Where did spring go? In New England we seemed to jump right into summer. I’ve been doing all of my baking for the bread book in the mornings, before the heat and the humidity really set in. And after a morning covered in dough, with flour crusted along my hair line from pushing errant locks […]

It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? In recovery from California, and one too many meals eaten out, this is what I made– tabbouleh-esque salad. Bulgar wheat, an English cucumber, shaved red onion, and a mess of parsley tossed with some nut oil and a good squeeze of lime juice. Delightfully boring and perfectly delicious. […]

Why is it that picnic food, i.e. summer food, in this country is so often drowning in a quagmire of mayo? Two mainstays of these white-washed foods are coleslaw, and potato salad, two delicious foods in their own right. Who doesn’t love a potato, and how can you object to mounds of feathery chopped cabbage? […]

As you probably can guess, from being a food blog writer, I also read a lot of food blogs. And if there is one common thread that is sewn amongst my fellow bloggers each February and early March it is that spring cannot come soon enough. So I feel that it is safe to speak […]

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 […]

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 […]

Dear readers, I’m sure you are getting ready, as am I, for a holiday full of turkey, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. But let’s not forget about Thanksgiving’s most maligned side dish, the jello salad. Probably not eaten at Plymouth Rock, but neither were those bubbling casseroles of yams topped with marshmallows, the jello salad is […]

At the market last week, I just about stopped dead in my tracks. There each one was, assembled in such close proximity that I almost couldn’t bear it. Check out the loveliness of the following: Fuyu persimmons, Satsuma mandarins, and Belgian endive. If I were Martha Stewart, hostess extraordinaire, queen of all good things, CEO […]