner is a life raft of french fries, preferably with a bucket of bloomin’ onion sauce on the side? I’ll pretend you said Yes so we can close the chapter on commiserating and get on with the good stuff: these de-fricking-licious potato rounds. Ok, so they’re not fries, but they ARE a very close, crispy, seasoned approximation, eerily similar to the thick-cut potato wedges you see at fine dining establishments across America. You know the ones — red and white awnings, 2-for-1 Double … Read More

Recipe: Soft-scrambled tofu with oyster sauce, Thai basil and egg

When Chris is out of the house for mealtime, a couple of things happen: 1) I catch up on DVR’d episodes of Real Housewives of ____________ and 2) I whip up a two big portions of a simple, unfussy meal full of comforting flavors — and then eat them both. Tonight was no exception. Tofu is one of those things I always have in the fridge. With sweet and salty oyster sauce and fresh, aromatic basil, this is tofu at its dressed-down best. Soft-scrambled Tofu with Oyster Sauce, Thai Basil and Egg By Emily Stoffel Cooking time: 10 minutes | … Read More

In the Pigpen No.2: Guest blogging, bronzer down! and Netflix

It’s Wednesday, and that can only mean one thing: hump puns. Lucky for you all, this Wednesday we’re also taking a trip to the Pigpen to explore some of the more miscellaneous ramblings of this P&Q author. Get humped up. Here we go: 1) I got my first Guest Blog gig! I didn’t want to steal any thunder from Full Circle when this went live last week, but this past weekend my (first-ever) guest posts for The Good Food Life went live. If you’re not yet savvy (thanks to Captain Jack Sparrow for bringing that one back a few years … Read More