Main Dishes

Thumbnail image for how to make stuffed chicken breast

how to make stuffed chicken breast

Danny and I ate this for lunch on Friday. We did it for you. One of my favorite easy weeknight meals is something Danny taught me how to make: a stuffed chicken breast. You make a filling — in this case goat cheese, arugula, sage, lemon zest, and salt — butterfly the chicken breast, sear it, [...]

Read the full article →

Good Fish

How do you feel about fish? We’re big fish eaters around here, particularly in this season supposedly called summer. (64 degrees today. Well, at least there was some sun.) Halibut and salmon are back in season. The grill on our front porch has a full tank of propane. In this time of light until 10 [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for linguine with shrimp and slow-roasted tomatoes

linguine with shrimp and slow-roasted tomatoes

This has been a heady few weeks. Our trip to Washington D.C. followed my trip to Google, which was followed by my time with Penny de los Santos. We’ve been home for a week, working hard, and we leave today for Austin, Texas. (It’s 100 degrees in Austin. Here it has not risen above 65 [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for carnitas for Cinco de Mayo

carnitas for Cinco de Mayo

In just a few hours, these ribs will be our dinner. This morning, Danny created a spice rub, just for the heck of it. After he did the dishes, he started playing. A little coriander, a touch of cinnamon, some ground coffee, a little chipotle. I love when he plays with food. After smelling the [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for prosciutto-asparagus tortilla

prosciutto-asparagus tortilla

What do you think when I say, “He eats alone”? Did you feel pity for that person? A little sad? Does it remind you of yourself? Did it scare you? We have such specific images of someone who eats alone. Think Bridget Jones, crying into her ice cream about being a singleton. Or the woman [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for baked halibut with asparagus, leeks, and dill

baked halibut with asparagus, leeks, and dill

We’ve been longing for spring around here. Rain. That’s what we’ve had. Rain. I don’t complain about the rain. We live in the Seattle area. It rains here, especially in the winter. We don’t have banks of snow or days so cold we have to bundle up the child in so many layers that her [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for gluten-free crepes

gluten-free crepes

A couple of weeks ago, we had our friends Tita and John over for breakfast. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence. These are two of our favorite people in the world. However, it was Tita’s birthday recently, so this was a special occasion. We wanted to fix her whatever she wanted to eat. She thought when [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for roasted vegetable salad

roasted vegetable salad

I wonder how many pesticides I have eaten in my life. When I was a kid, I never heard about organic produce. We went to the store and bought lettuce (mostly iceberg) or apples (those mushy disappointments known as reds) or potatoes (always russet). There wasn’t a special section in the produce aisle, even a [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for spicy escarole with sausage and tomatoes

spicy escarole with sausage and tomatoes

A few years ago, if you had asked me to identify the vegetable up there, I would have scrunched up my face, looked at it sideways, and said, “Really good green leaf lettuce?” Nope. It’s escarole. I first ate it only a few years ago, thanks to Danny. This is the first winter that I’m [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for we want to hear your love stories.

we want to hear your love stories.

I want to tell you a story. On New Year’s Day, I received a message from one of my dearest friends. She’s in New York now, far away, but we still talk frequently. All through the fall, however, we barely talked. After we saw her in the city in September, and stayed in her apartment [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for gluten-free pizza

gluten-free pizza

Pizza. When you first find out you have to go gluten-free, this is probably one of the first foods you remember with genuine grief. I can’t have pizza anymore? What am I going to do? You make gluten-free pizza. And I don’t mean the pizza that tastes like cardboard painted brown, or the pizza that [...]

Read the full article →

how to make gluten-free pizza

You want pizza, don’t you? A number of you who have already been cooking out of our cookbook have written to say a) how much you LOVE it and b) where the heck is that pizza recipe? We have to tell you a) how much giddy happiness it gives us to think of the book [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for gluten-free crabcakes for my love

gluten-free crabcakes for my love

This morning, I watched this man bend down to grab the hands of our daughter and slowly go around in a circle with her while they sang Ring Around the Rosie together. (There’s no need to tell her yet how creepy that song really is.) Right now, he is taking her on their morning date: [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for gluten-free macaroni and cheese

gluten-free macaroni and cheese

I’m pretty sure it was 1974. The year we watched the Watergate trials on television all summer long, in the cool dark den on the shag carpeting. The year that the Vietnam war had been declared over but still appeared on the television between Watergate and the Brady Bunch. The year of third grade, when [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for roasted asparagus frittata

roasted asparagus frittata

It is finally spring around here. This may have been the mildest winter in Seattle history, weather-wise, but it was a long one in this house. I’ve written about that here before. No need to repeat. The sun is out now. It might have been cold these past few weeks (37° at night, Seattle? Really?), [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for C is for Cooking

C is for Cooking

Before Lu was born, I didn’t realize that cookbooks are great toddler reading material. Our friend Matthew, in his book Hungry Monkey, told us that his daughter Iris loved looking at Martha Stewart’s Cookies. Eventually, she had all the cookies memorized and could point out each kind: milk-chocolate cookies, hazelnut jam thumbprints, and ginger cheesecake [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for gluten-free turkey for Thanksgiving

gluten-free turkey for Thanksgiving

I love a good roasted turkey, the skin crisp, the flesh juicy. Thanksgiving dinner doesn’t start for me until I have stolen a piece of skin from the bird just out of the oven. For that reason, a dry turkey that flecks off the bone and makes me reach for the gravy boat is just [...]

Read the full article →

Egg Recipes Good Enough for Dinner

It’s halfway through the week. Are you down to leftovers from the farmers’ market this past weekend and a dozen eggs? Why not have eggs for dinner? Over at Good Bite, Julie Van Rosendaal (from Dinner with Julie) and the always-hilarious Matt Armendariz (from Matt Bites) and I had a conversation about eggs and how [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for cooking again.

cooking again.

I have missed cooking. Oh, I have been dabbling, slowly stirring scrambled eggs with a touch of cream on low heat, until the yellowy curds pile up like pillows on an unmade bed. Some mornings, I toss the potatoes into salted water and wait long enough that I can run a knife through their centers [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for the grace of salisbury steak

the grace of salisbury steak

I once knew a girl named Grace. Actually, that’s not entirely true. I didn’t really know her. I sat across from her in Mr. Lester’s fifth-grade class. She knew most of the math problems we figured out on the chalkboard. She had an odd, intermittent giggle, like helium escaping from a small balloon slowly. And [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for the smell of fresh ginger

the smell of fresh ginger

The other day, the Chef and I pushed our grocery cart through Uwajimaya. We’re always a little dazzled by the place, the red bean curd desserts, the tiny Japanese ladies pushing past us on a mission for the right fish, the shelves of Kewpi mayonnaise and Pocari Sweat. When we drive there, we quote our [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for twittering our way to a meal

twittering our way to a meal

As I sat at the computer, Little Bean taking a nap, I slipped the cursor underneath my Word document and opened up Firefox again. Even though I had only forced myself to close that window fifteen minutes before, I could not resist the lure of checking my email one more time. Maybe Meri wrote to [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for a fresh start

a fresh start

There’s something heartbreaking about September light in Seattle. The trees are filled with light, liquid and soft as baby’s hair. I love the fall. By the calendar, January is the beginning of the year. All that grey and cold hardly feels like a fresh start, however. If we throw away the calendars and look at [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for would you like some Tang with that?

would you like some Tang with that?

The longer I am pregnant, the more immediate my food needs become. If you have been reading this site for awhile, you know that I love playing with new flavors, tasting new foods, throwing ingredients together and inventing something that I have never made before. For the first year after I lived gluten-free, innovation was [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for frikadeller is my new favorite word

frikadeller is my new favorite word

Long before I became pregnant, I was curious about other women’s food cravings. Popular culture says that we’ll all slaver over pickles and ice cream. But I don’t actually know any women who were desperate for either when they were pregnant. Not me, certainly. I’ve always loved pickles anyway, but I’m much more excited by [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for soon, please

soon, please

Spring in Seattle? You are so fickle. Please stop. This morning, when we woke up, the green lawn was covered in grey-white frost. This made the walk to grab the paper an unpleasant experience in pajamas. The Chef found photos of snow-covered roads from the previous night, online, taken about twelve miles from our home. [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for bacon, a party unto itself

bacon, a party unto itself

Oh bacon, how we love you. A few weeks ago, I received a rather long and hateful comment from someone hiding in anonymity. I didn’t publish it. No big deal. These things seem to happen, if you have a life online. Still, one of the lines that was meant as a terrible insult turned into [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for our morning routine disrupted

our morning routine disrupted

Damn you, Jamie Oliver. You always make me hungry. Long, languid morning moments in bed with the Chef are almost always my favorite of the day. In a way, that time is sacred space. I don’t mean that we light candles and chant incantations. I mean, in the utter mundanity of cups of hot coffee, [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for a love letter to the world

a love letter to the world

Dear lovely, quixotic world, I take you for granted, sometimes. Certainly, I exult at all the tastes that excite me (like this sugar cookie from the Sensitive Baker in Los Angeles, which Sharon and I ate in the parked car before we even drove away). I’m overtaken by the beauty you offer, the sudden flashes [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for hands hard at work making food

hands hard at work making food

These days, it seems, my best ideas for food comes from other people’s hands. Have you ever watched the hands of someone who really knows how to cook? Ask him about how to prepare a recipe, and he’ll start pinching salt in the air. He scoops up sausages and flings them into hot fat, flicks [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for coming home

coming home

All the way home, as the plane strode across the continent, my mind kept ringing with one song: “I want to see him. I can’t wait to see him!” Days in cities filled with people who drove to see me — delightful and filled with stories. But nights alone in strange beds without him — [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for the honeymoon approaches.

the honeymoon approaches.

We are counting down the days. The Chef and I love our lives. By halfway through the day, his fingers are itching to get into the kitchen. Driving into the restaurant, he twitches a bit. As happy as he is with me, that kitchen has been his home for his entire adult life. He sighs [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for a woman in white, I shall be

a woman in white, I shall be

I found my wedding dress. Slowly, a niggling worry was creeping in. After all, it is almost three months until we are married. (And every time one of us says that out loud, we giggle, like little kids delighted by the toy dangling above us.) The wedding planning goes as easily as breathing. The rings [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for oh, the honeymoon

oh, the honeymoon

We thought we knew where we were going on our honeymoon. Honeymoon. The sound of it alone makes me feel a little glowy, like the pale-yellow sunset out the window as I write. After nearly four decades of being on this earth, I had nearly given up hope of meeting that man of my dreams. [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for The way we eat around here.

The way we eat around here.

Furtively, the Chef and I glance in other people’s baskets and gesture toward each other. “That one has Fig Newtons, Oscar Mayer hot dogs, and bottled spaghetti sauce,” he whispers to me. “Yeah? Well that girl has twenty little containers of the yogurt with the gelatin and food dye in it. She’s also buying nonfat [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for how he made me cry

how he made me cry

the Chef’s pizza, originally uploaded by shaunaforce.   Last evening, I sat on our couch, next to the Chef, with tears rolling down my cheeks. I looked up at him, honestly moved and unable to convey it fully with words, and said, “You made me pizza.” In our hands were slices of gluten-free pizza, the [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for (Gluten-Free) Blog Day 2006

(Gluten-Free) Blog Day 2006

Whole Foods pizza crust, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. Last year, on the last day of August, I woke up dreading the start of school. Weary and wary, I clicked onto my email after imbibing several cups of coffee. I really didn’t need the caffeine, it turns out, because what I found waiting for me in [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for when life hands you plums…..

when life hands you plums…..

Italian plums I, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. Autumn moves through the air these days, even though it is just past the middle of August. In the mornings, the sun rises just a touch later than it did last week. The warmth of the day feels like an echo, an old memory instead of a present [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for heading north

heading north

shauna on top of the #C8BBF, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. Here I am, triumphant, on the top of Mount Verstovia, in Sitka, Alaska. Four hours of hiking behind me, the sweat on my back starting to dry in the cool air, mountains, vast bodies of water, and eagles with six-foot wingspans surrounding me — I [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for veal goulash — now this is a man

veal goulash — now this is a man

veal goulash, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. I eat well around here these days. Late in the evening, the Chef comes to my house, after an entire day of cooking at his restaurant. He smells of warmth and richness, the mingled scents of grilled lamb, Spanish goat cheese, and Rainier cherry ice cream. When I kiss [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for an almost-summer picnic with my favorite group of writers

an almost-summer picnic with my favorite group of writers

senior picnic, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. Summer vacation. We can taste it. Every student and teacher at school is leaning toward it, exhausted and ready for three months of sleeping in, wandering in indolence, and discovery. For months, everyone has worked diligently, churning out research papers and grading World War Two exams and producing journalism [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for being filmed for the Food Network

being filmed for the Food Network

being filmed for the Food Network, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. As a kid, I used to teach television cooking classes in my mind. Ten years old and infatuated with Julia Child — oh, how I loved that outrageous woman, her high-pitched voice, and her gangly goofiness — I sometimes left my place before the TV [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for the markets are open and all is well with the world

the markets are open and all is well with the world

farmers’ market III, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. Spring is definitely in the air. All around the city, ebullient-looking couples are holding hands and staring into each other’s eyes. People talk about summer vacation as though it is just around the weekend. Even the air feels sprightly. The world is alive again. And for me, one [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for the making of another foodie

the making of another foodie

Selene with the tuna rolls, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. I remember the first meal I ever made. I was only eight years old, or so — memory is only guessing at best, sometimes. By that age, I knew how to make grilled cheese sandwiches, or heat up a can of soup. Macaroni and cheese from [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for springtime, in Seattle, with IACP

springtime, in Seattle, with IACP

IACP conference, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. A bulging green bag is resting against the bookcases in my bedroom. It’s stuffed with a weird array of disparate items: a bottle of vanilla syrup for espresso drinks; hastily scrawled notes from long seminars; chocolates from around the world; a menu for a gala dinner, with an antipasti [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for Hi, my name is Shauna, and I am…..

Hi, my name is Shauna, and I am…..

the Market IV, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. I have a confession to make: I’m addicted to food shopping. You know how some women are so slavishly excited about shopping for shoes that, when they pass a tiny boutique with impossibly tall shoes on little stages, their friends have to pry them away from the window [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for Come with me to the Casbah.

Come with me to the Casbah.

lamb tagine I, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. Some sentences you just never forget. When I was twelve, a beautiful boy leaned toward me and whispered in my ear, “Come with me to the Casbah.” I can still remember the hazy sunshine I saw through the window as he said it. He smelled faintly of sweat, [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for the joy of biting down on that crust

the joy of biting down on that crust

Madwoman pizza, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. When I was a kid, pizza brought a certain set of sense memories: small round pepperoni slices, curled up at the edges, orange oil pooled in each one, crowded together on a thin layer of cheese. Mostly, we ate frozen pizza when I was growing up. Cardboard-tasting crusts. Toppings [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for salty sweetness and smiling surprise

salty sweetness and smiling surprise

My creation, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. Last night, I spent a quiet New Year’s Eve alone. And I loved it. I’ve been to fabulous parties at the top of tall buildings. I’ve been to small gatherings with only a dozen friends. I spent all my formative new years with my parents and brother, willing ourselves [...]

Read the full article →
Thumbnail image for Let’s celebrate!

Let’s celebrate!

Scotch III, originally uploaded by shaunaforce. When I was a kid, I wasn’t much of a rulebreaker. In fact, I pretty much did what I was told. Homework done, chores accomplished, goals met: I was regular and plodding as bleached white bread. Well, not entirely. Not internally, where I lived a wild life. But on [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries