Posts Categorized: Project Pantry Purpose

Good morning! I spent a good part of yesterday writing, walking…and fuming about the new John Bolton book, which I refuse to link to because I don’t want anyone to buy it. Where was Trump’s former national security adviser when it actually mattered? And I still can’t believe his offer to testify in the impeachment trial — apparently confirming every… Read more »

Good morning everyone! I think my kids are looking forward to me getting out of the latest bean testing phase of my book, though I did notice that this green hummus above disappeared very fast. Yesterday I watched the first episode of Quiz (really loving it so far, thank you for the rec Caroline!) and caged my tomato plants which… Read more »

Good morning! Welcome to Week 14 of Pantry, Project, Purpose. Our section of New York hit Phase 2 of re-opening last week, and it was so heartening to see restaurants set up outdoor dining in the street. (Leave it to today’s Daily, though, to scare me all the way back to March.) We spent as much time as possible outdoors… Read more »

Good morning. Yesterday we got some good news from school: Cuomo cleared the way for “limited graduations” to proceed after June 26, so there will be an in-person ceremony for my daughter’s senior class. We are thrilled. In other news, I spent yesterday rewriting the intro to my book (again); I started an assignment that I’ve been putting off for… Read more »

Welcome back to the Project, Pantry, Purpose series, everyone. I hope you all had a safe, enlightening week. My family attended a local protest (above) this past Sunday which reinforced all the lessons I’ve been learning over the last few weeks, and, to be clear, learning way too late. The big takeaways for me, though, as it relates to what… Read more »

Back in March, I started the Pantry Project Purpose series to help keep everybody sane and connected during quarantine, and also because it felt good to offer a little escapist comfort from what is playing out in the world and the front pages every day. But the events of the last week have reminded me how privileged I am to… Read more »

Good morning and welcome to Thursday. Yesterday I wrote recipe headnotes for a chapter of my book. (Headnotes are the little descriptions that introduce the recipe, or tell a story, or give some context and instruction); I went for a long walk; I started a novel I was assigned to review. Lastly, the unsettling news from Minneapolis and Central Park… Read more »

Good morning, it’s Wednesday already! Not a whole lot to report. Yesterday, I went for a bike ride; listened to the first episode of this crazy new podcast; started Season 5 of The Wire; and read a chapter in a book about Tolstoy (!) that Andy is editing and obsessing over. This photo is from last week when we decided… Read more »

Good morning! I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend. We got great news on Saturday: Bean is going to be just fine! Thank you again to everyone who sent good puppy energy her way. In other news, Andy and I got antibody tests (don’t have results yet) after hearing a local hospital had easy-to-book appointments; We started the Chicago… Read more »

Good morning. Thank you to everyone who sent along well wishes to Bean. I read every note to her and they were much appreciated. Other than spoiling her with attention, yesterday I planted the remainder of my tomato garden, and noticed some suspicious looking divots that were not there yesterday. (I cannot win.) While Andy mended the subsequently discovered holes… Read more »

Good morning and happy Wednesday. Yesterday was a busy one — lots of recipe testing including a zucchini pizza I’m working on for the book. The one you are looking at here was solid, but not book-worthy, so no recipe just yet. (Leftovers will, however, be a most excellent lunch.) I also went for a run and listened to the… Read more »

Good afternoon! What’s everyone reading these days? I’m excited about the new Curtis Sittenfeld novel (published today) called Rodham, which imagines what would’ve become of Hillary had she never married Bill; I’m also in the middle of Before the Fall, by the Fargo creator Noah Hawley — it’s a thriller, and not my usual genre, but it’s actually been really… Read more »

Good morning, and welcome to Week 10 of Your Quarantine PPP. It was gorgeous in New York all weekend and we tried to make the most of it by hiking at Rockefeller State Park again (we spotted two Baltimore Orioles, a prime sighting in our neck of the woods); lounging and reading on the patio with the dogs; and planting… Read more »

I’d be lying if I said the obsession with dessert in our house was somehow quarantine-activated, but I will say that over the last few months, the post-dinner sweet options have significantly ramped up, almost to an embarrassing level. This is partly because we are going to the supermarket less frequently, so our boxes of Mallomars and pints of Americone… Read more »

Good morning. Wednesdays are always a little brighter for me because it’s usually the day Bon Appetit comes out with its newest podcast episode, so I can block out the world for a little while and listen to my favorite food people go deep on, say, Chicken Parm. It’s also the day I write about food over at Cup of… Read more »

Good morning! Another unseasonably cold one in New York, but the sun is out, so I will take it. Yesterday I crossed something off my to-do list that I think might hold the world record for Longest Time Ever Spent on a To-Do List: I sent ten first-day-of-school photos to Shutterfly to make prints. Like a lot of parents out… Read more »

Good morning. Hope you all had a nice Mother’s Day. We went for a long hike and spotted a scarlet tanager and possibly a black-throated blue warbler. My Mother’s Day gift to myself was a goldfinch feeder, which I hung in the backyard on Saturday. Ever since I was little, I’ve interpreted a goldfinch sighting as a sign of good… Read more »

Good morning, Troops. Yesterday I got to interview the legendary Deborah Madison about her upcoming memoir and the history of the vegetarian movement. One thing that surprised me: She is obviously a vegetable lover, but she’s not actually a vegetarian. (Her reply “That’s why I wrote the book!”) In other exciting news, I also scored more than one four-pack of… Read more »