Monthly Archives: July 2012

Don’t Get Mad, Get Cooking

One day I’m going to write an in-depth post about our weekly shop — how we strategize, prepare, and, eventually attack our local Trader Joe’s like a bunch of Navy SEALs. But for now, all I’ll say is that we have it down to a pretty precise science, so when I open the fridge or pantry and can’t find what… Read more »

Soccer Mom Conundrums, Solved

You may have gathered by now that the only thing we like more than grilling up a big ol’ leg of lamb or writing about grilling that big ol’ leg of lamb is watching our daughters play soccer. I remember when they were young, other parents who had a few years on us, warned once soccer kicks in, you can… Read more »

California Dreaming

I’m sorry to say that today is my last post for Dinner: A Love Story. This is because I visited Pixar Studios yesterday (the whole family did, actually) and if you were me, and got to see where and how these people work, you would drop everything to figure out a way that you could become a Pixar employee right… Read more »

Book Club: What to Discuss, What to Eat

One of the age-old literary conflicts: What food to serve at book club? Naturally, since the book you will be reading and discussing is Dinner: A Love Story, it stands to reason that you should make a DALS recipe, am I right? And I don’t know about your book clubs, but mine generally meets after dinner which means that the… Read more »

Six Summer Salads

Sick of corn and tomatoes accessorizing your burgers and dogs? Of course you aren’t! But I thought I’d give some options for summery side dishes anyway. Be sure to stock up on your olive oil, lemons, salt, and pepper because this time of year, that’s pretty much all you need to lift your side acts to show-stealers. Wheat Berry Salad… Read more »

2nd Annual Dolly Awards: Summer Edition!

Heirloom tomatoes, fireflies, juicy peaches, baseball, blackberries bursting at the seams…this can only mean one thing: It’s time for the Second Annual Dolly Awards! Last year, we went strictly by the rule book, adhering to a rigorous awarding process that involved votes, taste tests, many many minutes of research at the local library, as well as a suited-and-tied representative from… Read more »

Summer Stew

I should probably be stripped of my food blogging rights for telling you to do anything with summer corn besides eat it on the cob with a little salt and butter, but you know I can’t resist the urge to share the discovery of a new deconstructible dinner. Last week was not the first time we’ve eaten this corn, chicken… Read more »

The Summer of Self-Sufficiency

I know I’m susceptible to these kinds of stories, but there’s no getting around it: I’ve been haunted by a six-year-old for weeks now. Did you guys read the Elizabeth Kolbert article in The New Yorker last month — the one about how spoiled American children are, especially when we compare them to children in other cultures? I was only two… Read more »

Why a Dinner Diary?

. I’ve never met a diary I didn’t like. I can still picture my very first one–my dad bought it for me. It was fake crimson leather with gold piping, about the size of a postcard, and clamped shut with a lock and key that was completely ineffective when it came to warding off nosy siblings. Over the years I’ve… Read more »

From the Mailbox

From Whitney Brown: Your book has accomplished the task of making me want to be a better mom while simultaneously making me realize I’m not doing such a bad job anyway. Thank you for the self esteem boost and for lighting a fire to keep me improving. The book and blog are perfect. From Kim Rogers: Thanks for writing such a… Read more »

Eating Chicken, Solving Problems

After a rambling conversation this morning on the way to camp that began with how digital media is taking over print, and how — according to Abby — maybe this means that trees are being saved, but how — according to Phoebe — discarded electronics account for a massive percentage of the waste in landfills, and then, naturally, to Wall-E,… Read more »

And All I Got Was This Lousy Bean Dip

I finally got around to downloading photos from the mini vacation we just enjoyed at my sister’s beach house. There were about 400 shots, each one screaming summer louder than the next, and I’m somewhat alarmed to report that only about 20 of them contained the presence of an actual human. Though I’m unable to prove it in pixels, I… Read more »

A Tale of Two Nightstands

Seven or eight years ago, I resolved to be better about my non-work reading. I made a list of books I either (a) felt ashamed I’d never read, or (b) hadn’t read once, so long ago, they were practically lost to me now. Books like Don Quixote, The Idiot, Jude the Obscure, Dead Souls, Herzog, My Antonia, The Sound and… Read more »

The Mega Giveaway: An Update

I have extended the Mega Giveaway Contest deadline for one more week, so remember: pick up a copy of Dinner: A Love Story (at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound, your local library, your best friend’s house, wherever!) then answer one question to be eligible  to win one of a dozen really excellent gifts. Click here for more details.

Happy Fourth

We are taking a little vacation — where there will no doubt be Aunt Patty‘s flag cake* — but instead of allowing DALS to go dark, we thought we’d spend a week sifting through our old faves. We’ve written almost 500 posts since this thing started, and the weird thing about a blog is the way it sometimes feels, once… Read more »