Domestic Economy

“Tama Matsuoka Wong, former counsel of Merrill’s international private client group. . . is now the official forager for Daniel.”

The author of a new book on edible weeds is a securities lawyer based in New Jersey.

Resisted the urge to take myself out to dinner; it’s always easier to resist if there’s no one there to share your french fries/bottle of wine/salad.  Made this, or a close approximation of it, instead.

Last night was a late one at the office, so I splurged this morning and brought in pastries from Tartine. Three morning buns, two pain au chocolat, and a frangipane croissant were demolished in a matter of minutes.  And a partridge in a pear tree.

Today I spent no money. This morning I put my leftover oatmeal into a Tupperware for breakfast tomorrow. I had an egg sandwich for lunch. And in an effort to make the meager scraps of my student loans last til 2012, I decided against both going shopping and ordering takeout for dinner. The result, as you see below, was a totally off balance meal that gave me indigestion and a little bit of heartache about winter. But! Lots of leftover squash.

Poverty Potato Salad.

Boil three red potatoes in salted water. When easily pierced with a fork, drain and hack into medium pieces. Combine some leftover sour cream, minced garlic (I used too much and I’ve been feeling the consequences all evening), olive oil, lemon juice, and za’atar spice in a bowl. Mix with the potatoes. Consume. Regret not saving half for lunch tomorrow, because now you have a stomachache.

Butternut Squash.

Cut the squash lengthwise. Try not to hurt yourself, especially if your knives (like mine) are enormous, yet inexplicably dull. Peel. Slice crosswise, about 1/2 inch thick. Lay in a baking pan coated with olive oil. Season (I used smoked paprika on half the squash, thyme on the other half, kosher salt on all of it) and drizzle with more oil. Roast at 390 if your oven only heats in weird 20 degree increments (like mine). Otherwise, go for 400.

As the anniversary of the first issue of Domestic Economy approaches, we can’t help but lament that another edition is long overdue. So it’s with great excitement and hefty expectations that we announce a call for submissions. The theme, as for all good Americans, is consumption; specifically, we want to talk about food.

Please send us your original stories, essays, poems, letters, diaries, chapbooks, etc. about food. Your photos, drawings, paintings, slides, interpretive dances, and other artistic representations of food, etc. are also welcome, especially if they can be reproduced in digitized form. And, of course, your recipes. This year, we are especially looking for recipes for delicious delicacies that you associate with a particular place or time in your life.

Domestic Economy is a modern community cookbook project started in 2010. Like the Yankee women who originated the community cookbook in 1864, we are neither experts nor authorities on cooking – and we’re not looking for experts or authorities, either. What we do want are your thoughts, your memories; accounts of your proudest successes (Lucy: lemon bars) and most miserable failures (Hannah: chocolate brioche).

Last year’s edition is still available for download here [pdf]. We have high hopes for this year’s incarnation. The deadline for submission (here, or domestic.economy@gmail.com) is Sunday, August 7.

Dutifully yours,

Domestic Economy

A meat stew.

See “A Man, a Plan, a Canal Alimentary” at The Nervous Breakdown.

Katie Shelly was featured at Craftzine! Good job, Katie!

In early November 1993, appellee QVC Network,  Inc. (“QVC”), operator of a cable television home-shopping channel, advertised, as part of a one-day Thanksgiving promotion, the “T-Fal Jumbo Resistal Roaster.” The roaster, manufactured by U.S.A. T -Fal Corp. (“T-Fal”), was described as suitable for, among other things, cooking a twenty-five pound turkey. Appellant Loyda Castro bought the roasting pan by mail and used it to prepare a twenty-pound turkey on Thanksgiving Day, 1993.

Mrs. Castro was injured when she attempted to remove the turkey and roasting pan from the oven. Using insulated mittens, she gripped the pan’s handles with the first two fingers on each hand (the maximum grip allowed by the small size of the handles) and took the pan out of the oven. As the turkey tipped toward her, she lost control of the pan, spilling the hot drippings and fat that had accumulated in it during the cooking and basting process. As a result, she suffered second and third degree burns to her foot and ankle, which, over time, has led to scarring, intermittent paresthesia, and ankle swelling.

Castro v. QVC Network, 139 F.3d 114, 115-16 (2d Cir. 1998).

New York, New York. Bread line beside the Brooklyn Bridge approach.

Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information Photograph Collection, LC-USW33- 035391-ZC

Hi! I’m so happy to announce that the first-ever Domestic Economy is finished and available for download now! Get a PDF copy here. If you’re interested in getting a printed copy, please drop me a line using the form on the Submissions page. If you find an embarrassing typo, do the same. And keep those submissions coming, please!