Category: holidays
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Passover/Spring Recipe Roundup
Spring – the word that would not be named herein the Northeast. But now we can say it and – with the new sunshine – eat spring foods, too. The kids are finally in the yard (granted, the yard is a mix of brown leaves and old green, decorated with dog-chewed soccer balls) and the… Read more
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Latkes (Crispy Potato Pancakes) & Wish Lists
My kids make wishlists for birthdays and for Chanukah. They write them unaided, and it is always interesting to see what they come up with. Sure, we have some typical stuff, Itunes gift card request or Lego Giant Something that requires a mortgage to purchase, but we also have some strange themes this year. When… Read more
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Chard with Brown Sugar Pumpkin Seeds and Dried Cherries & Fun Foreign Words
Germans have a word for the feeling of being along in the woods. Waldeinsamkeit. Italians have a word for the ring left on a table by a cold glass. Culaccino. I might have to make a word for being alone with a plate of well-seasoned chard that’s dotted with crispy, sweet seeds and a tang… Read more
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Boozy Preserved Fruit (Apricots in Vodka, Cointreau Peaches, Cherries in Cinnamon Rum)
One part of cooking that I find very satisfying is figuring out what to do to avoid food waste. Soups, sauces, bread puddings, tarts – all great ways to use up odds and ends. This time of year we still have great fruit available, but with school lunches packed and snacks at the soccer field… Read more
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English All-Seasons Trifle & UK Adventures
English All-Seasons Trifle & UK Adventures “Did it hurt getting your ears pierced?” asks Julia, 9. “Yes.” “A lot?” “A bit,” I tell her and wait for the follow up. When can she get her ears pierced (12), would I get anything else pierced (no), why do people get anything pierced (cultural fashion, trends, expression).… Read more
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Italian Rainbow Chopped Salad with Lemon-Tarragon Dressing
Salad is so gay, a new friend said to eight-year-old Jamie. Jamie went on to explain – in front of a group of 5 boys gathered at our house for the first time – that salad can’t be gay. Neither can rhubarb, fyi. He talked about people being gay and how everyone has feelings and… Read more
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Apple & Honey Sponge Cake with Crumb Topping
Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. For a sweet New Year we eat apples and dip them in honey. This recipe is inspired by that tradition. I made individual sponge-crumb cakes because they are fun for a big dinner and there’s no slicing required, which means less mess and fewer cake bits consumed by the… Read more
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Italian Apple Tart with Salted Caramel Sauce & The Circle
The Youngest: When will I be a baby again? Me: You won’t. You only get to be each age once. Him: Right. Unless you be a circle. Then you just keep coming back. L’chaim! Read more
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Honey Cake & Things You Don’t Want to Fall out of Your Pants
I’m not a shopper. I’m the kind of person who runs into a store as though under time clock pressure, grabs the item in question, tries on twelv pairs, likes one, buys it, and leaves. And yet when it came time to try on jeans, I still found myself pondering… -When did we all decide… Read more
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Best Noodle Pudding (Kugel) & Welcome Back (Rosh Hashana, School, Fall)
Were we on a break? I didn’t intend for us to part. And yet…summer passed with nary a recipe. Why? Because I was too busy listening to the just-turned-5-year-old breathlessly tell me he has a new pet. “What is it?” “A worm.” He is young enough that he still pronounces it “warhm”. “Quick – come… Read more
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Toffee-Dark Chocolate Matzo Crunch & Loving the Rainbow
So, my latest novel, co-written with the witty and wonderful Brendan Halpin, is nominated for a Rainbow Award. Exciting news! But not for someone who decided the LGBTQ subject of the novel and the award is enough to end our Facebook “friendship.” Okay. I wonder why this person friended me in the first place. I… Read more
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Deep Dish Salmon, Kale, and Potato Pie & Revisited Recipes
Spring in the UK comes early, and when I brought my daughter to see her godmother in London it was a flurry of blossoms, green stubbled grass, and muddy tromps in borrowed boots. We had a gaggle of kids, and the kind of laughs that are only shared with very old friends, wind-red faces from… Read more
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Passover Leek, Kale, and Bok Choy Gratin & Freedom ’12
As we prepare for family and discussions of religious, political, and intellectual freedom, my family celebrates the year marker of a different kind of freedom. Freedom from the Year That Was, moving past a dark time and into the spring. My son returns to school, the crocuses bloom in the yard, the weather goes from… Read more
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Vegetarian Boston Baked Beans & Bad Songs to Sing at Bedtime
If there’s a skill of mine that will never be rewarded financially, and in fact only serves as a road trip plus or game night choose me incentive, it is my ability for lyric recall. All that brain space that is supposed to be taken up by useful facts and figures is chock full of… Read more
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Brown Sugar Swirl Bread &Questions
A collection of recent questions from the kids: When you are alone during the day and I’m at preschool, are you lonely? Is it true that one day the earth will run out of water? Do you love Daddy more now or more when you first met him? Why do I have to wear underwear?… Read more