I didn’t meet Aanya until I walked into the cafeteria for snack time after my third soccer session of the day. She was eight years old (but tall enough to look twelve), wore round glasses, and had her hair tied in a low, messy bun. She was sitting at a table with Mahi, my closest co-counselor, talking excitedly. Aanya looked… Read more »
I wanted to post a Friday note with some personal news. My father-in-law, Stephen Ward, died last week; he was 81. Though many of you have only recently “met” me through my newsletter and books, I’ve been writing for over a decade about my family here on this blog, and I just wanted to touch on loss, something that affects,… 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 »
My friend Fred has the funniest ritual. When asked to bring dessert to a dinner party (or any party), he heads to Carvel to pick up an ice cream cake. That on its own is revelatory for me because, well, show me someone who doesn’t appreciate a chocolate-vanilla-crunchies-in-the-middle Carvel cake and I will show you an unhappy person. But the… Read more »
I know! This post is a long time coming! First, allow me to be the millionth person to tell you that Charleston, South Carolina is now one of the biggest restaurant destinations in America. As most of you know by now, we are New Yorkers who spend a week or two a year on Kiawah Island, about 25 miles outside… Read more »
When it comes to entertaining, I go through phases. Some nights I am the cook who craves adventure, who embraces an all-day culinary bacchanlia. More frequently I’m the kind of cook who just wants to keep things simple, the one who emails a friend a few hours before dinner “Come over for some spaghetti and meatballs,” because spaghetti and meatballs are… Read more »
[This post is sponsored by Whole Foods Market] This should not come to a surprise to anyone who has been reading Dinner: A Love Story for the past few years, but when we are looking for ways to celebrate special occasions, whether that’s a birthday, a return from sleep-away camp, the last day of midterms, Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Hump… Read more »
I am so delighted to feature guest-poster Caroline Campion today. Caroline is a Saveur alum and one of the OG bloggers, having first caught my attention almost a decade ago with her site Devil & Egg; today she co-writes keeperscooks with Kathy Brennan. Their new book, The Dinner Plan, is, obviously, near and dear to my heart, and, among other things discusses the all-too-familiar… 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 »
. When I was a kid, my family had an account at the local bookstore, a privilege I don’t remember enjoying anywhere else in town. I felt so cool stopping in, picking up the latest V.C. Andrews novel, then then telling whoever was working behind the counter, Just charge it to “Rosenstrach.” I never felt guilty piling two or three… 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 »
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 »
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 »
If you want to learn how to make sushi rolls in your own house, the first piece of advice I have for you is this: Don’t ever watch Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Actually, scratch that: Watch it, because it’s one of the greatest documentaries I’ve ever seen, but then try to push Jiro — the sushi chef whose Michelin-starred restaurant… Read more »
Once, back in the days when I used to assemble after school snack platters, I presented my go-to dutiful little display of apples and peanut butter and set it on the table before the girls. Phoebe grabbed one or two but Abby stood up and started scanning the pantry. “What’s the matter?” I asked. “You don’t like apples and peanut… 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 »
Remember that scene in Ratatouille when the ruthless restaurant critic Anton Ego takes a bite of Remi’s ratatouille and is instantly whooshed back to his mother’s country kitchen? His normally severe face melts into a kind of euphoria, and he drops his pen in the shock of recognition, in the transportive power of food. (As if to say, the feeling… Read more »
A few years ago, as my family of four was sitting down to meatballs, it occurred to me that my daughters, then about 10 and 8 years old, had never heard one of the Rosenstrach’s most legendary stories, the kind of yarn has been told so many times (mostly by their grandfather) that we have forgotten where the truth begins… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
