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Merry Merry
Merry Merry Christmas! In Madison, we are a winter wonderland, snowed in with piles of the fluffy stuff. I'm happy and grateful to have family here to make gingerbread houses, raspberry mousse, prime rib and poached salmon among many other things! Let us know how your holiday traditions are going. ...
Extending the Cookie Exchange Season
Like so many of you, I'm baking for and attending a cookie exchange this week. My neighbor and I are making Chai-Almond Cookies and Oreo Truffles. In fact, I feel like almost everyone I know, in offices and neighborhoods around the country, is participating in the some sort of unofficial Great ...
The Scribbled Cookbook
As you're looking for holiday gifts this month, I wanted to share with you one of the coolest gifts I just got, from my Denver cooking friend Christine. She sent me a cookbook, The Big Book of Appetizers, that she absolutely loves and has used so successfully for our swaps and cooking dates. ...
Six Cooks in the Kitchen
George settled the brined, maple-glazed turkey in the oven as Ben chopped oysters for stuffing, and Sarah arranged fingerling potatoes and figs in a casserole dish. Eve and Julia mixed sugar, water and cranberries, while I pureed wild mushroom soup. We were six cooks in the kitchen, listening to ...
On Our Bookshelf in December
Williams-Sonoma New Flavors for Desserts: Classic Recipes Redefined -- by Raquel Pelzel. Our friend and recipe tester Raquel Pelzel just released this new book featuring 44 mouth-watering dessert recipes--cakes, pies, tarts and more to put a great final touch on a wonderful dinner. ...
Thank You!
On this Thanksgiving, I feel so thankful for many things, including the wonderful world Alison and I are so proud to have here on Cooking With Friends. Whether you are my next-door-neighbor or someone across the sea I've never met, thank you for your postings, questions and thoughts you have shared ...
Other People's Kitchens
Sometimes, you don't have a kitchen. You might be between houses, between life stages, or on the road. Since we moved to Madison last month, we've been renovating ours, which has meant occasional kitchen black-out days or even weeks. Luckily for me, this week two new friends invited me to their ...
Shopping the Co-op
Until yesterday, I hadn't shopped in a co-op grocery store for years, since college days when I would buy veggies and yogurt from a co-op in Cambridge, Mass. after my Saturday yoga class. Since then, I've grown my own gardens, frequented farmers' markets and spent much money at the burgeoning chain ...
Chopped Liver, Anyone?
This morning at the bus stop, one of my neighbors invited me to make chopped liver with her. It turns out she's always wanted to know how to make it, and one of our other neighbors knows how, so the three of us will plan a cooking date. Sometimes as adults we go long periods of time without ...