Grain-Free Chocolate & Orange Scones

It’s been unseasonably warm here in California.

I know, you’re probably rolling your eyes and about to bite my head off about snow and ice and wool socks and one very real Polar Vortex. I get it. It’s obnoxious that it’s warm-ish here. I know I’m supposed to be all brag-a-saurus about how I’ve been getting away with the occasional tank-top or how there isn’t a cloud in the sky today. It’s sunny. Like really sunny. Like “the sun is streaming in through my window as I type this and assaulting my computer screen and giving off a terrible glare” kind of sunny. But, I’m just not that jazzed about it. The usually lush hills surrounding my home look thirsty and haggard. It’s surpassed the awesomely golden shade they turn in summer. It’s just dead. Everything is an even shade of brown. What’s the opposite of a Polar Vortex? Because this feels like that. Dry. Drought-y. Calm. Thirsty. […]

Mom’s Super Healing Chicken Stew

Fact: There are times in life when you need your Mama-Bear, no matter how old you are.

Fact: Yes, I sometimes refer to my Mom as Mama-Bear. No one should look surprised. Does she call me Baby-Bear in return? Maybe. Am I nearly thirty years old? Affirmative. Just go with it.

Fact: Mama-Bears are really good at making ordinary food taste like liquid gold.

For example, while I was under the weather this past weekend my Mom whipped me up a chicken stew that tasted like fifty billion liquid hugs. I’m not kidding. It tasted like growing up, and all the times I had the sniffles. It smelled like my grandmother’s kitchen on a wintry day. Through the scent of it bubbling on the stove came the memories, through the memories came the feelings of familiarity and warmth, and through that warmth came a deep feeling of love. Who ever thinks love is not a legit ingredient in cooking is wrong. Or, maybe they’ve just never tasted a Mama-Bear’s chicken stew. That’s okay. I’ll show you how it’s done. […]

Red Wine-Braised Short Ribs

Christmas is in six days.
But, we’re not going to talk about it.
Instead, we’re going to discuss how Hawaiians measure things. Later we will segue into how the only thing to do is to eat these short ribs for breakfast, lunch and dinner and then again for breakfast. Buckle up.
Over Thanksgiving my family came to stay with us. It was great. Things only became greater when my Mom decided to make her short ribs. I’m not one to turn down an offer when there are tender chunks of beef involved. We’ve discussed it before… but, steak is truly my power animal. […]

Lime And Coconut Green Smoothie

 It’s been cold and damp outside  for a long time now.

Our backyard is in a perpetual state of wetness. The earth is cold and crumbly. The rain stopped a while back, but the mud just hasn’t recovered.

I’m painfully aware of the state of my backyard because I have a puppy and a white carpet.

Perhaps it was after this morning’s shenanigans where my muddy dog came tearing past me into the house, running laps and dodging my attempted side tackles, leaving a trail of her dirty feet like a horrifying dance-step diagram, that I really started longing for warmer and drier days.  She is currently on time out. She seems pleased with herself as usual.

It was at 8:30 this morning, on my hands and knees, cleaning up a trail of muddy paw prints, I started fantasizing about luxuriating out in the sunshine and sipping on mojitos and  piña coladas. […]