Cooking the Books
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Saturday, November 17th, 2012I wasn’t going to write a single word about this artichoke tart with a polenta crust. I just wanted to admire the recipe, cook it and eat it (and share it with my husband, of course). But polenta pondering? Tart reflection? Nope. I love to cook, but lately it’s been feeling more like work than pleasure. [...]
Passion fruit, pavlova, a little light larceny
Thursday, November 8th, 2012I don’t know much about pavlova or passion fruit, but luckily I’ve got friends in the right places. Or, rather, I should say born in the right places: Australia and New Zealand. So when my dad decided to make a pavlova to celebrate his birthday a few weeks ago, I contacted my friends Katia and [...]
Carnet de cuisine
Friday, January 13th, 2012A few months ago I had dinner with a French friend and he showed me something really cool — his mother’s dinner party notebooks. For years — decades, even — ever since she was a young bride, his maman has kept a record of every dinner party she’s ever thrown: guest list, menu, recipes. As [...]
New cookbooks
Tuesday, January 10th, 2012Lucky girl that I am, I received quite a haul of new cookbooks for Christmas. Here’s what I’m cooking from these days: Since I live in a cave (apparently) I’d never even heard of Nancy Silverton’s chic pizzeria, Mozza, until I was in Southern California last month and read this Los Angeles Times review of [...]
Cooking the books
Thursday, November 10th, 2011Bonjour, mes amis! A few weeks ago, I asked you to name your recent favorite cookbooks. I was excited to hear your suggestions, and I’m even more thrilled to share them. Here’s what you’re cooking from these days: Rhino75: Am currently working my way through Signe Johansen’s Scandilicious, Dan Lepard’s baking bible, Short and Sweet, and Glynn [...]
Cookbooks
Thursday, October 20th, 2011I love, love, love cookbooks. I love new cookbooks, which present fresh ideas, techniques and flavor combinations. I love old cookbooks, which are like time capsules, a window into the domestic lives of another era. Browsing a used bookshop in Beaune last week, I couldn’t resist the two charming volumes above. And then, I got [...]
Currypalooza!
Friday, September 9th, 2011Currypalooza: 1) A monthly celebration of Indian home cooking. 2) A virtual gathering of food bloggers, who prepare the same subcontinental recipe and blog about it. I’m tickled pink to be part of this month’s Currypalooza, even if my post is a week late. Croque Camille selected the recipe which comes from Mallika Basu’s Miss Masala, one of my [...]
Pot luck
Thursday, January 20th, 2011When my husband’s office holiday party rolled around, I considered making something healthy, like a bean salad. But then I started thinking. When you’re at a pot luck, what do you want to eat? Recalling office pot lucks of my past — when the slightly junky, sour cream, powdered soup, mayonnaise, and/or grated cheese-enhanced food [...]
Birthday baking
Wednesday, September 15th, 2010I don’t bake very often, but homemade treats do make birthdays sweeter, n’est-ce pas? I just spent the morning making a batch of donut muffins for my husband to share with his colleagues for his birthday. What’s a donut muffin? Think of a buttery muffin dipped in melted butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar. Yes, butter + [...]
Subcontinental spice spree
Wednesday, May 19th, 2010I love French food as much as the next person, but a girl can’t live on steak frites alone. When a crise de chili strikes, I’ve been known to hightail it over to the 10th, for a visit to Paris’s Indian neighborhood. Here, sari shops line the boulevard, spices scent the air and people scrum to [...]
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