Late with the Lunchbox
The kids went back to school today, and my brain is slowly waking up from its summery haze, still smelling vaguely like sunblock. Logistics are flying left and right as I try to remember how to do all the things School…
Shelf Life With Susie
EYB and the seasonal cook
Although I've been gardening vegetables for almost 10 years and have made enough mistakes to consider myself sort of "experienced," harvesting has always been a weak point for me. If I haven't been vigilant, the late…
Tackling the faraway nearby
Two vastly different cookbooks arrived recently. The only thing they had in common was that each focused on a country far, far away from this one, and barely addressed by other cookbooks. They gave me a chance to think…
The portable pantry
I'm away this week with my family on Lake Michigan. As I prepared for our trip, I stumbled on a question all us cooks on vacation have to ponder: what to pack? I don't mean the usual stuff: swimsuit, sunscreen, a cheap…
Recipe wishlists: how to handle them?
OK, so I could use some advice. As you probably know, I review cookbooks and test recipes most nights. As I go through new cookbooks, I post-it dozens of recipes I'd like to try, just like everybody else. And just like…
International Eclectic
Is it me, or are we seeing a rise in unclassifiably ethnic cookbooks? It used to be that you might run across a cookbook author with an unusually well-travelled culinary past--Tessa Kiros of Falling Cloudberries, say,…
5 kitchen things I can do without
A little while ago, I wrote a post venerating the 5 kitchen things I can't do without. I thought, in the interests of candor, I'd do a counter-post showcasing just a few of the many flaws in my frustrating kitchen. For…
Lazy about lunch
I just realized today while once again punting on lunch--a quarter of a honeydew, a chicken-apple sausage, and an iced decaf--that while I use recipes almost every night for dinner, I almost never crack a cookbook for…
Don't Try This At Home. On Second Thought, Go Ahead!
In 2005, Jane and Michael Stern published Roadfood, an adoring and adorable guide to dives and obscure eateries across America. I loved the Sterns' vision of a life lived driving from one delicious thing to the next…
Independence, locavore style
Kitchen Gardeners International, the terrific local-food organization whose advocacy helped to establish the White House vegetable garden, used to run a wonderful event called Food Independence Day. Folks from all over…
Popular vs. timeless
Just because it's fun to check in with the rest of the world from time to time, here's the 5 best-selling cookbooks on Amazon today. (I'll just list the titles, on the principle that sometimes it's OK to judge a book by…
5 kitchen things I can't do without
Each of us has a different approach to kitchen equipment. Some of us--whether because we're just starting out as cooks, or we live alone, or because we're minimalists or purists--have a fairly austere selection: a…