Category: all
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Barley, Kale, and Onion Risotto & Celebrity Sightings
Do you ever have days in which everyone you see resembles someone you know? Half of my time is spent bumping into people now and at least half of the time I have no idea how I know them. There are too many options now – did we go to high school together? Graduate school?… Read more
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Old Fashioned Pineapple Upside Down Cake & Upside Down Cooking
I have a thing for upside down cakes and inverted dishes. Possibly this is because they tend to be simple affairs with layers of freshly rolled dough covered layers of cheese or caramelized French toast with vanilla beans. Or it could be the childlike glee that fills the room when one takes a cake that… Read more
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Kale Salad with Parmesan and Golden Raisins & Making Progress
You know how hearing a song can transport you to another time, a specific day, a season, or a person? It’s the same with food. A couple of years ago, my best friend and I had a book event in New York City. We read and signed and mingled and then escaped to a shoebox-sized… 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
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Fried Eggs with Baby Greens, Feta (or Cheddar) , and Black Beans & Quick Lunches
Apparently, I am not alone in my need for quick yet satisfying lunches. As a result, I’m sharing another 5-minute meal today. I love this kind of dish because the flavors meld together, the cooking time is mere minutes, and it’s incredibly healthy and inexpensive. As my Grandma Bev would say, “What do you have… Read more
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Quick Skillet Cod with Tomatoes and Onions & The Writing Groove
When I’m deep into my writing grooves, which happens only on Wednesdays when my husband is home with the kids, I have to forage for a quick lunch that won’t break the spell. I’ll be posting some quick lunches that go beyond the sandwich – not that there’s anything wrong with a sandwich! Only, I… Read more
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Crispy, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies & Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies & A Tale of Two Cookies
Faulkner wrote “between grief and nothing, I will take grief.” Given the choice, I would choose chocolate chip cookies. If we had the time and calorie deficit, we could debate for hours over dough, chip size, semi-sweet? dark chocolate?, how much brown sugar versus white, whole eggs or yolks, letting the dough rest overnight or… Read more
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Mushroom, Fontina, and Spinach White Lasagna & Super Bowl Weekend
I am ready for the big game! That exclamation point makes it seem as though I am actually excited about football. I am not. I like Boston sports teams as much as the next bookish traveller mom, but…what I really enjoy is the excitement other people have for the game. While they cheer and watch,… Read more
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Crispy Spelt-Poppyseed Crackers & Smoky Eggplant Dip & Crappy Dancing
At my cousin’s 100th birthday party (they are each 50, so had a combined party), I was called up to dance with my husband. “Give me Gershwin and I’d be fine,” he yelled over the music’s din. Hits from the 60s and 80s played and while there was a beat, my husband could not find… Read more
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Cinnamon-Sugar Pecans & Vending Machines
In Italy, the kids and I were barefoot, looking for a bathroom inside a seaside shack. “Look, is that underwear? In a vending machine?” Yes. And it should be noted that the underwear was red, sparkled, and bikini and all yours for a couple of Euro coins. In college, times were such that in the… Read more
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Honey-Soy Shrimp & Keeping Bees
“Do you make your own honey?” someone asked. I was at a book signing and had finished telling a story about taking the four kids to pick berries and how they help make raspberry jam. “Oh, no,” I said and when the person looked surprised I had to explain. Here is what I do: I… Read more
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Best Split Pea Soup Ever & Terrible Band Names
So the kids are talking at dinner, each one suggesting names for bands they haven’t created and which I am pretty sure no one wants to join. Jamie, almost a teenager says, “The Communists.” Daniel, 10 and still way into Star Wars, suggests, “Luke’s Dilemma.” Julia, 7, says, “Painted Pony.” When her brothers groaned, she… Read more
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Field of Greens Soup & What’s in a Name
super very so green lots o green top o the morning green I have never been able to think of a good name for this soup. For now, it’s Triple Green Soup which makes no sense because there are more than 3 greens in it. But Sextuplet Green Soup sounds creepy. Suggestions? UPDATE: The… Read more
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Vidalia Onion and Leek Tart with Whole Wheat Rosemary Crust & Parental Blame
Not one, but all four of my kids, have been walking around the house singing. Not that I mind. I’m a singer – in cars, as I walk down the street, while I cook. And yet, this singing my offspring are doing the past couple of weeks is…terrible. Off-key? No. Offensive lyrics? No (and I’m… Read more
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Molten Butterscotch Cake (Steamed Treacle Pudding) & A Very British Afternoon
My best friend from high school, T, and I just met for the ultimate British sport: Tea Brewing. The fact that we and our families met in Central Mexico for this match is of little consequence. After a ranch outing and horseback riding in ravines, milking goats at our friend’s farm (and eating the cheese… Read more