My grandfather told me about this recipe for making booze that he remembered from when he was young. They would ferment apple juice in a big barrel and then let it freeze. Once it was frozen solid, they'd drill into the center of the ice, where there'd be a liquid core of high-proof alcohol. That … Continue reading Applejack →

Cooking mloukieh for dinner tonight. A Middle-Eastern dish, deep and unique delicious greens with chicken and beef and a little spice. It's served over rice with lemon. I remember this dish from childhood, but I've never made it before. Should help cut these dark nights.

Melomakarona are another traditional Greek Christmas cookie. Semolina dough with orange juice and zest, cognac, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves, baked and then soaked in honey syrup and sprinkled with walnuts, they're a real journey.

Stuffed with pistachios, these ma'amoul are another Mediterranean Christmas (and Easter!) cookie.

I made a batch of kourabiades, a Greek Christmas shortbread cookie made with almond flour. They're really good!

I made these macaroons today. I've never made macaroons before so I wanted something easy. They taste pretty good, but I'm missing the almond flour from classic recipes. Also, these are going to be hard to put into a gift box.

A batch of Snickerdoodles from the Wikibooks Cookbook I started making Christmas cookies today. Snickerdoodles are the household favourite, so I went to the Wikibooks Cookbook to look for a basic recipe. Unfortunately there were 5, all jumbled up on the same page. So, I broke up the article into five different pages, and picked … Continue reading Snickerdoodles →

I made this dish for the first time ever tonight. It was complicated, but not as bad as I expected. Everyone loved the result.

Started in summer. Bottled in November.With luck, it will be drinkable by Valentine's Day.

I first read about this book and the ideas therein in the near-future environmental novel Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson. In Ministry, one of the major trends that happens is wildlife corridors between and among major national parks, resulting in a "re-wilding" of rural and residential areas that had previously separated parks … Continue reading Half-Earth →