Curry Spaghetti (Missouri, 1964, adapted)

Curry Spaghetti is one of those recipes that I made out of sheer curiosity.  It is exactly what it sounds like – spaghetti served with a curried tomato sauce – a combination that I had never seen in the wild and, to be honest, didn’t seem terribly appetizing.  The only thing I had to commend……

Makina No Tsukemono (adapted from Nippon Ryori Syu, 1972)

Makina No Tsukemono is a quick pickled cabbage-and-peppers recipe in a nominally Japanese style.  I’ve adapted the recipe from Nippon Ryori Syu, a 1972 cookbook compiled and published by the Intermountain District Council of the Japanese American Citizen’s League (JACL).  The JACL today bills itself as “the nation’s oldest and largest Asian American/Pacific Islander civil……

Pumpkin Crumble Cake (Oregon, 2006, adapted)

Pumpkin Crumble Cake represents one of my rare attempts at baking.  For a home cook I feel like I know my way around a kitchen.  But everyone’s got their blind spots, and mine is baking.  I don’t enjoy it and I’m not good at it, and despite a background in chemistry I’m especially bad at……

Sorrento Soup (adapted from Smart Shopper’s Cookbook, 1972)

Sorrento Soup is a hearty tomato-vegetable soup perfect for a crisp, autumn weeknight, one of a dozen or so excellent soups in Loyta Wooding’s 1972 Smart Shopper’s Cookbook.  While ostensibly written for budget-conscious homemakers in the face of rising food prices, Mrs. Wooding’s background at Betty Crocker kitchens lends a sense of company-friendly sophistication to……

Soup Bagdad (adapted from Smart Shopper’s Cookbook, 1972)

Soup Bagdad is a warm and rich lentil-and-lamb soup punched up with a heavy hand of fresh herbs.   Despite the long simmer time this is still a tractable weeknight meal, and requires very little chopping or active time.   It’s also plenty hearty for a weekend meal.  This recipe comes to me by way of Smart……