Posts by Walkin:

03/05/2013 Three Courses by WK

Illustration by Forsyth Harmon
Piece by Annie-Rose Harrison-Dunn


 

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The Horrors–Still Life
 
I. Soul Food
 
This bubbling stew pot is my attempt to mend us, for what we need is soul food. We have misplaced our soul. We think this happened around the same time we stopped eating together at our dinner table. Our table, carried from house to house to this our present nest, is made of a solid English oak that promised longevity. It is scratched and marked with felt-tip pen of nearly forgotten homework assignments after dinner. This is a table to be used but we have neglected it and let the room get cold like an outhouse.
 
My soul food will drag it back to the core and sooth our nerves. Sooth my nerves because I will have something to do with my hands, some sort of distraction from the anarchy of our soullessness. You will set the table, he will light the candles, our visitor will wait and sit and tell us stories that will make us laugh and make you glow, again. We will have our roles and each will sigh in relief when we feel that soul food warmth in our bellies returning to us a little bit of our togetherness again.
 

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01/30/2013 Postcards from SF: Avedano’s Butcher Shop by WK


 
Brought to you via the Walkin Kitchen by Jared Frazer creator of Tribute SF
 
Started by three friends, Avedano’s butcher shop pursues the purest forms of butchery while providing San Francisco’s Bernal Heights neighborhood with sustainably raised meat and fish. It is easy to be inspired and educated by the cleaver-wielding bunch behind the counter. Avedano’s is a place of business where craftsmen (and women) are “perserving the art of butchery”.
 
 

10/30/2012 Feeding the Fish: Hurricane Sandy by WK

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

There’s a storm outside. I haven’t left my apartment since Saturday night and between reading workshop submissions and Dracula I’ve taken a little break: drawing and cookies. I have rice keeping warm in the rice-cooker, a ripe mango and avocado, enough spaghetti for a week. Miraculously, there’s butter, sugar, flour and chocolate for baking, no matter the occasion.
 
I’m reminded of the time I was camping with my class. I was living in Australia and it didn’t take much to go out into the bush. We were in our tents but the rain was coming down so hard that the floors flooded. Soon the tents were floating in muddy water and our bags looked like small, very wet boats. I’d packed my clothes in plastic bags upon my father’s recommendation. We all relocated to the communal kitchen in the camping ground (the excitement of sleeping all together, girls and boys side-by-side, even though the floor was hard and our backs hurt!). In the morning we dried our clothes in the sun and cooked lunch. Less exciting for the parents and teachers, perhaps.
 
But let me return to this storm. The first thing I did today, after coffee and breakfast, was to get started on these cookies. They never let me down, so here I’ll share the recipe and hope that you, as well, have the ingredients stocked up in your stormproof home. Most importantly, we hope that you are warm and safe.
 

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10/10/2012 Déjeuner et Dîner à Paris by WK


 

Déjeuner à Merci:
By Sanaë

 
We are in the Marais, but not in the narrow, lively streets where falafel restaurants and small boutiques attract Parisians and tourists alike. Instead, Merci is off the wide Boulevard Beaumarchais, on a fairly quiet and sober stretch of the street. But step inside Merci and you’re entering another world: there’s a used bookstore at the front with a café, and at the end of the cobblestone pathway you’ll enter the luminous store, designed as a loft. The ground floor boutique sells designer clothes, perfumes, jewelry and shoes. Upstairs you can find furniture and Muji-style materials — bedding sheets, tablecloths, and napkins — and a beautiful selection of Japanese notebooks. True, you’ll come across expensive waxed paper bags for sale, and sophisticated teapots for sixty euros, but there are also a few good finds, and I like to peruse the store for unusual gifts, such as portable, flexible vases, or notepads made of envelopes. The basement is my favorite place though, with the Merci Cantine, open for lunch from noon to 3pm. The restaurant looks onto a small green garden where Merci grows many of its herbs. There are wooden crates filled with vegetables and fruits. The menu is written in chalk on a blackboard. Most of the ingredients are organic.
 

 

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08/30/2012 De retour à New York… by WK

This summer we’ve been busy living and breathing food, along with eating plenty of incredible dishes. Blue Smoke in Battery Park City was as busy as ever for Nate, with families filling the dining space along with sleepless bankers from across the street. Sanaë interned at Saveur Magazine, and sadly said goodbye to the wonderful team in August after three months of food-filled writing and mexican recipes from the test kitchen. August came around and we took a much needed vacation to France. This time we decided to play around with different kinds of food, ranging from quintessential trendy French restaurants to a hole-in-the-wall Japanese udon joint to German breakfast to home-cooked Thai cuisine. And the list goes on…
 
We have stories and photos to share, recipes to provide, so keep your eyes and mouths open in the coming few days. Below, a small preview to whet your appetite.
 


 
 

08/27/2012 Food Thoughts in Kashmir: Eid at Abaji’s by WK


 
A piece by Sarah Sahel for Kamalan Travels
 
Srinagar, Kashmir
 
“Sugar?” Amaji hands me the little copper cup containing translucent grains. “My mother used to say that the most delicious kahwah is so sweet that it should stick your lips together.” Her enthusiasm cajoles me into adding a full spoon of sweetness into my China cup and reminds me of my own mother’s Algerian mint tea, so full of flavour. From the large samowar, the father serves cup after cup to our little assembly. All of us sit in padmasana, the lotus position, around a blue flowery tablecloth, our lips savouring the warm Kashmiri beverage. Deliciously scented steam escapes from the massive copper kettle, an object reminiscent of Russian nostalgia, while inside, hot charcoal brings the water to boil. Green tea, cardamom, cinnamon and sugar blend into a tasteful combination, with an additional pinch of saffron to warm the heart during cold Himalayan winters. A round salty bread called zoot, fresh from the local bakery, comes to balance this family breakfast.
 
Ayan invited me to celebrate the Eid-ul-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, in his Kashmiri home, without telling me what to expect. This was my third trip to North India, I felt confident, at ease, ever curious. The first steps into Srinagar confirmed these spontaneous feelings, and on the morning of Eid, the city adopted me.
 

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