DIY BYOB: Cold Summer Beverages
Ahh, summer: The season of frittering away my paycheck on iced beverages. The season of recycling many, many plastic drink cups and the accompanying “I shouldn’t be using so much plastic” guilt. The season of wondering exactly how much sugar is in all those iced beverages. No more! A few weeks ago, I decided to … Read more
In which I screw up the bechamel.
Every so often I’ll go to cook something I’ve made many times before, and that I know how to make, and could make in my sleep, and I mess it up. I’ve made bechamel over and over again for macaroni and cheese, tuna noodle casserole*, and whatever else, but a few weeks ago I was … Read more
“You need to get a new banana bread recipe!”
That’s how Jay greeted me, without saying hello, as I walked in from yoga this afternoon. Before I left, I had mixed up a batch of Joanne Chang’s banana bread from Flour and left Jay in charge of testing it and taking it out of the oven. The recipe had rave reviews, so you can … Read more
“A good whoopie pie never expires”
Maybe you’ve heard about the small tempest brewing in Maine over an attempt to designate whoopie pies the official state dessert. If you’re out of the loop, rest assured, members of the public have been speaking out: “A good whoopie pie never expires,” said a costume-wearing visitor to the Maine Legislature who identified himself as … Read more
Farewell to the Minimalist
Mark Bittman’s Minimalist column ends its run today. I’m sad, but I love his farewell column for its articulation of the Minimalist approach to recipes and cooking, and I’m glad he’ll be staying on at the Times and still writing about food. Also, what am I complaining for? I own two heavily used Mark Bittman … Read more
College cooking lessons
I am an admissions volunteer for my alma mater, Barnard College, and on Saturday, I interviewed a student who is a food enthusiast–she has a food blog and writes restaurant reviews for her school newspaper. Barnard is a great place to be a food lover. It’s in New York, most students aren’t on a meal … Read more
Alice’s sweet and spicy beef noodles
Tonight’s dinner, sweet and spicy beef noodles, came to us courtesy of my old friend and former roommate Alice. Alice describes this dish as “Chinese spaghetti with meat sauce,” an apt metaphor. You almost feel like you should break out the parmesan cheese and start grating—until you taste the sauce, which is about as far … Read more
A kitchen gadget I use every day
I’m not a fan of gimmicky kitchen gadgets and gizmos that do one thing and one thing only and take up shelf space and gather dust the rest of the time. Over the weekend I was at Macy’s and saw a mini donut maker. How often would you really use that? Right. I use my … Read more
Putting on my dinner rally cap
I came from behind to score a victory on dinner last night: Mark Bittman’s Chicken Provencale.* I was nearly defeated by giant olives that were impossible to pit because they didn’t really fit in the pitter contraption I got from my dad. Then I realized that I forgot to ask the butcher to split the … Read more
Deep thoughts, kitchen edition
Why is it that you never remember the stove getting really dirty, and suddenly it’s really %&*#$ dirty?!
