If I still lived in the era of no computers, my desk would be littered with Post-it notes reminding me of things I want to cook. As it is, my cookbooks are bookmarked and dogeared and highlighted. But with the constant influx of SHEER INFORMATION (on a positive day, I'll call this 'inspiration') on the Internet, I find myself perpetually tagging recipes to make.
Read moreSIMPLE POTATO LEEK SOUP
Life, lately:
1. "How long would it take to watch all seasons of Project Runway, working backwards from season 16?" she mused to herself. Ever equal to a challenge, she dives in, bolstering herself with dishes of white chocolate baking chips from the freezer. (She is me, guys. I love Heidi Klum and sometimes now I whisper aufwiedersehen softly to my threadbare, overly-loved and worn teddy bear before I leave in the morning. It's perfectly fine if you all stop reading now after discovering how patently uncool I, in fact, am.)
Read moreHONEY LEMON ALMOND CAKE
What marks a life well-lived better than cake? The happiest, most celebratory moments are marked by it. I tick through brightly-colored memories in flavors of cake. Wedding cake. Birthday cake. Sunday morning coffeecake. Post-field hockey game apple cake. Chocolate lava cake after high school nights out. Funfetti cake from a mix after college nights out. Chiffon cake, frosted Yule logs at Christmas, simple yogurt cakes topped with fresh strawberries from the garden all summer.
Read moreEXTRA-MOIST BANANA BREAD
Some of you (Hello! You're lovely, you unknown readers out there, waking up on Sunday all over the world, making coffee in a tiny apartment in San Francisco or steeping tea in a sunlit, white-washed kitchen in Connecticut or dressing your smiling, chubby toddler in a messy bedroom somewhere or sleepily walking to a workout class on Columbus Avenue in Manhattan) have asked about the poetry. You've asked where I find it. The truth is that (outside of school) I've never read much poetry until this past year.
Read moreGIVING THANKS
The house at Thanksgiving is brimming with activity. The kitchen is warm: a 30-pound turkey roasts in the oven, its skin turning a burnished, crackly gold. A batch of my mom's famous butter fan rolls cool on a baking sheet. The compost bucket overflows with cooking scraps. I stand at the sink, plucking dirt-covered beets from a wire garden basket and scrubbing them under hot water. I peel them and cut them into thin slices, tossing them with olive oil and sea salt. We'll spread them in a thin layer on battered cookie sheets and cook them for barely 10 minutes until they crisp at the edges, like potato chips, and stay chewy in the center.
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