It's always fun to introduce someone new to the idea of Cooking With Friends. This past weekend, a friend came to visit us from Washington, D.C. He's single, young, and a doctor, working long hours. He never, ever cooks for himself. It's just me, he says, and then there are the dishes to clean ...
Serendipity in Cooking
When three of our friends were making muffins recently, they were having such a great time talking, laughing and hanging out that they forgot...the milk. It's an occupational hazard of those of us who cook together that we are thinking about the food but also about what we are saying, learning from ...
Five Voices
An hour before my friend Christine was coming over to make Cherry Almond Granola for our Breakfast Foods swap, I was really excited. I still hadn't really heard about her trip to Spain and Morocco, we needed to talk about planning an auction later this month for a local hospital, and just needed to ...
On Our Bookshelf in June
French Cooking in Ten Minutes by Edouard de Pomiane -- This tiny, humorous and incredibly useful book was published in 1930 with the subtitle "Adapting to the Rhythm of Modern Life." Pomaine, one of the most famous cooks and food experts hailing from France, tells us with great panache how delicious ...
Evite Invites
As we planned our breakfast foods swap this week, several partners changed, the location of the swap was moved, and the number of participants fluctuated from 11 to 9 back to 11 again (an important number as each cooking team is making food for the whole bunch). You would think these changes ...
Memorial Day
My friend Ellen, who has four kids under the age of 7 and whose husband is serving in Iraq, had an incredible reaction when she heard about Cooking With Friends. That's just what we--military wives--do, she said. The women bond in unfamiliar cities and towns while husbands are away, over the ...
Grill Girl
My husband, who I cook with all the time, suggested casually "Why don't you turn on the grill?" He continued chopping tomatoes, onions and peppers for the salad to go with our steak. Me? The grill? I cook almost every night, and love to try new dishes. I prepare enormous amounts of food to be ...
Farmer's Market Challenge
Our neighborhood farmer's market opened on Saturday. It drew a swarm of people looking blissed-out to see the first spring harvest. Dewy herbs, colorful veggies, some artisanal cheeses and local wines lined the roped-off parking lot that for the next few months will become a one-stop shopping mart ...
Swapping Season
Our Denver group of cooking friends is gearing up for a festival of swaps over the next few months. This month we'll do a Breakfast Foods Swap. My partner and I will whip up a huge batch of homemade granola and tie it in pretty bags to hand out. Others in the group are talking about apple cake, ...
Local Flavors
Saturday night, I had the great pleasure of dinner with my husband at Potager, my favorite restaurant in Denver. The name means "kitchen garden" in French and our meals were an incredible taste of spring in Colorado, all local, all seasonal. On our menu that evening: Spinach Soup with Nettles, ...