The electric feeling in the air before a snowstorm reminds me of being little again. There's a giddiness and a building anticipation; throughout the city, the energy feels heightened. The grocery stores are busier, everyone seems chattier. The television screens inside nail salons and sports bars hum with red headlines promising "up to 6 inches!" and images of handsome weathermen interspersed with still shots of previous winters: Central Park blanketed in snow, cabs swerved on icy roads, and so on.
Read moreEASY CHOCOLATE SHEET CAKE
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.
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