Introduction

     At the inspiration of, and encouragement from Allison, I've launched a new website. The idea is to distill the years of recipes I've found, tried, modified from the stacks of cooking magazines, newspaper clippings, file cards, cook books -- actually a kind of on-going kitchen history.

     First recipe:  (With a little background)
     Two years ago, Larry, Peter, Andrew, Jenny and I flew to Hamburg for friend Ursel Scheffler's birthday. During the party, held on a old sailing ship in the city's harbor, a gorgeous young woman approached, flung her arms around me in a warm hug.  But
who . . . ? Took me a minute to recognize Sibylle, Ursel's daughter, always a beautiful girl, but now, well, skinny as we'd all like to be.  How'd she do it?!
     Fast forward.  The secret revealed this summer in Italy by her big brother:  she eats no carbs after 12:00 mid-day.  That's it?  Hmm.  Easier, of course, for those Germans who typically eat the main meal in the middle of the day and dine on cheese and bread for supper.
     Then came Gary Taubes with his Bad Calories, Good Calories, singing the same song.  And a personal best on the bathroom scale.  Yikes!  Better try something!
     With that in mind, this from Jamie Oliver, in his book jamie's kitchen.  With tweaks, observations from my experience with it.  It's not exactly no-carb, but if you fix it for lunch on the weekend, it's fair.  Also good for a nice light dinner.  And it's really easy:

FRESH ASIAN NOODLE SALAD
Serves 4

10 1/2 oz cellophane noodles or bean thread noodles
7 oz ground beef
2 tsp. five-spice powder
5 TBS. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and grated (grated? really?)
2 heaping tsp. grated fresh ginger
5 1/2 oz salad shrimp
3 tsp sugar
1 bunch scallions, finely sliced
3 TBS fresh lime juice
1 TBS fish sauce
2 fresh red chiles, seeded and finely sliced
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1 handful fresh mint, chopped
2 handfuls roasted peanuts
sea salt and black pepper

Some notes before we go on here:  first, I'll always give you the recipe as printed by the author, if there is one, and then my amendments.
For example, you all know I'd never add that cilantro, but you should go for it.
What I learned from this recipe, specifically is that you should watch the five-spice powder.  I used Penzeys and the cinnamon flavor took over the whole recipe.  First mistake!  Some would be good, but use sparingly.  Or try another brand.
Second mistake was the mint, which made things worse.  NO one the mint
If you also don't like cilantro, substitute basil.  Yum.    I deleted the sugar and didn't miss it.  I don't know how to grate garlic, so just pushed it through the press.  And it doesn't really need the shrimp.  All that being said, here goes:

Soak the noodles in a bowl of hot water until soft, then drain and put into your salad bowl.  Fry the beef and five-spice powder in olive oil until brown and crisp.  (Way too much oil, my opinion, but if you use it, drain before adding the next stuff)  Add garlic, ginger, shrimp and sugar and stir-fry for another 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir into the noodles.  Add the scallions, lime juice, fish sauce, chiles, cilantro, mint and peanuts into the bowl.  Toss well and correct the seasoning.  Serve cold (nope, room temperature) (I added more lime juice, and as my chile wasn't very hot, a few drops of hot chile oil -- or cayenne would work, too.)

That's it.  For dinner later, first an icy glass of gin, or wine of course, then a plate of sliced heirloom tomatoes a al Caprese with mozzarella and basil.  I have to acknowledge that my bathroom scale registered no improvement the next morning.  Maybe there's more to Sibylle's method?