Recipe: Garlic chicken with plums

Today when I woke up to gray skies and that fine, Bay Area micro-mist that’s actually quite uncommon in my neck of the woods, I knew it’d be a Dutch oven supper night. Despite my obsession with summer and my resistance to its departure, autumn brings with it all sorts of seasonal rewards, not the least of which is fiddling with my slowly growing collection of Le Creuset cookware. (Hey, homegirls gotta pay the bills.) I’ve always been a fan of slow cooking. It’s the kind of cooking that indicates you’ve got time on your hands, and that’s a luxury … Read More

Whine-with-me-Wednesday + salsa suggestions open call

Whhhhhednesday. Do you ever have those weeks where, before you know it, Friday is upon you though you swear it was Tuesday only yesterday? This is not one of those weeks. Today is Wednesday. Today feels like Wednesday. And every evening, daylight slips away a tad earlier, little shrinking sands boogying their way ever faster through the hourglass, until we’ll have nothing at the end of the day but a brisk walk across a darkening parking lot, keys deftly woven between each finger a la Self Defense for Women Walking Through Parking Lots 101. Wow, that went dark quickly. Anyway, … Read More

Recipe: Soy glazed bacon noodles with baby broccoli & wax beans

Oh boy, another bacon post! That makes four now, if you count Bacos, meh, and yesterday’s post about the glory that is Trader Joe’s Bacon Ends and Pieces (indeed, the very same Ends and Pieces that make a star appearance in this dish). I promise — and those with whom I eat on a daily basis can attest — I’m not always this lazer-focused on the pig. In fact, meatless meals end up on our dinner coffee table most nights of the week. But when we’re craving just a little animal protein after a rigorous bike ride or an Original … Read More

No-post Sunday – or – TJ’s Bacon Ends & Pieces

Wow, what happened to my lazy Sunday? I was all scheduled to have a recipe posted today, but between brunch in Sac with the in-laws, the drive home, errands, spontaneous fridge-freezer rearranging (I can’t lie; I LOVE reorganizing stuff) and watching Thor on Netflix, here I am. With no post. Or more accurately, a post but no edited-for-the-blog-world pictures. So basically, no post. Whaaa. In lieu of the intended post, please enjoy this picture of Trader Joe’s Uncured Bacon Ends and Pieces, borrowed from The Food Yenta, which I strongly believe are one of the best bargains in the market … Read More

In the Pigpen No.1: Bacos, badonkadonks & bomb-diggity bread

Happy Friday, world! Lots in the hopper here at the P&Q and no real rhyme or reason (yet) as to how I will manage the queue. Fellow bloggers, please tell me: how do you do it? Enter my attempted solution, the Pigpen: a mini-roundup of the promised miscellany that’s been bouncing around in the ol’ cabesa but hasn’t quite achieved solo-post status. We’ll see how far we get with this… 1) My random nostalgic love of: Bacos. Why is it that foodies almost always have a nostalgic obsession with packaged foodstuffs that attempt to closely approximate meat? For my husband, it’s … Read More