This year has begun in a rough place. Not deeply tumultuously rough from external circumstance, but itchy, uncomfortable, hard to pin down. I’ve felt that way through the new year and this whole week, and somehow last night it seemed to break like a fever, just gently, but it was like that–just as when I would put a…
butternut squash pasta with sage and brown butter
In two weeks, The Homemade Kitchen really truly lands. Can we take another peek inside the book today? (I’m bursting!). As I talked about a bit in this post, each chapter of this new book is structured around a way to reframe the way we relate to food. The essay below is from the chapter Do your best,…
pasta with all the greens
Last weekend, I got into a slight altercation with a woman at the farmers’ market over fridge space. She didn’t want to buy a 1/2-pound bag of salad because she said the fridge real estate was too precious. All I had were 1/2-pound bags, and my side of the altercation mostly consisted of a shrug and…
dinner: a love story
When Rosie was born, she had a hole in her heart. We didn’t know this until months later, when her doctor heard a mellow “whoosh, whoosh” as she listened to her tiny chest. At first, it all seemed like a crisis–there were trips to the big hospital in the next county, and every answer to…
what to do with preserved lemons
Yes! How are those lemons looking? They should be glossy and soft, smell good and lemony, and there shouldn’t be any mold. Are we good? Did we make it? Now try one. Just cut off a bit of the rind, and put it right in your mouth. And that’s what you do with preserved…
Occasionally I teach workshops, and I have one coming up this fall. Join me and stellar novelist 