The Van de Ven’s rooster

The handsome rooster here? He posed for this picture.

It sounds far-fetched, I know, but as I watched with camera poised as he and his lady friends strutted by, the rooster stopped to shake a tail feather or two and toss his waddles and comb. At first I thought he was defending his territory, but no. This rooster ...
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Creamed chicken and cornmeal porridge (Ciulama de pui si mămăligă)

I’m trying not to take offence.

I realize that the dish my mother’s people are famous for is commonly referred to as “gruel” (a cornmeal gruel, in fact, made simply with meal, water, and a flick of salt), which is not exactly a glamorous calling card. Still, it is rather disheartening to crack ...
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Curried chicken chowder

Chowder. It’s not quite soup and not quite stew. So what is it?

Enter the Oxford Companion to Food, which tells me that in fact, chowder is thought to be named after the iron cooking pot, the chaudière, brought to the east coast of Canada by early French settlers. The Micmac peoples introduced these settlers to clams, which ...
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