While jogging alone the other day, chugging my way through the park, I thought how nice it would be to have a friend by my side. Someone to chit-chat with and give the little nudge I would need to sprint up the approaching hill; someone to talk me into doing another loop; a friend to give me a ...
Veggie Day
Many of you know one of my best cooking friends is my husband. What you might not know is we cook vegetarian about once a week. It's something that started naturally, when our backyard garden was booming and we'd make fresh pasta to go with the veggies from there, or our farmer's market or our ...
Spring Cleaning and Cooking
Flowers are blooming, and I'm readying my garden for the first seeds to be planted. So, it must also be time for spring cleaning. There is one kind I love--Spring Cleaning and Cooking from the freezer. Soon we'll have lots of new veggies from the farmer's market (it opened last weekend!), CSA and ...
Sharing Your Tips
As I cooked and ate with many friends over the past couple weeks for non-holiday, (everyday but fun) evening dinners and get-togethers, I was struck by some really cool tips and techniques they use, the kinds of things that aren't taught by schools but by friends. I had to share the tips with ...
Hungry Boys
My friend Kris and I often talk about food, whether it's the CSA share I pick up at her house or something one of us has made. So when she said she was doing some big-batch cooking with friends, I thought that was great but not surprising. Then she told me about her challenge: Dinner for one week ...
Competitive Cooks
There are many reasons to cook: Love and Hunger are chief among them. But another key motivator in whipping up a great dish is Competition. Last week I judged an Iron Chef Cook-Off in Madison, which was lots of fun. The contestants were broken into eight teams. They were challenged to cook the ...
Pot Luck
As I attended two potlucks this past week--a baby shower and an elementary school family dinner-- I thought about how the concept of sharing food this way is just what we do at Cooking With Friends. Both parties had plentiful, beautiful food, some of which was made in teams by friends. And both ...
Irish Traditions
For St. Patrick's Day, each of my kids made their own loaf of Irish Soda Bread. They are, proudly, one-quarter Irish. As I created a menu for two Irish evenings--a cocktail party for my book club and a family dinner, the choices came to me naturally, as I remember what my grandmother loved to eat. ...
Immerse Me
Okay, this one's for Beth. The past two times I've seen her, Beth has told me that after hearing me proclaim the virtues of an immersion blender, she asked (and received) one for Christmas. But, she's still not sure what to do with it. Both times, we were surrounded by other friends who chimed in: ...
Tech Leaders Tell How the 'Dot Com' Industry Lost Its Bloom
from National Public Radio March 8th, 2010 Tech Leaders Tell How the 'Dot Com' Industry Lost Its Bloom by Michelle Martin ...