We’ve now had snow on the ground for over a week, which is unusual for Seattle. We live at the top of one of the steepest hills in our neighborhood, which has become a sledding/snowboarding/skiing hill night after night until long into the morning. A couple days ago we saw someone going down the hill in a wheelchair. Iris sledded down twice and then got wet socks and had to come inside, which makes her a girl after my own heart.

One day during this endless silent barrage, we got a few inches of snow and then a layer of freezing rain atop the snow. Iris and I went out and karate-chopped every glassy surface we could get our gloves on and had a contest to see who could extract the largest unbroken sheet of ice.

I was explaining this unusual weather to a friend. “Then more snow came down on top of the ice layer,” I said. “So you had a thin crunchy layer between two soft layers, kind of like a breaded pork cutlet sandwich on a soft bun. Wait a minute, I was going to make burritos for lunch, but now I’m going to make a pork cutlet sandwich.”

And indeed I am.

This month on Culinate.com:

The cider house rules: Real cider, for adults

> For his current bottling, Irvine’s Vintage Blend, he’s using a mix of bittersweets (tannic apples with low acid) and sharps (tart apples with low tannin): Yarlington Mill, Brown Snout, Vilberie, and Chisel Jersey. (Have you noticed how any article about apples soon devolves into a list of apple varieties with evocative names?)

While researching this article I came across the fact that some people believe drinking cider vinegar will make them live to 120. Since hard cider is the necessary precursor to cider vinegar and I drank plenty of it for research purposes, I figure I’m good for 117 years at least.

Oh, and I also appear in a great gift idea column which you should NOT read until after Christmas if you are Jake.

Mark Bittman, in a column about his small kitchen (bigger than mine!) in last Sunday’s Times, brought up something I’ve been thinking about:

> I’ve developed material for my column and books when cooking on electric stoves (heat is heat, after all), in unfinished basements using hot plates and microwaves, and in borrowed kitchens all over the world. The equipment can make things more or less difficult, of course, but after all, cooking is cooking.

I’ve used cheap gas stoves, cheap electric stoves, and expensive gas stoves. The expensive gas stoves are definitely the best. But I’d argue–and this seems to be a minority opinion among cooks–that cheap electric stoves are much better than cheap gas stoves.

It’s all about the heat output. My cheap electric stove gets really, really hot (the large burners do, at least). Not Viking-hot, but hot enough to do a respectable stir-fry. Every cheap gas stove I’ve used has annoyed me by being wimpy. When we had one, I got used to it, but if someone had under $1000 to spend and asked me which kind of stove they should get, I would say electric, definitely.

The only thing I’ve ever felt an electric stove was holding me back from accomplishing is dolsot bibimbap.

Two items of note. First, this site should now be iPhone/iPod Touch friendly. If you have one of these lovely beasts, please let me know if it works. Second, there is now a Hungry Monkey site:

[hungrymonkeybook.com](http://hungrymonkeybook.com/)

It’s on the lean side, but more will be coming soon.

I’ve been writing a column for Seattle Magazine called Chef’s Day Off, and unbeknownst to me they’ve been occasionally putting it on their web site. Here are several of them. This column is every bit as fun as it sounds. Enjoy!

Renee Erickson, Boat Street Cafe

Julie Andres, La Medusa

Jason Wilson, Crush