Last Thursday, I posted the above photo on instagram stories and it almost blew up my phone. Not the actual photo, but the messages people sent in reaction. The one that sums it up the best is perhaps this: Sushi on a weeknight? I can’t decide if I really love you or really hate you right now. I’m writing to make sure… Read more »
Season’s greetings everyone! I’m pleased to present to you the DALS 2017 gift guide, which, per tradition, tries to keep your family’s eating and reading pleasures in mind. This year, to shake things up a bit, I added a “pairs well with…” element to many in the mix, as a way to personalize or accessorize. Happy giving. Parlor Instant Coffee… Read more »
. In my tenure as a food writer, I’ve discovered that there are two kinds of cooks in this world: Those who love to do their own grocery shopping, and those who would rather confront a demogorgon monster in the slimy snake-infested Upside Down (‘sup Stranger Things fans) than spend their precious free time chatting with butchers and squeezing melons. Never is… Read more »
. An abbreviated list of what I feel grateful for on a daily basis: I married a guy who is a Yankees fan even though he grew up in Virginia; I live five miles away from a restaurant that is a destination for diners around the world; and, most relevant for today’s purposes: My children like broccoli. And by “like” I… Read more »
For better or for worse, when I’m trying to decide what to have for dinner — especially a weekend dinner — I’m hardwired to start the brainstorming with the main dish. And for better or worse, the main dish is usually a pile of protein. On Saturday morning, as Andy and I wandered the farmer’s market, that was implicit in… Read more »
. What I’m reading and eating this week: Sunday night was grilled soy-glazed pork chops (above) from HTCE, and wow, they were as good as ever. We served them with grilled peaches (cooked in something similar to this) and a chopped, leaf-less salad. If everyone ate beans instead of beef. I was cleaning out Abby’s shelves the other day to… Read more »
. I was so happy when Short Stack Editions reached out to me a few weeks ago to see if I wanted to check out their latest volume, Cucumbers. For starters, their single-ingredient, expertly-designed booklets never fail to deliver on the recipe MVP front. (I’m guessing there are a good number of people reading this who have made Pasta Con Ceci — pulled… Read more »
. Greetings everyone! So sorry for the long absence. As mentioned in the last post I wrote — nearly three weeks ago, the longest I’ve ever gone — I have been traveling, returning a few days ago, but unable to get anything done this week thanks to the insane velocity of the news out of Washington. I swore off Twitter… Read more »
For my birthday last month, I asked for two things: A Shake Shack picnic dinner at our local Hudson River waterfront park — a success by all accounts — and a family vegetable garden. By “vegetable garden” I did not mean one-clicking a few raised bed kits on Amazon and calling it a day. I meant that I wanted everyone in the… Read more »
For the last few weeks, when dinnertime rolls around I haven’t found myself where I like to be the most, namely sitting around a table with my family, downloading the day’s events over a plate of something quick and fresh. Instead, I’m sitting in a parking lot or on bleachers or walking around a track waiting for a practice to… Read more »
So there’s news on the Dinner: A Love Story front: I am one step closer to world domination, having taken actual, physical, tax-deductible office space outside my house, roughly two miles from my front door, and two miles plus ten feet from my kitchen. I share a space with six other enterprising businessmen and women, all of whom you will… Read more »
You should see my freezer right now. There are amorphous Ziplocks of homemade chicken stock, a bag of pre-soaked beans, a bag of fully baked beans, some shredded chicken from taco night last month, a single sausage here, a chicken drumstick there, a sliced mini loaf of the crazy delicious Danish rye bread from Great Northern Food Hall (so good with… Read more »
Here in the Northeast this time of year, under perpetually slate-gray winter skies, “market inspiration” can be a bit hard to come by. Feels like it’s all bagged salads and overpriced out-of-season raspberries in our house, as we countdown 33 days, 4 hours, and 17 minutes til spring. But you’d never know there was any inspiration issue over at Kitchen… Read more »
Back in the fall, Christina Chaey, an editor at Bon Appetit presented me with a challenge: How would you stretch $30 at Whole Foods into five family dinners? My first reaction: HAHAHAHAHAHA! Can’t be done. (Whole Paycheck anyone?) My second: You know…this kind of use-it-or-lose-it exercise is always useful, no matter where I’m shopping. Plus, I had just returned from… Read more »
How ya doing on those New Year’s resolutions? I’m pleased to report that it’s only Day Five of 2017 and yet I’ve already checked off THREE of my big ones: Edit and organize passwords on important accounts, book mammogram, and start every single day with a Starbucks Grande Pike or its caffeine equivalent. (I take it to heart to set… 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 »
For my girls’ birthdays this past year they invited a small crew of friends out to a “fancy” dinner and lunch respectively, while their parents (aka the bill-payers) sat a few tables away, removed from the action. It’s a far cry from the first decade-plus of their lives, when parties were mostly at home, carefully themed, and usually resulted in… Read more »
So this is fun. For those of you who’ve picked up a copy of my book, a) THANK YOU and b) you might’ve ogled the Franks-n-Beans recipe which we have been known to scare up for our Halloween launch party (alongside a healthy selection of bourbon, of course). In honor of the ritual and the season, longtime partner Applegate, maker… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
