Italy Retrospective: More Thoughts on Ordinary Food
It’s been almost four months since we returned from our Italy trip. I am still digesting, if you will, the whole thing, especially my happily evolving relationship to food, and foodishness. So I would like to begin a little series…
Renouncing the New Decadence
Last night A and I hung out with our good friends who have a 2nd home across the street, which they usually rent out. When they are not here, they live in the West Village, where they own a well-known…
Aw, Shucks
It’s here! The book, The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage, is now available in stores near you. In it, you can read my essay about how my dad, who annoyed the hell out of me, taught me how to cook, how…
Granny’s Prune Roast Makes Me Happy
I came across this picture of me, my cousin Sara who I have always adored, and my Grandma Beryl, Granny’s daughter. It is, by far, the happiest-looking Little Me I have ever seen. I loved being with the Jewish side…
I Never Knew I Cared: A Reverie on Ding-Dongs and Thanksgiving
Amidst the news of more war between Palestine and Israel, another power-dude sex scandal, and an impending fiscal cliff, this morning, on the treadmill, luxuriating in my TV fix, I heard that Hostess is going out of business. Now, as…
Some Thoughts on Being Quiet and Powerless
If I weren’t sitting at the funny conference table at the Emerson (the resort which happens to house a gym of which I am a member) gearing up for a shower, catching up on my work here, in other words,…
If You’re in a Shopping Mood, you Can Pre-Order this Book (in Which I Just Happen to Have an Essay)
Last year, just as I was fixing to prepare my very first Thanksgiving dinner, the lovely people Lisa Catherine Harper and Caroline Grant asked me if I would like to write a piece about “mindful eating” for a book of…
Interior Interiors
I am getting ready for a vacation for almost two weeks. I doubt I will write at all during that time. In the meantime, I am preparing a piece for The Weeklings, the good folks who published my piece about…
Doing Something I Swore I’d Never Do
There is something about cooking beets that makes me impatient. It is probably some combination of the fact that A: I love them when they are Food Cooked Elsewhere; B: I don’t like them at home, and C: their…
Food Cooked Elsewhere, and Other Longings #1
Growing up in St. Clair, Michigan was not that much fun. However, there were some great restaurants, at least (only?) to me, a kid crazy for Food Cooked Elsewhere. One place I remember was not a restaurant, per se, nor…
