The Perfect Pantry®

Kasha/buckwheat groats (Recipe: kasha varnishkes)

The Ninecooks World Cuisine Cooking Group — yes, nine of us! — gathers in my kitchen every six weeks or so, to explore the cuisine of a different country or region.

This week, we were off to western Russia, with recipes from Moldavia, Byelorussia (aka "White Russia"), and Georgia. And, though most of the recipes were new to me, I included one from my own family's heritage: kasha varnishkes.

Kasha is buckwheat kernels that have been stripped of their inedible outer coating and crushed into smaller pieces, and then toasted in oil to bring out the nutty flavor. While many people think that buckwheat is a cereal grain, it's actually a fruit seed related to rhubarb and sorrel.

Oregano (Recipe: posole)

In the 1960s, I was in high school, and I was cool.

I had long hair, bell-bottom pants, love beads. I listened to Phil Ochs, played guitar, marched for civil rights and against the Vietnam War. I edited the school newspaper, where I published Lawrence Ferlinghetti poems and artsy photos of trees. On Saturdays, I worked at a "real" job on the city's big-time newspaper, where I learned to write obituaries and a consumer help column ("My clothes dryer exploded and the store where I bought it won't take it back. Can you help?").

And I smoked oregano. Once.

A friend gave it to me as a joke, and we decided to try it. (I admit that I tried the other stuff, too, and yes, I inhaled.)

If I'd been a cook, instead of a trying-to-be-hip high school kid, I would have put that oregano to much better use.

Green tea (Recipe: honey and lemon green tea cupcakes)

In August, my dear friend Rika and her family visited from Japan. They live in Mihama, a tiny fishing village on the west coast, a couple of hours by train from Kyoto. Though Rika had been to visit us years before, this was the first trip to the US for her husband and three children, and it was the highlight of our summer.

After a whirlwind of sightseeing in Boston and an all-too-brief stay in Rhode Island, they went on to see a bit more of America, leaving behind memories, photos, and green tea — in tea bags! — which I promptly added to The Perfect Pantry.

Pearl onions (Recipe: root-vegetables-with-beef stew)

When Ted and I first started dating, a hundred million years ago, he seduced me with a very romantic dinner of beef bourguignon. Chunks of beef, mushrooms, pearl onions, red wine sauce....

One bite, and I was smitten. (Truth? I was smitten long before that, but I'm not sure he knew it.)

I've never made beef bourguignon, and Ted's never made it again, either — after all, he got the girl — but over the years we've experimented with many variations on beef stew.

The only thing I don't like about making stew is peeling the dozen or more little onions that, for some reason, absolutely have to be in there. My eyes start to burn, and the onion skins get stuck to my skin. I love Ted, and he loves stew, so we've both struggled for years to peel through the tears.