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Hi there! My name is Ben. Thanks for visiting my corner of the internet where I share what I am up to for my friends and family.
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Last updated December 1, 2024
Snow and cold have blown into our valley, bringing with them quiet mornings and evenings of tending to the wood stove, watching flames slowly lick away the logs like an ice cream cone. The cross country skis are back out, and snowy trail runs are back. My first loaves of bread for the season will be baked this week. Winter!
I really have been enjoying Fuschia Dunlop's book titled Every Grain of Rice on the basics of southern Chinese cooking. The concepts of the book have impacted my cooking more broadly than I expected. I am stir frying all the time and am seasoning with more flavored oils and vinegars. Adding a little ground pork or beef to a tofu dish has also improved my taste for tofu.
I have been learning more about tea through the Old Ways Tea Club. I've been enjoying the brown sugar sweetness of the black teas and the fruity echoes of the oolongs.
(Above) A scene from a recent run up to Mount Rogers, Virginia
(Above) A chilly bike overnighter along the Shavers Fork
(Above) Shrimp etouffee, a recipe I learned at a Cajun cooking class this year and made with wild caught North Carolina greentails