Cooking A New Recipe! WOO HOO!

Regular readers of IPB Living will know that, while I claim to like to cook, I have a pretty narrow scope, and tend to fall into ruts. This is probably a result of my doing all my grocery shopping on Mondays after work, and often doing my weekly menu planning on the fly while [...]

Sweet, Heavenly Bacon

There is a farm not far from where we live that raises heirloom beef, pork and poultry, but because we’re complete losers, we’ve been too chicken to drive up to the main office there to actually buy stuff from them. We’ve been hemming and hawing for years about it, and finally this week, while [...]

The Garlicky Fruits Of Spring

The other day Pookie emailed me at work to say, “Check out this link — we need to investigate this green garlic thing!” I proceeded to spend a delightful afternoon reading the rest of Farmgirl Susan’s wonderful blog, and then Pookie and I hatched plans to double-plant our garlic bed next year so we [...]

My Old (Read: “Actual”) Favorite Meal

A few days ago I wrote about a “Southwestern Green Chicken Chili” soup that I declared my new favorite meal. I may have been exaggerating a little bit in my enthusiasm for this newfound dish. You see, this weekend I broke with my self-imposed seasonal-eating rules and made what has been my long-standing [...]

Slow-Cooked Saturday

Last night was the final night of my Week Of Trying, which meant it was time for a new recipe for a pasta dish (since Saturdays are our traditional wine-and-pasta-and-hockey nights). I decided to go to the always-reliable Marcella Hazan for something exciting and unlike what we normally eat on Saturdays, and The Essentials [...]

Cinnamon Buns Mean Never Having To Say You’re Sorry

Last week Boomer was out of town, so Pookie and I slummed it, eating frozen pizza literally four nights in a row. By the time this weekend rolled around, I was ready to cook for reals, and I had the added encouragement of a house guest. Now, CapsChick is a good friend, and [...]

IPB Gets Comfy

Ahhhh, Fall — the time of year when a young woman’s fancy turn to thoughts of comfort food. We spent all week eagerly anticipating our traditional Saturday pasta dinner (what, did you think we maintain our girlish physiques by avoiding starches?) because this week I’d put homemade macaroni and cheese on the docket. [...]

A Not-Quite-Daily Loaf With IPB

My primary love as a baker is bread. For many years I thought myself a highly competent home bread-baker, and when I grew frustrated with hitting what I thought was my ceiling as a self-taught baker, I enrolled in a week-long course at the Culinary Institute of America with the hopes of making myself [...]

The Fruits Of The Earth, And How I Cook Them On Lazy Weeknights

Heirloom Tomatoes

Originally uploaded by interchangeableparts

It must be August here, because when I walked out of the farm this week I had probably 30 pounds of produce with me, including 18 glorious pounds of tomatoes. In the course of the summer we get cherry tomatoes, [...]