Kim O’Donnel

Untitled Document I recently hit the produce jackpot at my local farmers’ market. So what if I didn’t know what I’d do with an 18-pound box of tomatoes? I had just sleuthed a $10 bargain. It was like hanging out at the markdown rack at TJ Maxx, breathless over a two-piece bathing suit I’d never […]

Untitled Document The calendar says October, which, in theory, means that autumn is here. What Mother Nature does, as she makes the transition from sandals to boots, is another story. She’s a roller coaster of seasonal emotions — one day she’s having hot flashes, the next day she’s spewing icicles (I’ll never forget watching snow […]

Untitled Document With autumn officially underway, I have to be a big girl and let go of my melons. I must blow a kiss goodbye to my tomato lovers, my peach darlings, my curvaceous eggplant.      It’s time to get reacquainted with the orange flesh of the winter squash. I need not worry about […]

Untitled Document Home canning has been on my to-do list for several years, and this summer, at long last, my wish came true. While on vacation in Seattle last month, two girlfriends and I teamed up and embarked on a self-taught canning extravaganza, “putting up” peaches and berries for jam. It was an enlightening experience, […]

Untitled Document Time flies when you’re chopping chives; this year makes 10 since I received my blue-ribbon diploma from cooking school. It was there that I learned, among many other things, how to bone a quail, make a sauce, and cook eggs in more ways than I cared to know. Ten years hence, I’ve not […]

Untitled Document “Homemade layer cakes seem to have gone the way of the spotted owl,” writes Seattle-area chef Greg Atkinson in his book West Coast Cooking. It is an unfortunate but true statement about the state of our dessert plate; however, given my woeful skills in cake construction and icing art, I’ll hold off from […]

Untitled Document On a recent Today Show, cooking kitten Giada De Laurentiis asked Atlanta chef Scott Peacock what okra tastes like, and he said, “Like okra.” I thought about the question for a minute, and in a way he’s right. Okra, the only vegetable known to ooze when sliced, tastes like okra. If blindfolded with […]

Untitled Document Question: When does a host boast? With any luck it’s not very often, but I’d argue that the superego emerges whenever a marinade is involved. We’ve all been here before: “Yeah, that’s right, that pork shoulder has been marinatin’ for 16 hours, I reckon. It’s an ancient family recipe, from the South Pacific, […]

Untitled Document If we believe everything we see on the big screen, then fried green tomatoes were invented at the Whistle Stop Café in Alabama, where Idgie Threadgoode manned the stove. And that’s the truth, Ruth (Jamison). Southern folks are so savvy, taking an unripe piece of fruit and turning it into a tasty morsel […]

Untitled Document For many years I considered myself a member of the ranks of the eggplant-challenged. Unlike the rest of the denizens of the summer garden patch, this weird fruit is complicated, yielding a seedy flesh that requires intellectual pursuit. You can’t just boil up some eggplant or sauté it in a pan and put […]

Untitled Document Just the idea of a baked potato in the middle of summer makes me sweat. There are so many greener, leafier dinner choices at this time of year that keep the oven dial in its proper “off” position. What would possess someone to turn the house into a sauna just for a couple […]

Untitled Document My job is to think about food. As a constant forager for news that relates to the food we eat and the myriad interconnected environmental, political, ethical, and health issues in a constantly changing global economy, I have a lot of stuff swirling around in my head. For the most part, I am […]