Pork Medallions with Chipotle Plum Glaze, Sufferin' Succotash, Frozen Green Beans from a Bag, November 2004

I hate winter. Not least because at dinnertime, when I go to photograph my plate, there isn't enough light. My exposures wobble.

Spicy Tuna Salad with a Hunk of Orange Cheese, November 2004

This was an experiment with lite mayonnaise from a jar. I think I'll just leave it at that.

Fruit Mosaic, November 2004

See that chunk of honeydew? Wanna hazard a guess as to how great that tasted in the middle of fucking November?

Barley Soup with Smoked Sausage, November 2004

The thermometer hasn't dropped below 60 yet, but that does not deter me from forging ahead with the winter soup schedule.

It also doesn't stop me from using my mini-spelunking headlamp as a light source.

Leek and Potato Soup, November 2004

One of the more elegant of the cozy soups.

Chicken Tortilla Soup with Avocado and Homemade Fritos, November 2004

There is a reason every restaurant in Texas serves tortilla soup: it is composed entirely of garbage. In combining this precise assortment of kitchen detritus, one creates the elusive and sought-after culinary paradox: the whole tastes enough better than the sum of its parts that one feels entirely justified in selling it for 5 or 7 bucks a bowl.