Good morning! I hope everybody had a nice weekend. It was another hot one here in New York and if we squinted really hard, it almost felt like a normal July, even as we followed the grim news from Florida and California and the Midwest. (Stay safe, everyone.) Our local pool is open, I played tennis with Abby, and we… Read more »
Good morning. Thank you to everyone who sent along well wishes to Bean. I read every note to her and they were much appreciated. Other than spoiling her with attention, yesterday I planted the remainder of my tomato garden, and noticed some suspicious looking divots that were not there yesterday. (I cannot win.) While Andy mended the subsequently discovered holes… Read more »
Good morning. Just came back from a walk along the Hudson — a balmy 35 degrees on April 22. Come on, New York weather gods! Please help us out here. Yesterday was a slow one — I did less work than I wanted to; wound up on the couch watching Aziz Ansari’s 2019 comedy special with Phoebe and the dogs… Read more »
Hello and welcome to Wednesday. Yesterday Andy cut Abby’s hair (he’s the “detail guy” in the house); I tested some cabbage recipes and made a style guide for my book; and I think I saw my 18-year-old for a total of five minutes. (She was holed up in her room or outside riding her bike.) For bedtime reading, I took… Read more »
I’ve been staring at my screen all weekend, struggling to find the words to meet this moment. Mostly, of course, I hope you are all doing your best to stay healthy and, however possible, check in on the people in your lives and communities who are most at-risk. So far, the hardest part on our end has been convincing the… 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 »
What I’m eating and reading this week… Hot take: Winter fruit salads are better than summer fruit salads! Especially when they look like this one from my everyday cooking hero Sarah Carey. A new book column called “Group Text” from DALS-favorite Elisabeth Egan, all about what to read with friends. Whoever made that call deserves a medal. What my kids… 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 »
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 »
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 »
Traveling with teenagers is different than traveling with young kids, but one thing that never changes is that feeling you get when their reaction to experiencing a city or an adventure for the first time is exactly what you had hoped it would be. The first time I went to Austin — maybe five years ago — I remember wandering… Read more »
The Scene: Wednesday, the first school/workday back from winter break The Scene, pt 2: Always the longest, most exhausting day of the year The Characters: Family DALS 5:30 Walk in door. Girls already home, one of them doing homework at kitchen table instead of cloistered in her bedroom, which brings me unspeakable joy. (Literally unspeakable — if I express this out… Read more »
This past August, my family was lucky enough to travel to Rome and Sicily, a dream vacation that checked all the boxes: Culture, coastlines, family roots, and carbs. So very many carbs! Today’s highlight reel is an attempt to capture Part 1 of the trip, three-and-a-half days in Rome. Part 2 was Sicily. If you are going to Rome, there is… Read more »
Last Thursday, at around 5:00, I text Andy: What’s in the CSA bag today? We do a farm share through his office every other Thursday and I always try to plan dinner around it, even though it’s usually a little of a lot, not a lot of a little. 5:01 His reply: One piece of squash, one bunch of broccoli, three spring… Read more »
This is a very exciting day for me. Not only do I get to tell you about Curtis Sittenfeld’s brand new short story collection — You Think It, I’ll Say It, my favorite of all the books she’s written — it is the day that the real life Curtis Sittenfeld makes a cameo on Dinner: A Love Story. Yes, that’s right…. Read more »
Those of you who follow me on instagram know that you are looking at the latest episode of This Week in Pizza, featuring Brussels sprouts and bacon. It was a riff on a pie we order all the time at one of our favorite local haunts, and yes, it was delicious and easy and fast and bla bla bla, but… Read more »
Welcome! I’m Jenny, author of Dinner: A Love Story and The Weekday Vegetarians More
