Two Cooks: casserole

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

The eggplants win…

From Mary’s kitchen

Its high summer in the South! I have been out of touch with the blog for a bit. I’ve moved to a lovely house on the bay and have been occupied with work to get moved in, getting the old house ready for sale and my day job… Needless to say, writing about cooking has not been high on my list lately.

On the move in April, I was so excited to finally have gardening space, but didn’t want to wait for raised beds to arrive. So I stuck a couple of young tomato plants in a large pot by the side of the drive with early excellent progress. As the plants began to challenge the space, sufficient watering became an issue. Also, I did not anticipate the impact of wind living on the bay. Recent hard storms left the pot with its 5-foot high tomato plants, laden with green tomatoes, on its side in the drive - twice. The plants rapidly began to look much worse for the wear and bit the dust before I could polish my tomato recipes…red or green. Alas.

Thursday, June 16, 2016

Blue Cheese & Broccoli Casserole

From Meg's Kitchen

The hubs and I eat a lot of cheese and we particularly like the strong flavored and stinky stuff. For several years the hubs made frequent business trips to France and returned with lots of cheese - we called those trips "stinky cheese runs". One US customs officer refused to check his suitcase once he got a whiff of the cheese (way pre 9/11).

Growing up I loved cheese and remember one time when I was about 8 I was really mad at my parents (I have no idea what injustice occurred but I wasn't being punished so it was probably a wrong done to me by my sister that went unpunished). I distinctly remember deciding not to run away but I would go to my room and not come out until my parents realized their error. Knowing that I would not be able to last a long time in my room without sustenance (wise child that I was) I took some cheese and crackers with me. The available cheese was a blue cheese... It probably took me about 30 minutes to scarf down the "c&c". Intending to spend hours alone in one's bedroom is hunger inducing. The blue cheese was really strong and my anger for the injustice had quickly waned so I quickly gave up my solitude for a drink of water. I am sure that my parents never noticed my absence.

About Us:

Our goal is to share our cooking experience, contrasting our tips and techniques as well as the cultural and regional differences in our cooking. Meg brings a northwest perspective and a love of Latin cooking. Mary’s kitchen can be overrun with gumbo, risotto or biscotti. We want to build our skills by sharing with each other and you.

We both love to cook – take a look at our individual profiles – solo or together. We met in college, sharing a house and a limited budget with two non-cook appreciative roommates. Although we have spread out geographically, the four of us get together every few years…and when a kitchen is available Mary and Meg cook. We have found that our childhood experiences and current geographic locations have flavored our cooking styles. When we cook together we enjoy sharing recipes, ideas, cooking tips and everything cooking. This is what we want to accomplish with this blog – good recipes, stories and the love of the art.

Meg's Story

My mom is a wonderful person but a lousy cook. Fortunately she began my love of cooking on my first day of kindergarten. I learned how to boil water. The next lesson was to make Jell-O (I still like plain Jell-O and now know how to make aspic and all things (well, maybe not “all”) gelatin). As a child I was kind of a picky eater (might as well blame it on Mom’s cooking) and I regret it to this day and am trying to make up for lost time. My father’s work took us to Brazil for four years – a mind blowing experience which helped open my appetite to new foods. My husband’s family is from Puerto Rico and he spent much of his youth in Mexico so I have enjoyed exploring these two cuisines over the years.

Mary's Story

Ditto. Well, except for the move to Brazil, a Puerto Rican husband and picky eating. My early exposure was to basic, country cooking. We had a one-cookbook kitchen. My mother’s style was to boil the heck out of anything, which worked pretty well for Jell-O, soup and pot roast. In my early twenties, I bought a cookbook and made quiche. Everything snowballed from there. Since then, I’ve migrated from rural Maryland to San Francisco, then to the Gulf Coast, giving me exposure to different foods and styles. My love of reading, experimenting and travel has led to a kitchen overflowing with cookbooks and friends who like to eat. I’ll try cooking anything once…

Two Cooks

An Abundance of Ingredients