Right before thinking about the Thanksgiving holiday menu, it's time to start planning food for houseguests that weekend. In all the hubub around the turkey, it's easy to forget that people staying with you will also need other meals and a well-stocked refrigerator. Here are two favorite breakfasts ...
Kitchen Chronicles
Cooking With Friends for the Grieving
Last week I received an e-mail from Jo, a loyal CWF member, who shared a sad piece of local news about a devoted mother of three young children who unexpectedly passed away. This unthinkable tragedy left the family in disarray, as the husband must pick up the pieces while working to support his ...
A Cooking Invitation
Sometimes a cooking invitation comes through a phone call or evite, other times a friend might just drop by or ask "have you ever made...?" I just got a wonderful invitation. A new friend gave me a silver bowl with seven smaller bowls inside, each containing a fragrant, beautiful spice. There's ...
Root Soup
Diced vegetables were already sizzling in olive oil as I walked into Debbie’s. I peered in and saw onions, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes and squash filling about a third of the pot. Pretty much the same ingredients were inside the bag I was about to unload. I had a ton of squash from my CSA ...
Halloween Treats
We're now entering the October candy vortex, where my kids wake up asking for chocolate and sugar seems to seep through the doorjambs and under the windows. Of course, we'll indulge in a few treats. But first, the three of us enjoyed the afternoon making Pumpkin Apple Mini-Muffins, which we'll ...
The Need to Knead
My friend Jackie called me the other morning to tell me about the dough she had made for some “No Knead” bread. She couldn’t contain her excitement! As her cooking friend, I was one of the first people she shared her culinary pleasure with, the one who got to hear how easy it was to stir together ...
Chicken Soup in the Freezer
Having homemade chicken soup in my freezer makes me inordinately happy. It's like money in the bank, gas in the car, and being in the middle of a good book. Simple, old-fashioned chicken soup is one of my favorite foods to make with a friend. When you're cooking, the house smells incredible. And ...
A First Cooking Date
Setting: Two new friends in a small, bright kitchen cooking for the first time together. In the half hour before she was supposed to arrive, I ran around like a crazy person hoping to get things in tip top shape for my cooking date. The kitchen had to be cleaner than it usually is, since I ...
Real Men Cook–Together
A few days ago, a bunch of guys who work together in our city gathered to do a cook-off. It was a Madison version of Iron Chef, where each person competed to cook the most incredible food. It reminded me that although we talk a lot about the women who cook with friends, we also have readers who are ...
Apple Talk
It’s all about apples around here -- where to pick them, the many varieties and what to make with them! The New York area is full of orchards, ripe with virtually every kind of apple. It’s a regular weekend outing for friends to pack picnic lunches and head out to the orchards to pick-their-own. We ...