I am a card-carrying member of the Soft Food Lovers club. Actually, there's no card but I'm considering making one because I know I am not alone. I could easily and happily live on a steady stream of creamy hummus and chocolate pudding, with a break now and again for some ice cream and buttery mashed potatoes.
Read morePEACH BLUEBERRY GALETTE
There is something infinitely comforting about small towns. The streets appear to be lifted from a children’s book, the orderly sort that teaches you neighborhood words: policeman, schoolhouse, doctor, farmer.
This week, we drove up into the Catskills for an evening by the lake, ending up in Woodstock for dinner. To get to the water, we drive past a tiny white steepled church, next to a wide brook that rushes over smooth gray boulders. A weathered red barn houses a theater where indie bands will play all summer. We drive out of town late at night with the windows down, the air smelling sweetly of cut grass.
Read moreFUDGE BROWNIES
Finding forgotten dessert in the freezer is akin to finding twenty dollars tucked in your jacket pocket. I've wisely taught myself to pack leftover brownies, scones, and raw cookie dough away in the freezer. Hide them under your sensible frozen foods -- bags of peas, cornmeal, almonds, and ice cubes -- and thank yourself later.
Brownies lend themselves to freezing above all desserts, in my opinion. Choose a recipe that is between cakey and fudgy. The more fudgy, the less it will freeze solid, so it yields to your teeth as you bite.
Read moreSTRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
On a perfect summer evening, what do you do? Where are you? The coast of Maine, maybe. Or an airy cabin in the woods in New Hampshire. Maybe you're on a lake, and you walk out to the end of a long, worn dock to sit in an Adirondack chair and watch the sunset over the glassy water.
Read moreRED PESTO PASTA FOR TIRED NIGHTS
I've spent the past few days in the mountains. My mother has just completed her final summit to become a 46er, which means hiking all 46 mountains in the Adirondacks over 4,000 feet. It's a serious badge of honor amongst hikers. She's been at it for a few years now, logging miles of trail and generally becoming even more of a badass, epic all-around person. To mark the occasion, my sisters and I joined my parents for the last few hikes. After a very grueling 14 hour hike on Friday, we got to the trail bright and early on Saturday for the final ascent.
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