You = this plant

Just checking in, because I know I’ve been pretty quiet lately. The truth is, there’s a lot going on right now, between involved work projects, family trips, and probably most significantly, my family of 4 will increase to 5 at the end of the summer. So you know who gets neglected? You, just like my … Continue reading »

Link: This is way too cool.

Check it out here (but I found it here). Happy weekend, everyone!

Transitions (a euphemism for… the rut)

I have been quiet this week because I’ve been struggling with a particular post I have in mind—it’s a little complicated. It’s not ready yet, but stay tuned. And at home, my cooking has definitely slid into a rut. This may sound like a negative thing, but I assure you in this case it is … Continue reading »

Re-post: Give celery some love

I have been thinking about writing a pro-celery post for a while (and I still may). I can’t tell you how many people have confessed a hatred of celery to me, and I always want to slap some sense into them, or at least give them a spiel about how many classic dishes use a … Continue reading »

Say it in your best Costanza: Pasta primavera!

Lately, and with some embarrassment, I was hit with a sudden urge for pasta primavera. Embarrassment because it’s a dish a I typically avoid—an Italian-American classic that has become utter cliche, that 99% of the time is unsatistfyingly dominated by some overcooked vegetable—a stinky bit of  broccoli here, a floppy snow pea there—and has a … Continue reading »

How to buy…avocados

A few years ago, I noticed these stickers appearing on avocados from all my local supermarkets: The weird thing was, they were appearing on super-soft AND hard-as-rock avocados. This makes no sense, folks. I think these poor Calavo people are shooting themselves in the foot—trying to make avocados accessible to those unfamiliar with them, but … Continue reading »

Here’s the rub—for lamb chops

Last year, we had friends over for Easter dinner. I love the tradition of lamb, but didn’t want to fool with a roast and an oven on an unseasonably warm day, especially as, keeping it old-school, we would already be starting with a pasta course, so I knew I’d be receiving a steam facial from … Continue reading »

Egg overdose

A reader (and friend) Margaret wrote me this weekend, “What do I do with the dozen dyed hard-boiled eggs besides make them into egg salad, which I love, but my husband hates?” I hardly have to remind Margaret, who has Southern roots, about deviled eggs, which I could personally eat at least 3/4 of a … Continue reading »

Foodies, avert your eyes (Let’s get down and dirty about what’s really in the weeknight rotation)

We all have ambitions. I wrote here about the dissonance between ideal meals imagined and the reality of meals cooked and eaten. There are plenty of nights when we eat interesting, delicious, even impressive and photogenic meals, but there are also plenty of nights—heck, plenty of weeks—where we are coming in the door at the … Continue reading »

What’s for lunch? Either humble pie or egg on my face

I learned a lesson the hard way last night. You might remember that I thought of both my kids as egg eaters—I even sort of bragged about it in this post. Egg lunches—either hard-boiled, or cheese scramble for my daughter and over-easy for my son—were in the regular rotation. But I’m not immune to all … Continue reading »