There were more than 100 of us at last weekend's Girl Scout "encampment" overnight camping trip. Of course, The Cookhouse was the center of our universe. Like the kitchen is the center of so many of our homes, where people come to be warm, fed and find each other, so was the Cookhouse at our ...
Kitchen Chronicles
Running up that hill
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 ...
"No Ordinary Snack"
The other day, as I was heating some chicken and cilantro dumplings as an afterschool snack for my three hungry kids, my ten year old daughter, while eagerly awaiting her portion, commented how this was “no ordinary snack.” Then, while slurping down her four dumplings, she continued in a proud ...
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 ...
“You’ll Like This.”
"You'll like this." That’s what Debbie said during a morning run last week, while trying to explain why she never dropped off my share of mushroom ravioli from a recent cooking date. You see, it had been a somewhat amusing afternoon making ravioli together. Cue the wavy flashback lines… Although ...
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 ...
Mix and Run
Last Tuesday, with a mission to make breakfast for 75 third graders, Christina and I got together to bake zucchini and banana bread. Thanks to her fabulous, roomy kitchen with an enormous oven, she most often hosts our cooking dates. This was the fifth occasion we baked together during the year as ...
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 ...
M & M’s (Macaroons and Matzah Candy)
Like with any dinner party, there’s a lot to prepare for a Passover Seder, even if you’re only having a few guests. So anything that can get done in advance is a huge help. This past Monday marked the fourth consecutive year that Jackie and I made macaroons together. (I think we can officially ...