From the mailbox: Dear Jenny, About a month ago we were having chili for dinner. Our son hates chili. All types. Tomato, white bean chicken, we have battled over it all. I have pushed, he has pursed (his lips tightly). I have threatened (which I know is not the way to promote healthy attitudes toward food), he has cried (I’m… Read more »
I had such fantasies when we invited our friends Todd and Anne for dinner. It wasn’t a special occasion dinner — only a sort of a “last gasp of summer” kind of night since both our families are going our separate ways for the rest of the month and the next time we see them we’ll be all busy with… Read more »
I’m going to keep this simple. Because I made it twenty minutes ago, and Jenny and I both said, “Why haven’t we written about this on DALS yet? It’s so easy.” So here it is, a good five-minute sauce that goes with just about anything. It’s awesome with grilled stuff, from fish (we had it last weekend with striped bass)… Read more »
OK, you guys thought the DALS pasta sauce taste test was fun? Wait til you see what the BA team is up to. I’ve been working with their editors and test kitchen staff on the road test of all road tests. Bon Appetit is spending the next few months testing and tasting 50 of the pantry staples you use every… Read more »
Page 118: I think I’ll make page 220 next week, too. Thanks Kariane…and all Dinner: A Love Story readers and emailers. You guys make me laugh. Have a great weekend, Jenny
I’m sorry to say that today is my last post for Dinner: A Love Story. This is because I visited Pixar Studios yesterday (the whole family did, actually) and if you were me, and got to see where and how these people work, you would drop everything to figure out a way that you could become a Pixar employee right… Read more »
Heirloom tomatoes, fireflies, juicy peaches, baseball, blackberries bursting at the seams…this can only mean one thing: It’s time for the Second Annual Dolly Awards! Last year, we went strictly by the rule book, adhering to a rigorous awarding process that involved votes, taste tests, many many minutes of research at the local library, as well as a suited-and-tied representative from… Read more »
. I’ve never met a diary I didn’t like. I can still picture my very first one–my dad bought it for me. It was fake crimson leather with gold piping, about the size of a postcard, and clamped shut with a lock and key that was completely ineffective when it came to warding off nosy siblings. Over the years I’ve… Read more »
From Whitney Brown: Your book has accomplished the task of making me want to be a better mom while simultaneously making me realize I’m not doing such a bad job anyway. Thank you for the self esteem boost and for lighting a fire to keep me improving. The book and blog are perfect. From Kim Rogers: Thanks for writing such a… Read more »
Seven or eight years ago, I resolved to be better about my non-work reading. I made a list of books I either (a) felt ashamed I’d never read, or (b) hadn’t read once, so long ago, they were practically lost to me now. Books like Don Quixote, The Idiot, Jude the Obscure, Dead Souls, Herzog, My Antonia, The Sound and… Read more »
I have extended the Mega Giveaway Contest deadline for one more week, so remember: pick up a copy of Dinner: A Love Story (at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Indie Bound, your local library, your best friend’s house, wherever!) then answer one question to be eligible to win one of a dozen really excellent gifts. Click here for more details.
We are taking a little vacation — where there will no doubt be Aunt Patty‘s flag cake* — but instead of allowing DALS to go dark, we thought we’d spend a week sifting through our old faves. We’ve written almost 500 posts since this thing started, and the weird thing about a blog is the way it sometimes feels, once… Read more »
I remember this vividly. When I was six years old, I was in the basement of our house on Aldenham Lane, playing with my dad. Our basement was the kind of basement I feel bad that my kids don’t have today – a concrete floor, an old wooden workbench, high metal shelves sagging with caulk and stains and Maxwell House… Read more »
I’ve been using a humongous plastic storage bin as my bedroom nightstand for six months — it’s standing in for the old ratty one which I sold on Craigs List because I thought this act might force me to actually make the effort to, you know, find something nicer to replace it with. There’s a table in the TV room that… Read more »
On Wednesday night, Day 2 of Publication, my 8-year-old was sitting at the dinner table waiting for her chicken with biscuits (recipe on the way) when she said, “Mom, you weren’t here for dinner Monday or Tuesday night.” “Yeah?” I said. “That’s so unlike you.” “I know,” I told her. “Remember, my book is out this week. There’s a lot going on…. Read more »
Andy and I write a bi-monthly column for Bon Appetit called “The Providers,” and the following story (and recipe for Tony’s steak, above, shot by Marcus Nilsson) is what appeared in the June issue. By the end of last September, even Abby — my pie-loving 7-year-old — was sick of my apple galette. There was a week-long stretch there where she… Read more »
This is how much I worry about you guys — I woke up in the middle of the night and realized that I hadn’t written a single thing this week to help you out with a meal to kick off the best season of the year. We’re guests this year, but any of the dishes here would have certainly… Read more »
Shredded Kale Salad Cannot. Get. Enough Kale. I don’t know what it is. When I pick up my stash at the farmer’s market and other people on line inevitably ask what I do with it, I bestow upon them these simple words: Shred, my friend, Shred! I don’t know why it makes such a difference but when it’s presented like confetti,… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
