General | hungry sofia

Apr 5

Catching Up in April and Springing Forward

Now that it’s almost over, I can admit that this winter has been hard. It wasn’t the severity but the unpredictability that had me – and almost everyone else I know – on edge. Desperate for any lasting sign of spring, I wrote this short piece on getting through the final weeks for Devour. Last week, in a fit of spring induced optimism, I brought an armful of herbs home from the farmer’s market. I’ve never been great with plants, but seeing them lined up along the windowsill, I’m hopeful that these will be different. Read more

Mar 27

8 Comments

Empadinhas de Palmito

I always loved Palm Sunday when I was little. There was something about getting those palm fronds that felt important. For once I had a focus for my fidgeting, and I’d spend the service shaping and reshaping them. Last Sunday, though I (somewhat guiltily) didn’t attend mass, I fussed with hearts of palm instead. Read more

Mar 25

7 Comments

Almond-Orange Flan

Whenever I turn out a successful flan, I always feel like I’ve gotten lucky. Made with with relatively few ingredients, they should be simple but that’s not always the case. I recently tried to make a Mexican flan imposible (part custard, part chocolate) that turned out to be – well – impossible. This week, I was determined make this almond-orange flan for the Cooking Channel’s Devour the Blog dairy-free for Passover. Making flan without my go-to cans (part condensed milk, part evaporated milk) was unnerving, but I had a feeling it would work out in the end. I was due. Read more

Mar 15

10 Comments

Tinga de Pollo

Trying to cover a lot of ground on my site, I regret that I don’t get to spend too much time in any one place – picking up terms and techniques without becoming fluent in any one country’s cuisine. But lately my Cuban cookbook research has kept me at home, literally and figuratively, so I was due for a side trip. Read more

Feb 28

Catching Up in February

February has been bittersweet. Back from an amazing research trip to Miami, I was looking forward to celebrating my birthday back home from home in New York when it was swallowed by Nemo. Still I can’t complain and was beyond grateful that my friends were still willing to celebrate with me against all sense. I was lucky not to have any damage, though it is a reminder that recovery is ongoing for my neighbors. If you haven’t already seen it, Zac and Cat Overman have put together All Hands on Deck, an e-book to benefit Restore Red Hook. From Baked to Cacao Prieto to the Ball Field’s El Olomega, it’s a great collection of recipes for a good cause and – as they’d say in Sweden – så Brooklyn. Read more

Feb 19

7 Comments

Sopa de Ajo con Huevos

I was very late to try it, but this week I finally made Jim Lahey’s now famous no-knead bread recipe. I’m not sure how it came to mind, but around 6 o-clock one evening, I decided that I absolutely could not go another minute without digging it out from a stack must trys I’d had going for a couple of years. After looking at the online video Mark Bittman created with Lahey, I bundled up and headed out for the ingredients. By 7, I was mixing up the dough and setting it in the oven for the initial long slow rise. The next day, after a few turns and second rise, it was in the oven pre-heated to scorching hot. I was cautiously optimistic. Read more

Feb 8

21 Comments

Churros con Chocolate

I was in Miami a few weeks ago when the temperature dipped to the high-60s.* Anywhere else this would have been a non-event in January, but for me it was a big deal. It had been unusually warm through the holidays so my family and I took no chances that this could be our last opportunity for midnight churros at Las Palmas – freshly fried and served with chocolate so thick that the spoon could stand on its own. Read more

Jan 1

3 Comments

Catching Up to the New Year

I find myself in this position every year -unable to move forward until I take a quick look back. Though one post leads to another, I can’t say that a theme or pattern emerges now that I see my favorites lined up. What I do see, are moments where I loved being in the kitchen, working out something new, and figuring out the best way to share it. Can’t wait for more of the same in 2013. Happy New Year! Read more

Dec 25

Merry Christmas

Hope everyone having a most wonderful day of the year wherever you find yourself. Merry Christmas!

Dec 18

24 Comments

The Cuban Table

It’s hard to believe, but my blog turns four years old today. I usually look back in my anniversary posts, but I have some really exciting news that’s all about moving forward. A little more than a year ago, I started working on my first book proposal in collaboration with the amazing food photographer Ellen Silverman. Many, many, many drafts later…it was acquired by St. Martin’s Press, and, if all goes well, The Cuban Table will be published in the fall of 201

My family and friends have been incredibly supportive, but I have to thank the proposal’s fairy godmothers – Isabel, Harriet, and Meg (who I just realized have actual fairy-type names) – for seeing us through the process. Until now, its only existed in a maybe-hopefully-someday part of my life. Now that it’s happening, I can barely keep my heart in my chest, my head on my shoulders or my feet on the ground. It’s hard to imagine where this will take me, but then I couldn’t have known four years ago that a post about wanting to eat my Christmas tree would have brought me here.