We were in Vermont for a round-trip college drop-off, and didn’t have time for a lot, but because it’s Vermont, where you can buy local craft beers at the corner gas station, it felt wrong not to hit the markets and load up on the many regional specialties. That means maple syrup and dairy of course — often the combination… Read more »
I think hands-down the best tofu is crispy tofu, i.e. when it’s been dredged in cornstarch, then pan-fried in a generous amount of oil and tossed with some form of glaze or sauce. (Exhibit A: Hsiao-Ching Chou’s Crispy Weeknight Tofu with vegetables.) But honestly, dredging and frying can be a pain sometimes, and when my friend Robin (by way of our friend Kate,… Read more »
Last week, I had an overwhelming craving for apple cake. Not apple crisp. Not apple pie. Not apple bread pudding. And not just any old apple cake, either. I wanted an apple-stuffed apple cake, the kind where there’s more apples than not in every bite, and where hopefully the apples are still a teeny tiny bit crispy so the cake texture is,… Read more »
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 »
Good morning! Hope you all enjoyed your weekend. We hit the farmer’s market on both Saturday and Sunday and were thrilled to see the local apples piling up in crates. Last week, on Cup of Jo, I wrote about the apple-cinnamon muffins I made with spelt flour (which lends a little nuttiness to the equation without weighing them down) and… Read more »
Good morning, Team! Yesterday I went for another run in Rockefeller State Park, and saw my first bluebird of spring building her nest in a mounted house. Then I came home and read this tweet: “After 130 years the rarest and thought-to-be extinct dwarf kingfisher was photographed in the Philippines living her best life. Shout-out to Miguel David De Leon… Read more »
Monday was Rosh Hashana dinner at my parents’ house across town, and as I was leaving for the night, my mom, as she is wont to do, shoved a fully wrapped, untouched round challah into my hands. “Take it!” The first thing I thought was not thank you or are you sure you don’t want it but cinnamon-apple bread pudding…. Read more »
Since we became parents, we’ve kept a running list unofficially titled: Things That Sound Like Fun with Kids, But Are Actually Not at All.* Parades fall into this category. Street fairs. Any event with the words “Harvest Fest” in its name. Beach day-trips made a brief appearance on the list, when Phoebe was four months old and we decided it… Read more »
I’ve only watched The Simpsons a few times in my life, but I vividly recall an episode where Homer stands in front of his bathroom mirror shaving. As soon as he puts down the razor and towels his face dry, his six-o-clock shadow emerges as gray and shady as it was before he began. I mention this here because I,… Read more »
A few years ago my coworker Alex was describing a friend of his — let’s call her Anya. While Alex sat in Anya’s kitchen he watched as she removed a homemade pie crust from the freezer, rolled it out, peeled and sliced a few Cortland apples right into the middle of the dough, sprinkled them with cinnamon, butter, sugar, nutmeg…. Read more »
If you are like me, you might have seen those gorgeous ruby rhubarb stalks at the market, then immediately heard the sound of a stopwatch ticking before complete panic set in. Why? ‘Tis the season for all those spring darlings that disappear seemingly as soon as they show up. (Pretty sure I missed ramp season while I played Wordle last… Read more »
For those of you looking for ways to use up the sugar snaps now popping up at markets (beyond just snacking on them, which is 100% legitimate when they’re this sweet) might I propose slivering, then tossing them with mint, radishes, crushed peanuts, and spicy peanut sauce? I first ate a version of this last spring, at Goosefeather a local modern Cantonese spot (above)… Read more »
Wow it’s been a while since I wrote a travel post. That might be one of the reasons why this recent long weekend in Vermont was so memorable — I think because I’ve been holed up in my dining room staring at a screen for an unhealthy amount of hours all day every day, I was so appreciative of even… Read more »
I feel pretty good about my vegetable life at dinner time, but I’ve recently realized I am not terribly consistent about getting produce into my lunches when I’m working from home. When I even have lunch, that is. Often my mid-day meal, if I remember to stop what I’m doing to actually have it, is just a forkful of leftovers standing in… Read more »
Hi! Today, I’d like to take a step back to give you a quick update on what I’m up to here in Dinner: A Love Story Land. Even though I’ve been writing some version of DALS since March 2010 (!), some of you are new readers, some of you are veterans, and a lot has changed in the past year…. Read more »
There are all kinds of ways people prefer their latkes: thin and lacy, meaty and crispy, kicked up with horseradish or shredded vegetables, spun from leftover Thanksgiving mashed potatoes (!!!)…and I know you’re probably expecting me to give you some diehard purist take here, but the truth is, I love them all equally. They are fried potatoes after all. Below is the recipe… Read more »
I write about slaw a lot. For good reason — I eat it a lot, especially in the summer. It’s almost always the answer to the question: What can I add to dinner that will give my plate that hit of freshness and texture? (Do you not ask that question of yourself constantly?) I realized though, that I haven’t ever… Read more »
I’ve been attempting to recreate some version of these tacos ever since my daughter tried them at a sweet 16 party in the city a few years ago. “You sure they were cauliflower?” I asked her. “Yes,” she said. “You don’t like cauliflower, though.” After a few follow up questions, I determined that they had been deep-fried to resemble popcorn… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
