Posts Categorized: Rituals

Summer Photo Contest

As my daughter reminds me every single morning: Summer is almost over. The truth is, up here in the north, it’s not. My family still has a solid four weeks left — sorry southerners — including a beach vacation just around the corner. (Though my twelve-year-old fatalist will also tell you,”Vacation is almost over” even though it hasn’t even started… Read more »

When Ice Cream is More Than Ice Cream

For the next few weeks, leading up to the publication of my book How to Celebrate Everything, I’ll be running a series on family rituals, all about the ways we build memories and infuse meaning into our day-to-day life with kids…usually through food. I can’t think of a better way to kick off the series than with Jackie Cuscuna, one half… Read more »

Welcome Summer!

So I realize that last week, when I gave you the hard sell on my next book, How to Celebrate Everything, I talked a big game about childhood not being a race to the finish line. Well, today I take it back. Sort of. Exhibit A: Every year, on the last day of school, my friend’s sister, Diane, hangs “Welcome to Summer… Read more »

My Next Book

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 »

Sundays with Eric

Eric Ripert’s accomplishments are endless and impressive: Michelin-starred chef at New York’s Le Bernardin. Longtime TV host of PBS’s “Avec Eric.” Author of several award-winning cookbooks, and, just this month, author of a riveting coming-of-age memoir, 32 Yolks. (Subtitle: From My Mother’s Table to Working the Line) But for our purposes today, he’s a father, and like a lot of parents… Read more »

Three Days Later We’re Still Talking About This

Two things today. First: Big huge apologies for all the ridiculous spamming action happening on your feedly feeds and on my homepage here lately. I’m not sure who or what is behind it, but one thing is clear: I have been hacked. And though I’m not exactly going to tell you it’s been fun, I will say that I’m touched… Read more »

It’s a Good Day for a Project

I made a vow to myself last fall: No whining on the blog about the weather this winter. Besides the fact that it’s, uh, whining, professionally speaking it’s just lazy — certainly there are more interesting angles for writing about beef stew than Baby it’s Cold Outside. (Though I have to say, that was a pretty good post…and a pretty… Read more »

Welcome to the Neighborhood

When we first moved into our house twelve years ago, we were shocked by how friendly and welcoming our new neighbors were. We figured it would be like Brooklyn — we’d meet our fellow apartment dwellers eventually, after running into them enough times in the lobby’s mail station, or taking a minute to ask what kind of breed their dog… Read more »

Resolved: Be Good…Most of the Time

Am I the only one who finds it really irritating that New Year’s and all its attendant cayenne-spiked-lemon-water dieting resolutions happen to fall right in the dead of winter…precisely when the weather is demanding you soothe yourself every night with stewy braised meats over creamy polentas or potatoes? Polished off with the brownies that your kids made earlier that afternoon… Read more »

The Chicken Cutlet Sandwich

I know we’re all in end-of-summer mode, but for a minute I need to take you back to an early June day, specifically Father’s Day, which up here in the Northeast was a stunner of a Sunday. Clear skies, low 70s, light breeze. Andy was out running errands when the girls and I took stock of the gift loot —… Read more »

On Running

Andy finally did what he’s been threatening to do since Phoebe joined the cross-country team last year. While we were on vacation, he bought her the book you’re looking at above: What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, by Haruki Murakami. (Who is, incidentally, the author one of my all-time favorite novels.) What I Talk About is a quick… Read more »

Anatomy of a Lazybones Summer Dinner

Who: The Usual Suspects, Andy, Jenny, Phoebe, Abby What: Family Dinner When: A Saturday night in early summer Where: DALS headquarters, Suburban New York Temp: High 80s, high humidity Obstacles/Activities/Extracurriculars: N/A, see: SUMMER 10:00 AM Walk to Farmer’s Market, procure Tuscan kale, baby cabbage, and a pound of Mahi Mahi from the fish guy. (And a dozen cider doughnuts, half of… Read more »

A Birthday Ritual

I celebrated a birthday last week. There was a nice dinner out — one that required shoes that were not Birkenstocks — and a buttery pile of pancakes for breakfast that came with instructions from my daughters to “Sit down and don’t get up for ANYTHING.” That one sentence would’ve been enough to call the day a win, but a… Read more »

A New Look

No no no, don’t go anywhere! It’s still Dinner: A Love Story. Still the same blog that brought you Pork Ragu and Pretzel Chicken, the one that taught you phrases like “Deconstructed Dinners” and “Page-Turners;” still the same blog some of you have been checking in with for five years. YES! FIVE YEARS! As of this week, we have officially reached… Read more »

Soup Dumpling Souvenirs

Those of you who have been with DALS for a while might know my theory, based on years of research (read: making dinner) in my personal lab (read: kitchen table), that the key to expanding kids’ palates is to bring them along with you on the weekly food shop. As the theory goes, when they select the pack of pomegranate… Read more »

The Confidence Question

I always hear people say “If you can read, you can cook” or “As long as you are organized, you can get dinner together.” I believe both of these maxims to a certain point, but the older I get and the more I hear from parents struggling to get dinner on the table every night, the more I feel like… Read more »

The “Do You Know?” Scale

I am embarrassingly late to the party on this one, but I finally got around to reading Bruce Feiler’s The Secrets of Happy Families. Let me amend that, I finally got around to reading the chapter in Secrets called “The Right Way to Have Family Dinner” that so many of you have told me about. There was a lot of good… Read more »

The Lunchbox Note, on Steroids

Ever since my friend Liz Egan told me about this lunchbox ritual a few months ago, I’ve been dying to have her write about it for you. Please welcome longtime magazine editor (currently on the books beat at Glamour), newly minted novelist (look for her first book, A Window Opens, spring 2016) and one of the more lovable “insane moms” I know. Thanks Liz!… Read more »