Food, Photography and Bon Mots
With apologies to George and Ira Gershwin: You say grits, I say polenta. Somehow making polenta made me think of the Gershwins’ classic “Let’s Call The Whole Thing Off”– people squabbling about inconsequential differences. (If you are not familiar with the depression-era song, here is…
This is a very good vinaigrette. Glorious, in fact. The hot new chef, Samin Nosrat, featured this salad dressing recipe in a recent New York Times Magazine food piece titled “Best Green Salad in the World.” That kind of high praise made me think this…
Made this. Loved it. But why cook with alcohol? According to Harold McGee in On Food and Cooking, alcohol bonds with the fat and water molecules in your food and carries flavor and aroma. In other words, in a creamy tomato sauce like the one…
How do you define elegance? Audrey Hepburn? That exquisite little black dress at Nordstrom’s? Dinner at The French Laundry? Camilla Parker Bowles? (OK. Just kidding about that last one.) It may be time to revisit your definition and add this delightful cookie to…
a happy holiday, the best new year, and a little chocolate cake. Chocolate Macaroon Cake Save Recipe Print Recipe My Recipes My Lists My Calendar IngredientsFor the cake1 C. virgin coconut oil (melted, cooled– plus more for the pan)1/4 C. unsweetened cocoa…
JOIN ME FOR THE WAVE! IT’S STONE FRUIT SEASON, PEOPLE! In my mind, it doesn’t get better than stone fruit season–ripe as it is with the promise of baking and aromas and pleasurable eating, but, alas,…
I was out of vodka. For years I’ve relied upon my neighbors to loan me a little of this and a little of that–a couple eggs or a cup of milk. But…it is an entirely different thing to call a neighbor and ask…
Nana was my grandmother. When I was a little girl, I would spend long happy weekends at her house. She always had a stack of books for me to read–young reader mysteries, as I recall. Sometimes she would take me to the tiny beauty shop improbably…
“When I was born I was so ugly the doctor slapped my mother.” –Rodney Dangerfield Close your eyes and this soup is absolutely delicious. Stare at it in your bowl…not so much. How do you write about (let alone photograph) a…
Want to really tell somebody off? Call them a polentoni (a big polenta). You read that right–a big polenta.That’s the nasty insult that southern Italians lob at northern Italians, or, at least, they did back in the day. Why’s that? It seems to have a…
