Every year, my husband and I celebrate New Year’s Eve in a unique and special way. We savor a leisurely paced, six course, fireside gourmet meal, but between courses, we dutifully fill out an end of year journal. We sit side-by-side, reflecting on, discussing and writing about what has been good ...
Kitchen Chronicles
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. ...
Cookie Creations
Our Holiday cookie exchanges have mostly ended and the cookies have been either eaten by my kids or packed up in pretty cellophane bags with ribbon for teachers or our trusty mailman. Even as the cookies are dwindling, my thoughts of the time Liz and I spent together making them remain ...
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 ...
We Can’t Let this Bank Fail
I’ll keep it simple. More people are hungry. There’s less food to give. Each and every one of us needs to help. And each and every one of us can in a simple and rewarding way. As the New York Times reported last week in an article titled “From Canned Goods to Fresh, Food Banks Adapt,” food ...
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. ...
A Wonderful Way to Give
When I heard that our neighborhood Food Pantry client list increased by 50 families, I knew something had to be done. It was Thanksgiving time, a holiday for which we should be thankful for giving. So I reached out to the members of the Cooking with Friends Club and asked them to combine forces and ...
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 ...
Full and Satisfied
I sat back in my chair at the end of our Thanksgiving feast feeling full, happy and thankful for so many things. Thankful that my family was together; that we are healthy and that we had enough good food to eat. My sister-in-law hosted this year and my brother-in-law fried a succulent herb infused ...
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 ...