You know that when you are regularly cooking, your kitchen just "works" better. You have ingredients on hand to use for several dishes; last night's rice gets re-purposed into tonight's stew, extra fresh herbs find their way into a brunch, a dinner and a snack. In a similar way, when I'm regularly ...
Kitchen Chronicles
Give and Take
I picked up my daughter from my friend Debbie’s house a few days ago and Debbie’s 8-year old daughter greeted me at my car, balancing two mini pans of freshly made meatloaves on her oven-mitt protected hands. My dinner for the night! The next day, my friend Kathe stopped by with a cast iron kettle ...
Crimping with Company
It doesn’t matter whether it’s a dumpling, an empanada, or both on the same day. Crimping with company is much better than doing it alone. From afar, Suzy and I could have been mistaken for two little old ladies sitting across from each other, slightly hunched over in my small kitchen, methodically ...
Delicious Afternoon
It was a gorgeous, sunny March afternoon this week as 7 moms and 11 kids gathered on my friend Monica's porch to test our "Deceptively Sneaky" creations from two recent books that suggest sneaking food into kids' meals (see my last blog). The kids took breaks from running around the yard playing ...
A Little Bit Irish
I was strolling down the grocery store aisles on Monday morning, selecting cabbage, potatoes and corn beef for a family dinner in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. While eyeing the strawberries, my pal who works in the produce department noticed the Irish ingredients overflowing in my arms — “Eh, are you ...
Deceptive, but is it Delicious?
This week, by cooking from the books Deceptively Delicious and Sneaky Chef, then gathering with other friends for a Deceptively Sneaky potluck, I'm attempting to try to understand how these two books have become bestselling cookbooks of our generation, talked about, cooked from and adored by dozens ...
Crazy Cooking
Whenever Kathe and I get together to cook, there’s an energy in the kitchen that verges on frenzy. We don’t cook together often enough so we try to get as much done as possible when we do. Yesterday was no exception. I came with a bag in each hand and with my toddler holding onto the tip of my ...
The Gift of Cake
Every couple of weeks, my friend Jackie and I are the fortunate beneficiaries of our friend Jennifer’s remarkable baking skill. With a rotating toddler playgroup, we look forward to the days Jennifer hosts since we know we’ll get to feast on freshly baked apple spice coffee cake, blueberry crumble ...
Friends and Tea
In Pakistan and Afghanistan, people "drink three cups of tea to do business; the first you are a stranger, the second you become a friend, and the third, you join our family." This is from the incredible book I just finished reading, Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. ...
Fiesta Night
For some, cooking together in a larger group and then sitting down to enjoy the fruits of their collective labor is the best reason to cook with friends. The other night, eight friends came together in one very nice-sized kitchen to prepare, kibbitz, cook and eat a Mexican feast together. For these ...