4:00 Drop off daughter at camp in Western Mass; settle in for 3-hour drive home. 4:15 Realize the kitchen waiting for us is basically cobwebs. We have no fresh food except possibly half a red onion. 4:17 Pull over at first farm stand we drive by (I see you Pioneer Valley!); pick up 3 ears corn, a bag of sugar… Read more »
As most of you know, we are big fans of the celebratory birthday breakfast in our house and, thankfully, that doesn’t seem to be changing as the kids get older. In fact, they seem more into the tradition than ever, most recently evidenced by this spread for Andy a few weeks back. Influenced heavily by the All-Day-Cafe aesthetic of some… Read more »
A week ago, I did something I’ve never done before: I loaded up my car with a few groceries, kissed my kids goodbye, and drove a few hours north to attend a five-day artist residency at The Spruceton Inn in the Catskills. As I pulled on to 87 North, I flashbacked to the last time I was away from my… Read more »
Hi, it’s Abby. My mom asked me to write an introduction for this post about our last-minute trip to Seattle a few weeks ago. I was invited to play in a soccer tournament there and this one was different than most because there was only one game a day, which means there was plenty of down time to explore a… Read more »
A few weeks ago, Joanna over at Cup of Jo asked me for some lessons on parenting teenagers. It just so happened I was in the middle of a rough patch and the best I could do without compromising anyone’s privacy was report that I was constantly being reminded of a quote from my friend whose kids have long since left the… Read more »
[This post is sponsored by Whole Foods Market] This should not come to a surprise to anyone who has been reading Dinner: A Love Story for the past few years, but when we are looking for ways to celebrate special occasions, whether that’s a birthday, a return from sleep-away camp, the last day of midterms, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Hump… Read more »
So what’s everyone making for their Memorial Day barbecues? We are splitting up this weekend to travel to various sporting events and tournaments and I’m guessing that my culinary highlight will be the egg and cheese sandwich at whatever Starbucks is closest to the track or field. (Reminder that I am not complaining. I love those sandwiches and would, in… Read more »
I’m a day late on this — sorry! — but a quick update to let you know that I was on Food Network’s “The Kitchen” yesterday (that’s Jeff Mauro and Marcela Valladolid up there!) talking champagne brunch, How to Celebrate Everything, and the ridiculously happy pancake “cake” you are looking at below. If you are like us, with one more day left… Read more »
I’ve worked with a lot of creative people in my life, but right up there at the top of the list is Vanessa Holden, who I met when she was creative director of Real Simple, and who went on to become editor-in-chief of Martha Stewart and creative director at West Elm. Her most impressive credential, though, might be Soul Safari, the conference-slash-revolution… Read more »
I’m so happy to welcome Shauna Niequist to DALS’s guest series on family rituals. You most likely know Shauna from her blog and bestselling books about food, family and faith. Her latest, Present Over Perfect, is a poetic manifesto about slowing down, saying no, choosing messiness over perfection and, as she writes, “turning her life around from the inside out” to make time for what matters. (I’m… Read more »
In his Bon Appetit column this month, dessert guru and Superiority Burger founder, Brooks Headley coined a phrase that I can’t stop thinking about: Good Anxiety. “The impermanence of seasonal produce is one of the joys of cooking,” he wrote. “It gets the blood pumping. It triggers the good anxiety.” It’s exactly the sentiment I experience when I wander the… 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 »
Back in my magazine editor days I worked on a travel essay about Amsterdam. My girls were young at that point — probably four and five — and I remember the writer talking about what an impression the city made on her when she was a kid. That it was magical, that it was like living inside a dollhouse, and… 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 »
Fall/Winter 2016-2017 Events The Power of Rituals and Family Dinner Ridgefield, CT Wednesday, February 8, 2017 6:30PM (details forthcoming) Food Network’s The Kitchen (shown above with Jeff Mauro & Marcela Valladolid) Saturday, December 31, 11:00 ET Guest appearance! No video link available yet, but you can find the “Pancake Cake” here Texas Book Festival Sunday, November 6 Austin, TX Panel discussion 1:30; Demo 3:30… Read more »
Last year, we sent our then 11-year-old to sleepaway camp for two weeks, where she did all the things kids do at sleepaway camp — she paddle-surfed in the lake, slept in an open-air cabin, competed in color wars, roasted marshmallows in bonfires after dinner, complained about that dinner (and lunch and breakfast), and wrote her parents letters during her… Read more »
For my grandmother’s 80th birthday, her best and oldest friend in the world, Midge — fellow bridge clubber, golf partner, drinking buddy, all-around Golden Girl — hosted a dinner party, on the Wedgwood china, in her big brick house on Forest Avenue. Jenny and I were in attendance, as were my father, two widows — Mary and Shep, both in… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and Dinner: The Playbook More
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