Recipes
June 7, 2017
Punch
There’s been much to celebrate in the last few weeks: Mark’s and my 30th wedding anniversary, my 55th birthday, and the graduation of a bunch of middle schoolers heading to private high schools whom I’ve gotten to know through Beacon Academy, a one-year academic boot camp. I volunteered to help plan and prepare for the graduation reception, which fell on my birthday. The committee opted to serve tea, whole strawberries, and homemade cookies, which seemed great to me, but not sufficiently festive. It took me a minute to figure out what was missing. Punch.more >
December 31, 2015
Culture: Black-Eyed Peas
I was delighted to read in yesterday’s NY Times Food section writer Kim Severson’s ode to the lowly black-eyed pea. Severson explains that in the U.S. South, revelers put black-eyed peas (also known as “field peas” and “cow peas”) on their New Year’s menus to ensure luck and wealth. She rightly noted that the Southern tradition has roots in West Africa and African American foodways.
November 26, 2008
Pie
I can’t very well keep a blog with a subtitle including the sacred word PIE without paying tribute and offering a secret recipe in time for Thanksgiving. Here forthwith…
Two quick reading suggestions, both involving road trips, and a call for others:
Pascale Le Draoulec published a lovely, small book, American Pie: Slices of Life (and Pie) from America’s Back Roads (NY: Harper Collins, 2002). I’ve experimented with many of her recipes and enjoyed reading her escapades on the road to find perfect home made pie. I picked up a great bit of pie jargon from Le Draoulec: “marriage pie.” That’s when you take two dramatically different fruits and tuck them into a pie crust. The sum of the different parts is infinitely better than either standing alone. A great metaphor, no? For the record, my best marriage pie is nectarine raspberry. more >
