When I had young kids, a lot of activities fell off the priority list — happy hour drinks with coworkers, catching the newest Wes Anderson movie in the theater, general self-care — but I was determined to continue having people over for dinner. For whatever reason, it was the kind of activity that reliably brought me joy and connection, not just… Read more »
One of the unforeseen benefits of having two kids in college is that their expanded social circles now encompass friends from the wider New York area, plus visitors to the New York area, plus friends just interning in the New York area for the summer. All of this translates to more guests at the dinner table, which means the weeknight… Read more »
Our friends Sonya and Pierre came over for dinner on Saturday and instead of doing what we usually do with starters — a lot of little salty, tangy treats to whet the appetite, not smother it — we essentially stuck with one medium-size salty-tangy treat: These pickled white anchovy toasts with caramelized onions. We always order them at a favorite local… Read more »
Here in New York, we’ve been willing the universe to make fall last as long as possible because, as Andy says every single morning in ominous, Game-of-Thrones-like tones, winter is coming. In normal years, I don’t usually care that much. Cold weather is the season of cozy food — braised meats, red wine, warm-your-bones stews, and friends and family around… Read more »
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 »
We are nothing if not creatures of habit in my house, so when people come over for dinner in the summer, we generally fall back on the same rotation of old reliables — vongole, picnic chicken or steak or chops on the grill, surrounded by a ton of market salads and a cobbler for dessert — and save the more adventurous cooking… Read more »
Before I had children, my husband and I threw the best holiday parties. We’d head out on field trips all over New York City, where we lived at the time, to hunt down finger foods and festive garlands. Weeks before the big night, we’d have menu-planning sessions and discuss pressing issues: knishes or empanadas? Pinot noir or Châteauneuf-du-Pape? Store-bought pita… Read more »
. I was all excited to share my Super Easy Family Dinner Party Plan with you a few weeks ago after serving three of the most delicious pizzas for my college friend, Samidh, his wife, Nithya, and their two kids. I was envisioning calling it “Family Dinner Party in Three Easy Steps” because, really, it felt so effortless, the kind… Read more »
Quick one today. Just a few tips and tricks to up your game in the kitchen, beginning with number 1 (above), The Tomato Can Pizza Stand. Backstory: There were exactly two days this past summer when the kids’ sleepaway camps overlapped. And on those two nights, we ate well. One night we cooked at home and made Scallops with Corn and Bacon Hash… Read more »
Ask me who won the Super Bowl last year. Or which teams were even in it. Was it the Deflate-gate game? Did Janet Jackson’s top fall off mid-halftime-show? Was Lawrence Taylor MVP? I’m not proud of my ignorance, but at least I have some company. As we head into Super Bowl 51 weekend, there’s a good chance that one of… 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 »
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 »
Keep the Cocktails Simple, Check Your Instagram Feed, Outsource, Crash Clean Only The Rooms That Matter, Have a Few Fallback Conversation Starters Up Your Sleeve, Do Whatever You Can Ahead of Time, and (maybe most important) Remember: No One is Expecting You To Be Jackie Kennedy. For all the details, and way way more, head over to Joanna Goddard’s ridiculously addictive… Read more »
We had a few out-of-town friends over this past weekend for cocktails and snacks — for no real reason other than I hadn’t seen a bunch of them in a while and because…well, because I felt like it. There were pitchers of pre-made Manhattans (thank you Andy) and a ton of food, but the corner of the spread that I… Read more »
When I drew up a list of Pros and Cons way back when we were trying to decide to leave the city for the suburbs, the entry on the Con side, after “commute” but before “leave alllll my friends” was, naturally, hummus. As you likely know by now, we were moving from Brooklyn Heights, a neighborhood bordered on the southern… Read more »
So we turned the calendar page this week which means, among other things, that January and all its Draconian eat-better-resolving can take a back seat for a day or two. And lucky for us, The Super Bowl is here, which means we have more than a failsafe justification to do a little indulging. Herewith a few drool-worthy, game-worthy recipe ideas… Read more »
A lot of you checked in with me via instagram or email to see how we fared with our Big Blizzard Bo Ssam Dinner, and my answer is…well let’s just say I wouldn’t be too upset if the forecast called for another two feet of snow this weekend. It wasn’t our first attempt making Bo Ssam — Momofuku’s famous sweet,… Read more »
“We’re looking at a pretty dire situation here,” I texted Andy. It was about 5:30 on a Thursday and one of his coworkers was coming for dinner an hour and a half later. The situation in question was the dinner itself. Ever since reading about Diana Kennedy’s famous Carnitas in Genius Recipes, I’d been meaning to try out the recipe,… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
