My father’s mother, Grandma Tillie, didn’t attend my parents’ wedding. She was Jewish, raised in an Orthodox household by parents who had been born in a Romanian shtetl—and her oldest son marrying a Presbyterian from western Pennsylvania had not exactly been her idea of kosher. Naturally, her wedding-day protest weighed heavily on my father, but once my parents tied the… Read more »
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my career as a parent, it’s this: It does not take a whole lot to make a kid happy. I knew a mom a while back who had a special favorite pink plate reserved for sick days, so when her daughter was home with the flu, there was at least one bright spot… Read more »
I am so thrilled to welcome Molly Yeh to the DALS Family Rituals Series. In case you have been living in an alternate universe for the past few years, Molly is something of a Beyonce among Bloggers — she is the author of Molly on the Range, and the brain behind My Name is Yeh (pronounced “yay”) where she chronicles… 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 »
Wait, wait, wait, don’t go anywhere! You’re in the right place, I swear this is Dinner: A Love Story! Even though, yes, what you are looking at is a collection of perfect candy Christmas tree lollipops topping a perfectly iced cake on a blog that once might have said that “perfect” is “the enemy of good.” Big shocker here: I… 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 »
Welcome to our annual guide for everything we want, covet, crave, and, yes need this holiday. (I don’t know about you, but in my world, little tiny spoons qualify as essential.) As always, the round-up was compiled with cooks, eaters, readers, kids, and parents in mind, and as always, there are lots of free little treats and discounts for YOU sprinkled throughout, so… Read more »
Last night was our annual trim-the-Christmas-tree-and-eat-latkes ritual. (Yours too, right?) I know we’re still over two weeks away from Hanukkah, but we’ve been merging the two holidays for so long (see: How to Celebrate Everything) that it now feels officially weird to hang angels and macaroni ornaments on the tree without snacking on latkes and their attendant fixins. Not only because… Read more »
As most of you know, the heart of my book, How to Celebrate Everything, is as much about savoring the smaller moments, about infusing meaning into the everyday, about taking a step back to make sure we’re all asking ourselves: Are we living intentionally or just racing to the finish line every single day? What I would also like to… 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 »
My Family Rituals Series continues with author Luisa Weiss, who some of you probably know as The Wednesday Chef, or, if you’re a blogger like me, as “one of the originals.” Luisa grew up shuttling back and forth between Boston and Berlin, and it’s Berlin where she’s made a home with her husband and young son, Hugo. Not content merely to write… 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 »
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 »
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 excited to write these words: You are looking at my next book, How to Celebrate Everything, which will be published on September 20, 2016. I know I’m prone to overstatement, but when I say this is the most meaningful project I’ve ever worked on, I’m not lying. (And yes, I realize I’m saying this as somebody who can… 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 »
Meet Pablo. He’s lived in our house for so long that I forget most of you probably know him already as the beloved bow-tied ringleader of The Backyardigans. When Phoebe was little, she and her sister were obsessed with the show, about five friends seeking out imaginary adventures in their backyard, breaking into song and dance routines as they do… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
