There are many factors I consider when measuring the success of a cookbook, but ultimately, there’s only one that really matters: Does it get you into the kitchen? In my mind, I don’t care who wrote it or how trendy the recipes are — if it convinces you to cook, it’s worthy of a James Beard Award. If it inspires… Read more »
Thank you all for the Seattle restaurant recommendations. As predicted, I didn’t get a chance to explore as much as I usually do on these kinds of trips. Other than a quick hop to Fremont Bowl to eat salmon poke bowls and what I think is maybe the best tofu on the planet, we cooked and ate in. I should… Read more »
I’m off to Seattle this morning but felt an overwhelming urge to download some random recent dinner discoveries for you as I sit at Gate 1 in JFK’s Terminal 7. (Don’t you hate it when that happens?) For starters: Due to popular demand, I created a highlight for the mushrrom-farro recipe I posted on instagram stories last week. (Note to… Read more »
A few weeks ago, the Times did a story about dialing back on meat and there was lots of great stuff in there — not the least of which: that mushroom bourguignon that everyone including us seemed to be making over the long weekend — but the part I keep turning over in my dinner brain was this quote: According… Read more »
We were about halfway through the Mojave dessert last week, praying the rental car wouldn’t break down, when I turned around to ask the girls — who were sitting on the same sides of the backseat they’ve sat on since they were toddlers in boosters — a very pressing question. It was Day Six of our California road trip (read… Read more »
I didn’t mean to make this beet salad for Thanksgiving. And when I was looking for a place on the buffet at my parents’ house, alongside the carved turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and other holiday dish royalty, it wasn’t entirely an accident that I sorta kinda placed it on a neighboring table where maybe nobody would see. (All the more… Read more »
There was a time in my weeknight cooking life when, if I came across the phrase “In your food processor…” in a recipe, I would automatically turn the page. Who in his or her right mind would want to lug a small appliance out of the upper cabinets when they were on the clock for feeding hungry kids? And who… Read more »
One of the more satisfying things about roasting a chicken is the aftermath, when I’ve picked every piece of meat off its bones, laid down the jus-slicked roasting dish for my lucky, licky dogs, and then plunked a big Dutch Oven on the stovetop, ready to receive the carcass for a rich and hearty stock. Sometimes I’ll make that stock… Read more »
When the kids were little, in the interest of Palate Expansion, we used to give them ten bucks at the farmer’s market and tell them to spend it on something brand new. Something they’d never seen before or something they’d always wanted to try. This is how they ended up falling in love with “dinosaur egg” plums and pickles on sticks,… Read more »
Every New Year’s Day for the past few years — and by New Year’s Day, I of course mean, the first day of school — I’ve had the same resolution-y thought: We need to eat less meat in our house. It’s a low-rumbling call year-round, but something about September and the ramped-up schedules and textbook pile-ups on the kitchen counter… Read more »
4:00 Drop off daughter at camp in Western Mass; settle in for 3-hour drive home. 4:15 Realize the kitchen waiting for us is basically cobwebs. We have no fresh food except possibly half a red onion. 4:17 Pull over at first farm stand we drive by (I see you Pioneer Valley!); pick up 3 ears corn, a bag of sugar… Read more »
A few weeks ago I headed to Park City, Utah for a mini reunion with my college roommates, where the seven of us spent a long weekend hiking, eating, and hard-core hanging. One night, as my Seattle friend Jenn and I were putting together dinner for the crew (salmon salad, naturally, plus a version of Samin’s cauliflower) when my San Francisco friend, Cara… Read more »
I’ve been pretty good about sticking to the Weekday Vegetarian plan ever since issuing the official decree in our house back in October. What’s been surprising is that the girls have been great too, even though I have all sorts of plans in place (including a bag of drumsticks frozen individually in their marinade) to supplement their meals when I… Read more »
For reasons that will become clear in the near future but that I will currently explain simply as “an occupational hazard,” I had to bake eight batches of box-mix brownies yesterday. Technically, I didn’t eat any of the brownies I baked, unless you count the batter from each scraped bowl, and the crumbs under the cooling racks, and of course… Read more »
Summer has arrived a little early in my house — as usual, we are spending spring break down in Kiawah, South Carolina at my in-law’s place, and it has not taken us long to get into vacation rhythm. That goes for the bike riding and general sun-lizarding, but mostly I’m talking about dinner-making, which is to say grilling. Why do I… Read more »
Andy: Office is closing early. Be home by 3:00. Me: OMG. CAN YOU PLEEEEASE MAKE DINNER TONIGHT? Andy: What do we have? Me: I bought ingreds to replicate that tofu wheat berry salad we had at Honeygrow last week Andy: OK, done Me: YASSSSSSSS. Be home by 6:00. Can you also do the track carpool? 🙏🏻 🙏🏻 🙏🏻 Loaded Wheat Berry Salad with Tofu and Pickled Peppers Serves… Read more »
Today I am delighted to cede the floor to my dear friend and mother-of-three Naria Halliwell. Astute readers might remember her as the first person to convince me to eat raw kale or the one who media-trained me for my first television appearance so many moons ago. (Fun fact: I was her very first client and now she’s coaching VIPs… Read more »
A week ago, I did something I’ve never done before: I loaded up my car with a few groceries, kissed my kids goodbye, and drove a few hours north to attend a five-day artist residency at The Spruceton Inn in the Catskills. As I pulled on to 87 North, I flashbacked to the last time I was away from my… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and Dinner: The Playbook More
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