Recent posts

restaurants

Coals in Port Chester

Let’s try something new today, kids! A photo gallery! Here’s a look at my trip to Coals in Port Chester. You can read the entire post over on Small Bites, but here’s a look at the photos. Verdict: Thumbs up! […]

Hoppin' John
recipes

Hoppin’ John for New Year’s Day

It’s good luck to eat black eyed peas on New Year’s Day. We can use every little bit we can get! This recipe comes from Emeril and the Food Network, and I highly, highly recommend it. We were wowed, and […]

cornbread
recipes

Cornbread Recipe

This cornbread recipe by Ruth Reichl was super-easy and came out great the very first time. I’m rewriting it to double it, though, because hers is more for corn muffins and I am just never going to make corn muffins. […]

glogg
entertaining

Reading ‘A Christmas Memory’ 2012

Last year Kris and Tom introduced us to a new tradition: Reading “A Christmas Memory” by Truman Capote. We vowed to make it an annual occasion. For 2012, we passed the book around at Kris and Tom’s house, reading it between […]

Parsnip steak
recipes

Parsnip Steaks

After our stuffed acorn squash didn’t make the cut for Christmas dinner, we decided to go a different route. I remembered a piece a while back in Bon Appetit on Dan Barbers’ various vegetable steaks, especially the Cauliflower Steaks. When […]

recipes

Kale with Pine Nuts and Pine Nut Butter

You don’t have to pull the kale off the stems for this recipe, but it makes for a nicer presentation when you’re doing a fancy dinner. Bonus: It’s vegan! Recipe, apres jump. Related posts: Pine Nut Butter Recipe Recipe: Cilantro […]

Maple-Roasted Squash with Chestnuts
recipes

Maple-Roasted Squash with Chestnuts

This recipe is festive, but easy, easy, easy. It can be done the day before, then reheated. Maple and brown sugar flavor the squash during the roasting and chestnuts make a fine garnish. You won’t even miss the butter. Related […]

recipes

Pine Nut Butter Recipe

Who knew? We toasted a bunch of pine nuts and tossed them in the food processor with a bit of oil and a pinch of salt. Delicious! Nutty, earthy and perfect as a schmear under our kale salad. Thanks, Cooking […]

Dan Barber's Fennel Soup
recipes

Dan Barber’s Fennel Soup

As I think I mentioned, we’re doing a vegan Christmas supper this year. We planned ahead by making and freezing a vegetable stock (hey, you’re always going to need stock, right?), but in the end, we had to make it […]

Meyer Lemon Sidecars
cocktails, recipes

Meyer Lemon Sidecars

Greg found Meyer lemons at Whole Foods. A seasonal specialty, these lemons are known for having a thinner skin than regular lemons, and their juice is a bit sweeter. According to Wikipedia, the meyer lemon comes from China and was […]

cooking

Our Favorite Brisket, by Joan Nathan

What’s better than our favorite braised brisket recipe? The one by Joan Nathan? Only one thing: when it’s made with a brisket from our new favorite grassfed meat purveyor: Kiernan Farm. Absolutely fantastic. Related posts: A Snowstorm Brisket, Courtesy of The […]

Tom and Jerry cocktails
cocktails, recipes

Tom and Jerry Cocktails

A long time ago — so long that I did not even have a blog — there was a failed attempt at Tom and Jerry cocktails. After the recent article in the New York Times, I felt I needed vindication. […]

Ugly Flowers Cocktail
cocktails, recipes

Ugly Flowers Cocktail

At Irene’s Ugly Flowers party for Carol, we had an Ugly Flowers Cocktail. Natch! It is not, truly, an Ugly Flowers Cocktail, though. It’s actually something called a French Blonde that Irene found in Saveur. But we will rename it […]

Salty Dogs
cocktails, entertaining

It’s Salty Dog Season!

Salty Dog season has arrived! Our package of the most delicious grapefruits int the world arrived today, and we immediately set about making our favorite grapefruit cocktails: Salty Dogs. These are not the same as Greyhounds, which are made just […]

Baking with Samantha: Chocolate Madeleines
cooking

Baking with Samantha: Chocolate Madeleines

It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon, so Samantha and I are making Chocolate-Orange Madeleines. Well, I am making Chocolate-Orange Madeleines. Samantha is banging her big spoon on the metal bowl. I must admit, this was not my favorite recipe, though, so I […]

recipes

Vegetable Broth Recipe

I’ve become expert at making chicken stock. I’ll do two kinds: the complicated sort where you save up all your bones and caracasses for months and then make an enormous batch of stock, even straining it through cheesecloth and clarifying […]

sod
garden

Oh My God, We’ve Got Sod

After months of patio-project hell, we finally have a new backyard. Just in time for snow. But oh! When spring comes? We’ll be sitting pretty. Finally. Thank goodness! A look at the installation, after the jump. Related posts: Patio Update: […]

outings

Big Day of Fun: The Matisse Exhibit

We went to see Matisse: In Search of True Painting at the Met, and came away learning so much about the artist and his process. The exhibit shows you how he painted in pairs and trios, how he saw light […]

Brussels sprouts
garden

Putting the Garden to Bed for Winter

The porch and the garden have served us well these past months. But it’s time to start putting the garden to bed for winter. We wrapped the rosemary in burlap, harvested some last crops and put the cushions away in […]