Homemade Hot Chocolate (For A Birth Story)

December 4, 2021 Nora Dummer

Though twelve months have passed, the calendar on the wall still reads November, 2020. As the wind rattles the rain streaked windows and the dark arrives before dinner, I can almost remember what it was like, one year ago, when we were confined to this apartment by the highest threat of a deadly virus and the piercing shriek of a newborn. Exhausted, elated and terrified, my husband and I shuffled sleeplessly through the hours by making a million micro decisions, each feeling more like a mountain than a molehill. Though looking down at our new situation was daunting, it was certainly better than looking up - up at an untamed pandemic, up at the changing climate, the crooked politics and the societal unrest all threatening to reach their breaking point, up at the darkness. No, best to look down.

(Recipe for Homemade Hot Chocolate follows)

Savory Mushroom and Coconut Gravy

August 7, 2020 Nora Dummer

To summarize my experience of the Doe Bay Music Festival is an impossible task. Believe me, I’ve been trying. To allow the reader to fully understand what that place means to me entails me telling you everything, starting at the beginning, and putting into words memories that only great artforms like melody and dance are capable of expressing. Frankly, I’m just not that good enough of a writer. Or perhaps, the story is simply too large to fit in a recipe post. But, I have to try.

(Recipe for Savory Mushroom and Coconut Gravy follows)

Chocolate Tahini Cookies In The Age Of Chemical Weapons

July 31, 2020 Nora Dummer

Chocolate Chip, Tahini & Espresso Cookie

As a nutritionist, I tend to try to solve all of life’s problems with food. It’s like a weird superpower. Are you depressed? Add some probiotics. Worried about climate change? Decrease your consumption of conventional red meat and dairy. How about declining bee populations? Choose organic. Concerned for your local economy? Eat local, from farmers and restaurants you believe in. Want to connect with your family? Make a meal together. And so on, and so on. That’s the encompassing power of food - it ties into everything. Absolutely everything.

Of course, this mindset can also be an idealist trap. Problems don’t exist in a vacuum. Not all depression can be resolved by kimchi. Abstaining from almonds isn’t going to put even the slightest dent in the damage from the 100 companies that contribute 71% of global emissions. You can’t fix a broken bones with kale. And yet, I feel compelled to at least try. After all, it’s one of the rare powers I’ve got. I have to believe that the choices I make can have a positive change, otherwise, what am I even doing here? What are any of us doing here?

So, it follows that I could attempt to use this lens to target a growing health problem within our American population: exposure to chemical weapons.

(Recipe for Chewy Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies follows)

Chicken, Coconut Lemongrass Soup (Tom Kha Gai) and The Egg

July 3, 2020 Nora Dummer

The first frantic google search that solidified a very new reality took place while waiting in the line of the Itchy & Scratchy ride at Simpsons Land.

amusement park ride 3 weeks pregnant safe

Was I going to take this embryo on a ride of its own by unwittingly ejecting it from the wall of my uterus? The internet, of course, is a cruel friend to ask. I made it all the way to the entrance before ruefully turning around and pushing my way back through the crowd, leaving a disappointed husband to ride solo. So this was motherhood.

(Recipe for Chicken, Coconut and Lemongrass Soup Follows)

Yaki-Udon for June

June 29, 2020 Nora Dummer

She was named after a waitress. My boyfriend and I got her as a going away present from his aunt, a gesture my parents still don’t understand (“Who gives two 18 year olds who are about to move across the country A KITTEN?!”). I, on the other hand, was ecstatic. What better way to start a new chapter than with an insane 2 month old grey frizzed eager clawed butterball? With my dodge caravan loosely packed with the scarce possessions of teenagers, and after a panicked search for the missing kitten who had escaped the van to hide atop the wheel well, the three of us set off from Minnesota and headed west. Juniper roamed the van freely except for the stretch around Spokane where she sat, drenched and content, in a bin of cold water to keep from panting in the August heat.

(Recipe for Yaki-Udon for June follows)

Drew’s Shrooms

May 17, 2020 Nora Dummer

Don’t be discouraged. It is what it seemed.

After much deliberation, I’m going to spare you. Spare you from waxing poetic about the weight of one’s final words, spare you from philosophical jargon of what it means to be alive, spare you from advice for how to love your loved ones, fully and without hesitation. I’m going to spare you from the pages I’ve written for this post. Trust me, it’s better this way.

I mean, Jesus, we’re just talking about mushrooms here.

(Recipe for Drew’s Shrooms follows)

No Boundaries Lentil Soup: little carrots, (1 ½ handful) celery, onion (more onion)

May 9, 2020 Nora Dummer

Whenever I tell of my five years working in the Pike Place Market, I’ll summarize a list of varied establishments; I’ll speak fondly of my two years at Cinnamon Works Bakery, describe the delectable food we served at Michou, reminisce about my god-awful boss at Pike Place Flowers, and even include my month long stint at Taxi Dogs. Rarely, however, do I mention No Boundaries Café. Perhaps deliberately, my mind glosses over this place, dismissing it as an unworthy sojourn for memory. Though my time there wasn’t especially long lasting, I realize it should not be disregarded like a stack of unflattering pictures; this experience introduced me to exotic flavors and people while providing me with my first taste of responsibility in Seattle’s renowned food service industry.

(Recipe for No Boundaries Lentil Soup follows)

Some Comfort Food for Thought

September 5, 2014 Nora Dummer

There’s a reason I’ve been so quiet. I’ve long had my next topic in mind, but the more I thought about it, the larger it became. After many months, this convoluted Godzilla-like beast of a concept wreaked havoc on my motivation because, frankly, it became too damn daunting of an undertaking. I felt that evoking King Kong was the only solution to beating this idea into submission and, well, he’s been busy doing whatever gigantic monkeys do.

How’s that for a disclaimer?

(Recipe for Comfortingly Lavish Macaroni & Cheese follows)

Add some variety to nights at home, with a virtual cooking class.