Recipe

“When treasures are recipes they are less clearly, less distinctly remembered than when they are tangible objects. They evoke however quite as vivid a feeling-that is, to some of use who, considering cooking an art, feel that a way of cooking can produce something that approaches an aesthetic emotion. What more can one say? If one had the choice of again hearing Pachmann play the two Chopin sonatas or dining once more at the Cafe Anglais, which would one choose?”
Alice B. Toklas in ‘The Alice B. Toklas Cook Book’

Holy effing pig on a pogo stick it’s COLD outside. As I write this post, the temperature outside has dropped to a very cruel -51 F. At that temperature, I think about food quite a lot, but not about cooking… I think about sinking my teeth into greasy, carbohydrate-rich […]

Somewhere Between the Knife and the Pen

29 Jan, 2012 in Essays / Meditations / Recipe by Madara

Caution: food writing creates a set of self esteem issues you probably haven’t seen since the 10th grade. Once word gets around that you write about food, people start acting funny. When a friend recently heard I was attending a small get together for which he was cooking, he remarked […]

Does This Blog Make My Butt Look Big?

3 May, 2011 in Essays / Main Fare / Recipe / Salad by Madara

Drinking season is almost upon us. Or, well, the summer drinking season. Perhaps my perspective is slightly skewed from hanging around too many MFA grad students, but it seems like Alaskans drink a lot. I know more than a handful of folks who brew their own beer, wine, or mead. […]

Drinking in Alaska: Don’t Bork It Up

7 Apr, 2011 in Essays / Main Fare / Recipe by Madara

First of all, the News-Miner, our local paper, asked me to write a monthly food column, and I was more than happy to oblige. My first one is out today, a short little piece on Salmon Cheesecake. Second of all, I want playlists. Dinner party playlists to be exact. I […]

Food and Music

6 Apr, 2011 in Essays / Main Fare / Pork / Recipe by Madara

Michael Manly Miles was hard drinking and hard working, angry and funny, fearless and reckless, one hell of a farmer, and one loyal son of a bitch. If he hated you, you probably had it coming, and if he loved you, well, he loved you with a fierceness that most […]

Bread Pudding, Funerals, and the Power of Communion

22 Mar, 2011 in Essays / Recipe by Madara

Something about being a parent brought out a fine appreciation for The Rules in me. Even the most carefree eccentric artistic types will turn into whip-cracking fascist tyrants when they find another towel on the bedroom floor, only minutes after telling a child to hang up the towel when […]

Baking Bread and Breaking Rules

2 Mar, 2011 in Essays / Recipe by Madara

“Blues is a natural fact, is something that a fellow lives. If you don’t live it you don’t have it. Young people have forgotten to cry the blues. Now they talk and get lawyers and things.” –Big Bill Broonzy I’ve been thinking about Ganesha quite a bit lately, the pleasant, […]

Ganesha’s Plate of Sweets: Upside Down Blues Cake

5 Jan, 2011 in Essays / Recipe by Madara

It’s easy enough to eat the leftovers from successful parts of Christmas dinner, but what about the spectacular failures I came up with? What was I to do with the giant vat of Southern Style Mac & Cheese, (henceforth the “Rubber Style Mac & Cheese”)? What is it they say […]

Dessertes de la Table: a Fancy French term for “Leftovers”

27 Dec, 2010 in Essays / Main Fare / Recipe / Side Dishes by Madara

I now have access to a Super Secret Family Cookbook from a Danish Grandmother in the Midwest. The Danish Grandmother came to America in 1933 when she was 16 years old. And she came alone. Her recipe book is filled with things that a Southerner finds strange: kolaches, fastnachts kuchle, […]

Where My Shorties At? A Postmodern Spin on an Old ...

23 Dec, 2010 in Essays / Main Fare / Recipe by Madara

Thai food is not only Fairbanks’ favorite cuisine, it’s also turning out to be a theme in this blog. Thai flavors are as ubiquitous as snow, so it’s no mere coincidence that when folks leave this place, they are sentimental about many things and Thai food usually ranks in the […]

You Can’t Go Home Again: Part III in a Series ...

21 Dec, 2010 in Essays / Recipe / Thai Food by Madara

“I want to shake off the dust of this one-horse town. I want to explore the world. I want to watch TV in a different time zone. I want to visit strange, exotic malls…I want to live, Marge! Won’t you let me live?” -Homer Simpson I teach college English in […]

Eskimo Ice Cream and the Appeal of the “Exotic”

13 Dec, 2010 in Essays / Recipe / Seafood by Madara

On cold winter weekends I occasionally marinate myself in tequila (you would too if the sun only made a cursory 3 hour appearance each day), but during the week I soberly teach English at the local state University. As adjunct faculty I come into contact with a new round of […]