This is the dish that means Thanksgiving to me. It's a recipe handed down by my mother and I treasure it as much for that as for its taste. It's a family-heirloom, with roots in my mother's Texas childhood, though she learned to make it for herself … [Read more...]
Slumped dumplings, and other lessons from the kitchen
Knowing how to recover when things don't go to plan is a useful skill in the kitchen, as it is in life. Sometimes it’s a matter of routine: slowing down the vegetables because the meat needs longer, correcting the balance of a dressing or sauce, … [Read more...]
Peach cobbler: in search of a lost recipe
The worst summer job I had as a teenager was as a "roller girl" at a small peach-packing plant in rural south Jersey. It made a change from waitressing, but it was hellishly hot, hard labour, and we girls of the rollers were constantly covered in … [Read more...]
Moving kitchen
We are helping our parents to move house after forty years -- New Jersey to North Carolina. We are down to the wire, the moving van scheduled for two days’ time after months of planning. My share in this project has been small: two flying visits. … [Read more...]
Cherry blossom
The cherries are in gorgeous, blowsy blossom, and this means spring is advancing to late-spring with hints even of summer. Temperatures have reached the balmy figures, and the blossom is going fast. Just as our own blossoms are fading this year, … [Read more...]
Scandinavian smørrebrød
I can't describe the excitement I felt when I encountered my first true smørrebrød. I was a student in Denmark, at the University of Copenhagen on a semester abroad scholarship. It was the first time I'd travelled out of my own country as a … [Read more...]