Kim O’Donnel

Untitled Document As a kid from up North, I have long held a romantic notion that if you grew up in the South, you spent your summers sitting under a willowy tree with a glass of lemonade in one hand and a piece of fried chicken in the other. I was fascinated by fried chicken, […]

Untitled Document Stuffed grape leaves are heady little treats, but we rarely think about making them ourselves. They seem too exotic and complicated for home chow, but what they really need is brawn, not brains. There’s not much to the homey meat filling, but you need lots of warm bodies to man the grape-leaf assembly […]

Untitled Document The girlfriend of a mashed-potato lover somewhere in the great online beyond needed culinary counsel. They’re in a “mixed” relationship — she’s an omnivore, he’s a vegetarian — and for her the ultimate companion for a mountain of mashed is a pool of gravy made from unctuous meat drippings. What, she wondered, could […]

Untitled Document Jersey, New York, Philly, Baltimore — they all know about the crumb bun. A yeasty sweet roll with a streuselly topping, the crumb bun is a miniature version of the crumb cake (a.k.a. Streuselkuchen), a breakfast and late-morning coffee staple among East Coasters who grew up around diners, old-school bakeries, and second- and […]

Untitled Document I think I’ve figured out why so many fish eaters consider themselves vegetarians. It’s a Catholic thing, y’all. Lent — the 40-day fasting period leading up to Easter — is under way. For Catholics that means giving up meat, particularly on Fridays and designated holy days. Their definition of meat, however, applies only […]

Untitled Document Tea for two needs cake. So do Grandma, your pals from work, and all of the other lonely hearts sticking out their tongues at this lovers-only holiday. With or without an admirer, one needs an antidote for the irrepressibly goopy love stuff taking center stage at the local CVS or Walgreens. Walk on […]

Untitled Document Dear Scott Peacock, You and I have known each other for many years without ever having met. We’ve got mutual friends and associates in the food biz, and I’ve had the pleasure of brunching in your dining room at Watershed, but, alas, a meeting of the minds has yet to materialize. Maybe you […]

Untitled Document Hello, my name is Kim and I’m a bacon-holic. For a cook who prides herself on mindful moderation, this is a difficult culinary confession. No other comestible tickles my sensory neurons quite like smoked pork belly. All it takes is one little lardon and I’m doing a jig, high as a kite. The […]

Untitled Document This is a story about mush. As a kid up north, where breakfast was two eggs any style, toast, and hash browns, I knew little about mush (unless you count instant oatmeal). The word “grits” was not even part of the local vernacular (with the exception of Flo talking sass on television’s Alice), […]

Untitled Document It’s a new year, and everybody on cable television says I should feel bright and shiny like a brand-new penny or a twinkly star, full of determination and potential. And I do kinda sorta feel that way with this year’s to-do list permanently tucked into my pants pocket, hoping that it will somehow […]

Untitled Document It’s time to press the restart button on our bodies, our minds, ourselves. Although I’m not one to declare weight-loss resolutions for the new year, I do like to take stock of my dietary inventory and make some adjustments. I don’t know about you, but it feels like a zillion years since I […]

Untitled Document The dawn of a new year is an invitation for purging, letting go, detoxifying on all levels. If you’re like me, you’ve probably had your holiday landfill of butter, cream, animal fat, alcohol, and other things that have contributed to dull taste buds and big bulges in all the wrong places. Top this […]