Good morning, everyone. A really good morning! Where were you when you heard the news? We were walking back from the farmer’s market, when the phones in our pockets started buzzing like crazy. We FaceTimed Phoebe in college, then called Abby, who was driving home from practice. We instructed her to lay on the horn the whole way home. It… Read more »
Before I had children, my husband and I threw the best holiday parties. We’d head out on field trips all over New York City, where we lived at the time, to hunt down finger foods and festive garlands. Weeks before the big night, we’d have menu-planning sessions and discuss pressing issues: knishes or empanadas? Pinot noir or Châteauneuf-du-Pape? Store-bought pita… Read more »
Today’s post, the last before I head out for the holidays, is an excerpt from my book, How to Celebrate Everything. Like many of you, this year, more than any other year in recent memory, I have found it nearly impossible to downshift from the everyday scramble into “intentional mode,” as in: Here I am, decorating cookies with my daughters, surrounded… Read more »
Jeanette Winterson, the British author perhaps most well-known for her coming-of-age autobiographical novel Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit, has a sacred Christmas ritual. Every Christmas Eve, at 3pm, she listens to a service on BBC radio, broadcast live from Kings College in Cambridge. There are Bible readings from the Old and New Testament and in between, the choir sings carols… Read more »
Boy this blog is in seriously high holiday gear lately — which I guess makes sense — but as you know, I always like to have at least one decent family dinner idea on the home page at any given time. That is the bread-and-butter of this whole operation after all, and you can count on me never forgetting that…. Read more »
Pleased to announce that my How to Celebrate Everything video series continues with, naturally, Chocolate Pudding Pie. I’ve been on the road hawking my book this month, and I’ve had a lot of fun reading the section about a pie throw-down my family had at Thanksgiving a few years ago. (Book owners: page 46). It’s one of my favorites, as… Read more »
I am so excited to continue my Family Rituals Series featuring the one and only Joanna Goddard. You probably know her as the creator/empress behind Cup of Jo, which is not so much a lifestyle blog as it is a thrice-daily fix that her zillion zealous fans (including yours truly) crave like junkies. I am grateful to her for that, of course,… Read more »
There was a solid stretch of years where our kids were very, very into Halloween. At any given moment, no matter the time of year – March, August; hell, even November – if you asked them what they were going to dress up as next time, they’d have an answer for you. As soon as the last Butterfinger was down… Read more »
As inevitable as it might seem at this point, maybe we don’t have to be hooked up to our TVs and Twitter feeds for the ENTIRE month of October do we? (Well, maybe we do.) In case you need an excuse to break away from the news for an hour or two, I wanted to let you know about a… Read more »
From the Sunday Dinner chapter in How to Celebrate Everything: “As far back as I can remember, it’s been a given that we end the weekend with family at our own table, whether that table has been in our Brooklyn apartment, in our first house in the suburbs, or in my parents’ or sister’s house across the county. Only under special… Read more »
I have been waiting so long to write these words: Catherine Newman, of Ben & Birdy fame, of Catastrophic Hapiness fame, is the author of this week’s guest-post on family rituals. I’m not sure there is any tradition that embodies the concept of my new book more than her Yay, It’s Wednesday Cake. I’ll let her tell you all about… Read more »
There’s a lot going on in the headlines these days, and not always the kinds of things we feel like celebrating with a stack of candle-lighted pancakes or emoji cupcakes. If I’ve learned anything in the process of writing the book you’re looking at above, though, one of the most comforting things we can do — for our children, for our… Read more »
Remember that scene in Ratatouille when the ruthless restaurant critic Anton Ego takes a bite of Remi’s ratatouille and is instantly whooshed back to his mother’s country kitchen? His normally severe face melts into a kind of euphoria, and he drops his pen in the shock of recognition, in the transportive power of food. (As if to say, the feeling… Read more »
Of all the rituals we have in our house—and we have a lot of them—the hands-down family favorite has got to be eating dinner in front of the TV. (What the what??) To hear all about it, head over to Food52. They’ve excerpted the story from How to Celebrate Everything, which is out in four short days! (And this delicious looking Chickpea,… Read more »
A few years ago, as my family of four was sitting down to meatballs, it occurred to me that my daughters, then about 10 and 8 years old, had never heard one of the Rosenstrach’s most legendary stories, the kind of yarn has been told so many times (mostly by their grandfather) that we have forgotten where the truth begins… Read more »
You are looking at the winner of DALS’s first ever summer photo contest. This shot arrived in my inbox last week with very little information, but as with all the best photographs, it didn’t need any. The sundress-clad girl’s happiness was my happiness almost instantly — calling up that feeling of leaning way too far out the car window, and… Read more »
Anyone who has been following this blog for even a little while knows that the Tomato Sandwich, in our house, is not so much something to eat for lunch as it is a…religion. We dedicate Saturday mornings to tracking down the best tomatoes we can find, then we sit on the patio and discuss the finer points of their excellence…. 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 »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
