Tag Archives: quinoa

Figs

September 15, 2016 By in Recipes Tags: , , , 1 Comment

Quinoa and Fig Salad with Feta, Pistachios, and Za’atar Vinaigrette

quinoafigsalad

Figs are the sexiest fruit. Aside from their feminine shape and sweet, squishy interior, they’re sexy because they’re elusive, at least in these parts. The New England–grown figs I’ve eaten have been dry and disappointing. A good, ripe fig spews its jellied guts when you take a bite. I guess there’s an exception to the “better local” rule.

But California figs, if you can get your hands on them, are awfully good. My favorite variety of those I’ve been able to try isn’t the slinky purple Black Mission Fig, but the green Kadota. I can eat only one at a time; they’re diminutive but their sweetness is concentrated and it goes right to my head. That’s why I never use them in desserts; they can’t take the sugar.

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Dreamless

February 27, 2014 By in Recipes Tags: , , , , , 8 Comments

Crispy Grain, Seed, and Oat Granola

roasted pears
Like most who write a blog, I like to read. I love stories, and flipping pages, and bookmarking, and returning. But I’ll admit to always having been more partial to spoken word than to written word. The stories told by others, out loud, have an inflection, an emotion, a lack of censorship that only a select few writers can achieve (I certainly can’t, though I’m not a “writer”). I find the tangents, and the meandering, and the ineloquence endearing—more authentic than carefully planned sentences, punctuation marks, and astute usage of language and grammar.

I like being enveloped in others’ truth. It is likely for that reason that I am (or was) a vivid dreamer. I revel in those tales told by my unconscious—tales reflective of my life, and my secret desires, and my emotions that my waking self doesn’t have the capacity to know I hold. As The Stepkids sing in “Memoirs of Grey,” “Dreams make the waking life bearable.”

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