food for thoughts and tastebuds alike

Author: Geoff (page 3 of 4)

Sunday hash

Sunday morning brunch is another tradition here, and nothing ties back to the past like hash. I remember my father scraping the iron skillet on Sunday mornings as a kid, and it is a tradition that will continue on to the next generation.

Read more

Eating History

How does it feel to eat something over 3,000 years old? Whenever we have bread and beer, we are touching upon some foundational foods dating back to the start (perhaps even a significant cause) of civilization. Their ingredients are nearly identical, and you can use one to make the other.

Read more

Dog Sniffing and Spice Racks

I’m blessed to have parents who possess a rich repertoire of stories and sayings. My father had one such saying of “a bunch of dogs all sniffing each other’s asses at the dog park”. He used this saying to describe those introductory business meetings when the participants are feeling each other out, testing each other’s prowess and their respective awareness to the nonverbal acts of negotiation. It is a particularly apt reflection when all that sniffing each other lasts too long and nothing is getting accomplished.

Read more

Traditions

I can never speak highly enough on the value of creating enduring traditions. Our family is so laden with them that at times spontaneity takes the third seat after mundanity and tradition.

Read more

Dining Poets

In honor of National Poetry Day:

In my kitchen, East meets West in delicious detente
As cultures clash and clang over pots and pans.
Boiled meat – a snear and disgust by the American nose,
But greeted, amid praise and testimony by the Czech stomach.
The inevitability of conflict looms, until a common ground in Korea is found.

Read more

Choice

There is an epic struggle in the human psyche between choice and happiness. Giving people a choice gives them a sense of control, which leads to empowerment. But in the end, it really is happiness that holds the trump card for long term satisfaction – and the kicker is that people are generally happier with less choice not more. Think of how Steve Jobs upon his return to Apple immediately cut out the bulk of their SKUs to hone the message and get their customers happy.

Read more

Fanaticism

Fanaticism — The word fanatical has gotten a bad rap. Fanatic implies passion, and passion is the antidote for an uneventful life that fails Thoreau’s litmus test for a life worth living. And so it is with a friend of ours that is fanatical about her biscuits. This includes monthly shipments of the special flour direct from the manufacturer.

Read more