I never had a Mr. Potato Head. Although I always wanted one. Call it an early fixation with food, or maybe it was that I always had an appreciation for polymorphous objects, but I admired that tuber. I guess it can be simply put– I love oddly shaped fruits and vegetables. Last week, I squealed […]

What does one head of roasted garlic, a chopped hard-cooked egg, and a few crushed, flash-sauteed anchovies get you? The most delicious, albiet peculiarly stinky side dish I have made to date. Now I don’t suppose the average Jane would find this rather rustic dish pleasing. But let me assure you that the smell dissipates, […]

I don’t think I have ever moved in Winter. My moves have always been marked by the school calendar– a flurry of finals, rapidly moving, and then, enjoying a bit of summer vacation. And I guess that since I have married an academic, this is the way that our moves will always be. It works […]

It has been a dizzying few weeks for me, how ’bout you? This is how my weeks went: climb over mountainous piles of moving boxes to get to my computer, sit there for hours, the time punctuated by the occasional beeping of a car horn by some impatient Connecticut driver, and pour through pages and […]

Oh, it’s getting good around here. Since I have been back from California, I have been to the Union Square Greenmarket quite a few times, and each week, it gets a bit better. At first there were the ramps, beautifully spindly. Then came the green garlic, mild in flavor and hinting of spring, and the […]

I’m back. Humor me please. My kitchen in New York is bare. The only things that sit in my refrigerator are a jar of baby cornichons floating in murky brine, and a half-used jar of Dijon mustard. Now I like vinegar as much as the next person, but cornichons dipped in mustard is a treat […]

My grandma loved the color purple (and no, I am not speaking about the book). She had several pairs of purple slacks, quite a few lavendar tops, dish towels, pot holders, you name it. It seemed that as she got older, her love for the color only increased. But she was not alone in her […]

When I was in my first year of college I had to have my wisdom teeth removed. While my friends spent winter break on ski holidays in Lake Tahoe, or went for a tropical beach vacation in Hawaii, I returned home to my parents house to have exciting oral surgery. I subsisted on a mainly […]

I love potatoes. Who doesn’t? Even a bad french fry, when the potato has behaved like a sponge and soaked up a bit more oil than intended, is good. And who did not live off of the classic baked potato when they were in college? With some broccoli tossed on, and a sprinkling of cheddar […]

Who has eaten a real pumpkin? Not the kind that come already pureed in a can, and not the pre-made, pumpkin pie filling. Well, I hadn’t. Pumpkin seeds, I was all over. Butternut squash I can roast with the best of them. And let’s just say, I get a kick out of kabocha. But pumpkin, […]