diy

Do It Yourself and create arts, decorations, projects and more with the Feast guide.

The Backyard Barbecue Where Nobody Rushed the Fire
This year’s family barbecue was at a friend’s house, in her backyard. The yard was large. Bamboo ran along the east wall, thick enough that the leaves rustled when the wind moved. At the base of the west wall she kept pots of mint and rosemary. She said she pinched leaves off while cooking. The ground was old grey brick, with grass in the cracks, a little uneven underfoot. Before the grill was set up, everyone had slowed down. My friend dragged the folding table out of the garage and flipped the legs open. They clicked. I unzipped the insulated bag and cold air came out. Inside were separate bags of meat and vegetables, each labeled in marker: beef, lamb chops, squid, prawns, golden pomfret, button mushrooms, enoki, green beans, corn. Her handwriting was thick so nobody would have to squint.
By Jinabout 8 hours ago in Feast
The Bag of Dried Mushrooms I Keep for Pork Belly
When dried tea tree mushrooms sit in a plastic bag, they don’t look like much. The slender stems are curled up, dark brown, almost black, and if you grab a handful they rustle dryly, like kindling. Every time I dig the bag out of the cupboard, I bring it close and sniff it first. There isn’t much of a smell. Just a faint, stuffy odor, like old wood. But once warm water goes in, things change.
By Jinabout 12 hours ago in Feast
PB&J Olive Grahams
“What’s for dinner?” “Nothing.” “Right. Nothing. I’m not hungry. If you are, fix yourself something.” “There’s nuthin’ to fix, Mom.”
By Andrea Corwin a day ago in Feast
20 Kitchen Tips: What Works, What Needs Care, and What to Skip
A frozen dumpling splitting in the pot is a specific kitchen problem. The water boils, the dumplings go in, and for the first thirty seconds everything looks fine. Then the filling pushes through the wrapper, and the soup turns cloudy. Some people blame the heat. Others blame the dumplings for being frozen too long. The problem is usually the wrapper surface. After long freezing, moisture evaporates and the wrapper becomes brittle. Hot water opens a small crack first. The fix takes half a minute: rinse the frozen dumplings under cool water before cooking. This restores some surface moisture, and dumplings stuck together tend to separate. Rinse, then cook, and far fewer will split.
By Jina day ago in Feast
The Cold Dish That Made Me Stop Fearing Pork Liver
Tengjiao pork liver, pork liver dressed with green Sichuan pepper, is the kind of cold dish that announces itself before anyone picks up chopsticks. The aroma is green and citrusy, with a faint numbing edge. The liver itself should be cool, firm at the edge, tender in the middle, and clean-tasting. It looks like restaurant work, but the home version depends on four actions: wash the liver thoroughly, coat it in a thin starch slurry, poach it at a steady low temperature, and pour hot oil over the aromatics just before mixing the dressing.
By Jin3 days ago in Feast
The one dish I make when I can’t decide: braised chicken with potatoes and shiitake
I come back to braised chicken with potatoes and shiitake mushrooms after three nights of takeout, when I open the fridge, stand there for a minute, and do not want to negotiate with myself about dinner. I want one pot, a lid, and the sound of sauce bubbling against the sides. I want chicken that has taken on a red-brown gloss, potatoes that give way under a spoon, shiitake that have soaked up the broth, and enough sauce left at the bottom to go over rice.
By Jin3 days ago in Feast
I Stopped Ordering Breakfast Takeout. These Two Recipes Got Me Through Winter Mornings.
The alarm rings for the third time. The bed has finally reached its best temperature. I check my phone: 6:40. The sky is still gray. The kitchen light is off. The refrigerator hums. I lie there for two minutes and think about takeout. It will take twenty minutes, and the congee will arrive lukewarm. The breakfast stall downstairs makes buns with wrappers so thick it takes three bites to reach the filling. Then I remember the siu mai in the freezer.
By Jin3 days ago in Feast
My Husband Bought the Fatty Pork on Purpose. It Made the Best Red-Braised Pork We’ve Ever Had.
When autumn arrives, there’s a chill in the wind. Morning and evening, a short-sleeved shirt no longer cuts it, and my kitchen starts craving something hot, glossy, and rich. At a time like this, the most fitting dish is a plate of red-braised pork.
By Jin3 days ago in Feast
Popeye’s New Spinach Croquettes
Eat your vegetables! How many times does a kid have to hear that in a lifetime: 10, 1000? I have no idea what it is about green vegetables that turns a kid off. I never had a problem with it, but my sister did. I have spoken to many people who have the same issue with their children. That’s a problem, since dark leafy veggies are nutritional powerhouses. Spinach croquettes may help ease your children’s aversion to greens.
By Alexandra Grant4 days ago in Feast
The Bowl That Had No Name
The most memorable thing I ever ate was a bowl of noodles with almost nothing in it. It was in my grandmother’s kitchen, on a cold evening when the windows had turned cloudy with steam. No one was visiting. No one had spent the afternoon preparing a feast. My grandmother was hungry enough to cook, and I was hungry enough to eat.
By Jin5 days ago in Feast
My Dad's Favorite Sandwich
Do you like Klondikes? Those ice cream squares covered in thin milk chocolate that cracks easily and drops onto your clothes? Many people do. I used to love ice cream sandwiches – the ones with vanilla ice cream between two thin, chocolatey brownie layers. That’s my best description of the commercialized American ones. I know they are made differently in other countries, and probably better! As a small child, fudgsicles were my favorite, and I never knew I sometimes had a chocolate mustache from eating them! Why didn’t someone tell me? Even as a child, I hated blue popsicles. The ice cream man would drive slowly through the neighborhood, music blaring, and we'd line up with our dimes and quarters. Why get a popsicle when you can get an ice cream bar, or a fudgsicle?
By Andrea Corwin 6 days ago in Feast
Why Your Mushroom Soup Tastes Thin, and the Pairing That Fixes It
Once I made chicken soup with shiitake mushrooms. The chicken was tender and the broth had flavor, but the umami sat on the surface. You tasted it at the front, and it disappeared as you swallowed. Later I threw two slices of kelp and half a tomato into the same pot. Twenty minutes later, the thickness was completely different. The soup suddenly stood up.
By Jin6 days ago in Feast