Last week, in my Friday round-up, I linked to a recipe on Nate Appleman’s instagram feed and said it would be on this week’s line-up. I’m pleased to report that I am ahead of schedule on that one, making it not only once, but twice in two days this past weekend. Above is our chicken version of the salad-y dish,… Read more »
I would say the second* most popular conversation at our dinner table lately has been: If you could have another house anywhere on earth where would it be? (The assumption being that our little hamlet in Westchester County, is everybody’s first choice. Yesss 914!) Typical answers tend to lean toward the absurdly exotic and end in “i:” Bali, Fiji, Kauai…but… Read more »
Ask me who won the Super Bowl last year. Or which teams were even in it. Was it the Deflate-gate game? Did Janet Jackson’s top fall off mid-halftime-show? Was Lawrence Taylor MVP? I’m not proud of my ignorance, but at least I have some company. As we head into Super Bowl 51 weekend, there’s a good chance that one of… Read more »
Lest I miss out on all of the Year-in-Review fun that everyone seems to be having as we wrap up yet another one, I thought I’d try something a little radical: Present all the dinners I cooked in 2016, as recorded in my Dinner Diary. I know: Super exciting! But the headlines this year were so boring and business-as-usual, so what… Read more »
When I mention the city of Austin, what is the first thing that comes to mind? (By mind, I of course mean mouth.) Barbecue? Brisket? Tacos? Migas? Franklin’s legendarily eternal lines? Me speaking at the amazing Texas Book Festival last month hawking my book? (A great CyberWeek price at Amazon right now BTW:)) You wouldn’t be faulted for thinking any… Read more »
Our annual trip to South Carolina has been the textbook definition of vacation. There are pools. There are beaches. There is kayaking and backhand-winner-ing and oyster shoveling. There is napping in the big chair on the patio, book splayed across chest. There is Making of a Murderer binge-watching. (OMG OMG OMG!) There is gin-and-tonic-ing. There is Cinnamon-Frosted-Pop-Tart-ing. There is running on… Read more »
Our mothers are both 70-something. They both wore shoulder-padded silk blouses to their full-time jobs in the 80s; they’re both skeptical of salt that is not iodized and turkeys that are heritage; and both made it clear when we were growing up that family dinner – which, yes, was centered on an old-school Italian repertoire, and supplemented by a little… Read more »
Here on the East Coast, it’s cooooold. Which means I’m guessing a lot of Valentine’s Day feasts are going to take place within the four walls of your own kitchens. Cold snap or not, you know I am a big believer in staying home on a night when all my favorite restaurant chefs seem to be lobotomized into thinking that… Read more »
“We’re looking at a pretty dire situation here,” I texted Andy. It was about 5:30 on a Thursday and one of his coworkers was coming for dinner an hour and a half later. The situation in question was the dinner itself. Ever since reading about Diana Kennedy’s famous Carnitas in Genius Recipes, I’d been meaning to try out the recipe,… Read more »
A million years ago, when I showed up to Crate & Barrel with a clipboard to register for our wedding, I very religiously recorded SKU numbers for all the shiny cooking gear before me, dreaming of the day in the not-so-distant future that these items would replace our dusty old cooking gear. Nowadays, I put a premium on that dusty… Read more »
. I am so sick of cooking. At least I am as I write this, four days into a New York-style heat wave, and three weeks into a project that has me testing recipes and — get this — turning on the oven. You know that’s essentially against the law in my house during the months of July until August,… Read more »
As our kids head into their last week of school, teacher thank-you notes in tow, it got us thinking: What about our teachers in the kitchen? What about all the little voices that instruct us as we whip our cream, brown our chops… and overcook our dry-aged ribeyes? I’m not only talking about the Marcellas and the Julias and the Bittmans,… Read more »
The Letter: I get some version of this email all. the. time: Hi, Jenny. Here’s my dilemma: I am a full-time high school English teacher with a major meat-eater for a partner, a twelve year old who is STRICTLY vegetarian, and her twin brother who is a fickle eater who has just lost three pounds and whose doctor wants us… Read more »
Happy Official First Weekend of Grilling! I’m not sure what will be in the center of the plate yet, but whatever it is, it’ll be surrounded by as many fresh green salads as I can fit. Herewith, a few protein options: Spicy Pork Tacos This one calls for peach salsa, but you can just as easily do pineapple. Brush the pineapple… Read more »
Though my morning commutes have changed over the years — from the F train to Metro-North to my walk upstairs to the home office — the morning routine has pretty much stayed the same. Every weekday starts with a cup of strong storebought coffee (medium, milk, half-sugar) and the newspaper. The paper newspaper. I have an online subscription to the… Read more »
Sometimes I worry about my recipes the way I worry about my kids. As in, is this one getting enough attention? Does that one need a little extra love this week? I think it’s safe to say that Andy’s Pork Ragu is the Marcia Brady of dinners here on DALS (Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!) followed closely by Salmon Salad, Braised Short… Read more »
What I’m reading and eating this week: I finally watched Chef last night. A lot of solid food-nerd moments in there, but my favorite was when the Jon Favreau character showed me exactly how chefs (and food stylists) make pasta look so pretty. (Like what you’re looking at above.) You wind the noodles around one of those long two-tine forks while it’s… Read more »
There’s still a week left to go before school starts, but already the back-t0-the-grind jitters are creeping into our last few vacations days at the beach. The girls’ class schedules arrived yesterday by email — this is when I long for the days of snail mail notification — and now, when I close my eyes, all I seem to see… Read more »
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Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and Dinner: The Playbook More
