Untitled Document If cheese sauce is all you’ve ever had in the way of broccoli and its kissing cousin, cauliflower, then we need to talk. It is hard to mention one without the other, given the popularity of the newfangled hybrid Broccoflower, plus cauliflower is available not just in traditional virgin snow white but in […]
Food & Drink
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Have a sparkling New Year
“Remember gentlemen, it’s not just France we are fighting for, it’s Champagne!” — Winston S. Churchill Most New Year’s celebrations have seemed a bit awkward to me. The silly hats, noisemakers, and excessive drinking just feel wrong, somehow. We had a party at my house every year when I was growing up. There was little […]
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Stew for serenity
Lately, life at my house has been a roller coaster. Family duties of an intensive-care-unit variety have sucked me in and sucked me dry. When I finally did get some down time, the last thing I wanted to do was exert more energy to cook. Instead, I gravitated in the direction of carryout menus and […]
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A taste of Italy
There must be Italian somewhere in my background. I’m sure of it, even though a cursory glance at my family tree reveals a mongrel mix of German, Irish, and Welsh. What else could explain my love for Italian food? Well, it’s more than just love. Italian food seems somehow right, feels like home — even […]
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Smoking in the kitchen
With any luck, by the time you read this things will have warmed up a bit. As I write this, however, it’s 17 degrees Fahrenheit, with a wind-chill factor of three below zero. I can see our grill collection outside, covered with snow and ice, sitting forlornly among the tangle of branches that fell during […]
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Enlightened chocolate chips
When Christmas came to town, there were a few things I could count on: Santa (I kept the fantasy going until I was 10), Fritos in my stocking, and my father’s private stash of chocolate-chip cookies. Presented inside a foil-lined department-store gift box that was clad in Christmas-themed paper, the cookies were an annual gift […]
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Remember what’s important
“God invented Christmas as a trial for women,” a friend said to me many years ago. I laughed — it was funny — but I also felt a little sad that she was so cynical. Every year since then, however, her words have come to mind as I begin to prepare for the holiday season. […]
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Piggy makes good pie
Mexican-cooking diva Zarela Martinez cooks with it. Your grandma, too. Food writer Nina Planck sings its nutritional praises. I’m talking about lard, the rendered fat of a pig that’s coming back into culinary vogue. Shunned by low-fat cheerleaders for nearly a generation, lard is earning some newfound respect in the kitchen. As a member of […]
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Books for kid cooks
Say what you will about the Food Network (and I can say plenty), the cable channel has gotten many children interested in cooking. With any luck, some youngsters are able to look beyond the glitz and hype to discover the pleasures of cooking and eating real food. Food and cooking can provide a way for […]
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Spiff up your spuds
Like most patriotic Americans, I love a mountain of mashed potatoes, swimming in a pool of gravy, mingling with the other goodies on my plate. But this year I’m ready to move beyond Norman Rockwell’s continent and travel to the other America where the potato got its start. I’m talking about Peru. Along with quinoa […]
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The best and worst Thanksgiving – ever
It was the best of Thanksgivings; it was the worst of Thanksgivings. It was two years ago. A couple of months before, my family had realized that we all were dreading Thanksgiving a bit. Our family is very close but very small. I’m an only child, as is my mother. With little extended family, the […]
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Thanksgiving for one
Whether we travel or stay at home, this week is the busiest week of the year — for one meal. We scurry through airports, plow through interstates and push our way through supermarket aisles, just to break bread (or a turkey wishbone) with loved ones. The anxiety is high, the lines are long, and the […]
