Sunset Over Lonely Kitchen Chronicles

Chronicle: Albuquerque, New Mexico, September 25, 2024

Greetings Chroniclers! Thanks so much for reading Lonely Kitchen Chronicles. Next time I post, there will be a new name, a new focus, a new logo, but still the same kind of food centric personal essays. There are still plenty of plans and details I’m working out, and I’m excited about the changes ahead. As always, massive THANK YOUS for sticking around and reading. Enjoy!

I’m currently obsessed with buckwheat.

Maybe my buckwheat obsession has something to do with the change of season, the shifting light, the shorter days. Here in New Mexico, autumn means cool mornings giving way to sunny warm afternoons punctuated by staggeringly stunning sunsets.

New Mexico sunset, Source: Daniel Marcum.

See what I mean?

And speaking of sunsets…This is the last post under the Lonely Kitchen Chronicles banner.

A while ago, back at the beginning of the summer, I said I would be making some changes to the newsletter including a name change and a different focus. Finally, after some tinkering, thinking and re-shaping, I’m ready to move forward with the new Substack.

It will be called…drrrrrrrrrrrrrrrum-roll please…you hear that drum roll, right?

But First Breakfast, or BFB, for short.

If you’ve been reading Lonely Kitchen Chronicles for a while you already know that I’m a morning person. You probably also know that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. In fact, I can’t function if I don’t eat a substantial breakfast. Coffee and a pastry or a paltry bowl of cereal simply doesn’t cut it.

My family and friends can attest to my morning hunger. They can also attest to my low energy and downright surliness if I don’t eat enough calories in the morning to get me going.

They’ve seen me eat leftover roasted chicken or a grilled cheese sandwich topped with a fried egg.  Some family and friends have even seen me eat a steaming bowl of ramen or leftover pizza for breakfast. In my world, just about anything goes for breakfast.

I love breakfast so much that sometimes I daydream about the ultimate breakfast restaurant. As far as I know it doesn’t’ exist anywhere except my imagination. Here’s what the ultimate breakfast restaurant would offer; a tasting menu much like other restaurants offer for dinner. Breakfast would be a four course affair. Instead of wine pairings there would be coffee and tea pairings. Protein would be part of every course. Toast, prepared with house-made bread, would get the star treatment it deserves with toppings like strawberry butter, sliced strawberries, ricotta cheese and a drizzle of honey.

Can’t you just imagine a restaurant like that?

The one thing I rarely forgo for breakfast is toast. The best part of toast is that it tastes like a hug.

Seriously, I go to bed dreaming of my crunchy toast, what I’m going to dollop on top, and what I’m going to have for protein alongside.

My breakfasts center around the previous night’s dinner leftovers. So, if you’re not a BIG breakfast eater like me, don’t worry. Lots of what I’ll be writing about, and the included recipes will work just as well as dinner recipes.

Yes, I eat eggs for breakfast. And yes, I even have an occasional bowl of oatmeal always accompanied by some kind of protein. I will continue to weave in personal stories about why I’m so darned into food…breakfast in particular.  

I hope you bear with me while I figure things out in real time as But First Breakfast takes shape. There will be a new logo. Don’t be surprised if it too also evolves. There will most likely be a pay wall coming soon as well. But a paid subscription begets opportunities. There are plans–still in the idea phase–for live events, and possibly a monthly brunch cook-along.

I hope you join me for the ride.

Mostly, I want to thank you for sticking around, for taking the time to read this newsletter where I can talk about how important eating, cooking and connecting through food is to me.

Maybe food is that important to you too.

But, for now, back to buckwheat!

Recently, I’ve found that eating too much gluten leaves me feeling uncomfortable and bloated. I don’t have celiac disease, and I definitely don’t have Crohn’s disease. But it seems that as I’m aging, certain foods that I’ve eaten my whole life, like for the last sixty-ish years, don’t like me as much as I like them.

Gluten, too much gluten to be exact, is one of those ingredients.

Buckwheat, despite its name is actually gluten-free. Neither grain nor wheat, buckwheat is a flowering plant from the Polygonaceae family, cultivated for its grain-like seeds. Buckwheat is related to sorrel, and rhubarb. It makes sense that I enjoy buckwheat since rhubarb is also one of my favorites!

As I said at the beginning of this post, the weather has started to cool which always puts me in the mood to bake.

I came home from Michigan a few weeks ago inspired by a fabulous buckwheat chocolate chip cookie I had with a cup of coffee. A second breakfast. Second breakfasts are best eaten around 10:30 when my stomach grumbles a bit, reminding me it’s too early for lunch. Nobody except me wants to eat lunch at 10:30 in the morning.

But that 10:30 cup of coffee with a semi-healthy cookie or some yogurt and granola really hit the spot.

This recipe is adapted from David Lebovitz. It first appeared in his book l’appart, The Delights and Disasters of Making My Paris Home. As one who has moved seven times in about thirty-five years, I know what it takes to make a new place feel like home. And let me tell you…never underestimate the power that baking cookies has to make anywhere feel like home.

A word of caution here. If you decide to bake these cookies plan accordingly. The dough requires at least a thirty minute chill in the refrigerator before baking. Don’t skip this important step. It will likely lead to cookies that spread too much, resulting in the dreaded “cow chip” appearance you’ll want to avoid.

Don’t believe me?

Here’s a look at the first batch I made using a different recipe. I neglected to chill the dough before baking. They tasted good, but do you see what I mean about resembling cow chips?

This batch didn’t chill in the refrigerator and spread out too much.

It’s not a good look.

This next batch is the winner by far. They look better, strike the right balance of crispy crunch and earthiness. They might just be my new favorite version of a chocolate chip cookie.

Much, much better!

Happy fall and happy baking! I can’t wait to see you in two weeks for the debut of But First Breakfast. 

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BUCKWHEAT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES + DRIED CHERRIES

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup (90g) packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup (65) granulated sugar

8 tablespoons (4 ounces,115g) salted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 large egg yolk

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

¾ cup (90g) all-purpose flour

1 cup (120g) buckwheat flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon kosher or sea salt

1 cup (177g) dark chocolate chips

1/3 cup (65g) dried cherries *

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Melt butter and set aside to cool

• In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and melted butter. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.

• In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, buckwheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher or sea salt.    • Using a sturdy silicone spatula or wooden spoon, stir the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture.

• Mix in the chocolate chips and dried cherries until

• Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough for a minimum of 30 minutes and up to 24 hours.

• Preheat oven to 350° F (180°C)

• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Use a spring-loaded cookie/ice cream scoop, or your hands (I used my hands after struggling with two spoons) to form 1 ½-inch (4cm) balls of dough and place them evenly spaced apart on the baking sheet.

• Bake the cookies until they just feel almost, but not quite set, and still soft, about 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets in the oven midway through baking. Remove the cookies from the oven and let sit for about a minute before removing the cookies onto wire racks to cool completely.