Accidental Hedonist

I’m not being snarky here (snarky = to be a prentetious, patronizing butthead). There is great debate on what is the proper way to brew/steep tea. You will need the following: tea kettle ceramic or porcelin tea pot tea strainer A cup from which to drink The steps are as follows: 1). Using non-chlorinated water. [...]

As honey doesn’t spoil, it’s actually one of the easier foods to find and store. Obvously you want to pick to your own tastes, but you should avoid any honeys that add flavorings or (shudder) preservatives. Avoid honeys that don’t tell you what nectar source the bees had used to create your honey. If the [...]

Okay. If I’m going to taste tea, I have to know what tea is, n’est pas? And I’ve found out some pretty scary stuff. Well, not scary in heart-racing, chest-grasping way, but rather in that “Oh my God, it’s that damn cuddly teddy bear from that friggin’ fabric softner commercial!” sort of way. When it [...]

Actually, this is simply apple juice infused with the esence of barley and figs. But the lemon zest and honey also add a nice touch. 3 1/2 oz Barley 2 1/8 qt Water 1 Fig 1 Lemon 2 tb Honey 1 pn Salt 1 cn Applejuice 1.Cover the barley and the fig with water and [...]

I finally got around to making the second version of water soup (aka Acqua Cotta) last night, and I was pleasantly surprised. In truth, it’s not made of water, but of vegetable broth, being very heavy on onions, celery, tomato and spinach (and of course I added som red pepper and garlic to give it [...]

I researched and made this for Tara. I’ve made this before and it’s quite good. It’s directly from Alton Brown’s Good Eats program. As he recommended, and I wholeheartedly agree, cayenne pepper makes this recipe hum. 2 cups powdered sugar 1 cup cocoa (Dutch-process preferred) 2 1/2 cups powdered milk 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons [...]

I didn’t like the fact that the other recipe called for egg beaters. Call me a snob. So I found another aqua cotta recipe, this one, with no chicken broth, and no egg beater. I’ll cook this either tonight or tomorrow. 4 Tablespoons olive oil 4 stalks celery, finely chopped 1 onion, finely chopped 1 [...]

First off, the honey you buy in the supermarkets, at least here in the States, is usually clover honey. So when one thinks of ‘honey’ and how it tastes, what one is usually thinking of is ‘clover honey’. Why make this distinction? Because honey comes in hundreds of flavors, and its taste is dependant on [...]

Larousse Gastronomique, the premier food reference book (which has been on my bookshelf for about three years now), says this about honey… HONEY: A sweet substance manufactured by bees from nectar, and stored in the cells of the hive as food. Its flavor varies on the season, the species of flower from which it is [...]

As we move on from water to explore other bits of food, we stop next at …Honey! That’s right, Winnie the Pooh’s favorite food. Why honey? Well, it ties in nicely to another water recipe I found (which I post soon enough), and it leads nicely to the topic next to read up on/investigate/obsess about…tea! [...]

Making the Aïgo Boulido is turning out to be a unique experience. If you ever make this dish, make sure that you like garlic. My apartment now reeks of the stuff. I went down to Sur la Table to pick up a sieve and then hurried through Pike Market place to pick up the basic [...]

Tulio Ristorante 1100 5th Avenue Seattle, WA 206-624-5500 Tulio’s is an Italian bistro found at the top of Downtown Seattle, but at the base of First Hill. I, in the interest of full disclosure, live at the top of First Hill. First Hill has varying degrees of inclines, including a steep segment of Spring Street [...]