Grateful

November 25, 2020

Back in the spring, I met with a local fence builder. Masks on, six feet apart, we walked the perimeter of the backyard and discussed what sections needed replacing and how to guard against the deer who regularly leap over five-foot-high walls if there is even a single hosta to be eaten on the other side. When we got to… Read more »

Small-Scale Apple Galette

November 24, 2020

I can’t remember the last time I actively decided to make an apple pie. Nine times out of ten, I back into it, after noticing that a bunch of apples are going bad and I need to salvage them before they accelerate the rotting of everything else in the fruit bowl. That happened most recently this past weekend — I… Read more »

The Thanksgiving Plan

November 23, 2020

So after a lot of back and forth, an official family zoom call, and a consultation with our Thanksgiving secretary, we have a plan. There will be no sit-down feast this year, but the 13 of us will still all be cooking for each other in our separate homes. Everyone is assigned a dish or two or three and is… Read more »

Small-Scale Thanksgiving, Stock, Nutella-Berry Muffins

November 18, 2020

Good morning! I just listened to Samin & Hrishikesh’s Thanksgiving podcast on my walk to get coffee, and realized that I’m officially excited about the holiday — the cooking part at least. With one kid returning from college in the Midwest, the actual sit-down feast is not going to happen — at least not how we are used to seeing… Read more »

My New Favorite Bowl

November 16, 2020

Not that Halloween was very much of anything for the kids this year, but at about 5:30 on October 31, Abby, outfitted in a Walter White costume that involved a white mini skirt, announced she was heading out to some kind of outdoor get-together. Did you have dinner? I asked her. Nah, she said. There’s gonna be candy. She’s 17…. Read more »

Stews for Around the Fire

November 12, 2020

Here in New York, we’ve been willing the universe to make fall last as long as possible because, as Andy says every single morning in ominous, Game-of-Thrones-like tones, winter is coming. In normal years, I don’t usually care that much. Cold weather is the season of cozy food — braised meats, red wine, warm-your-bones stews, and friends and family around… Read more »