Recipes

I fully intended to share this recipe before last weekend, but the week took some unexpected turns. Last Tuesday, two days before my due date, I somehow managed to fall off one of the bar stools in our kitchen, mostly catching myself on one knee and the side of my face. Although my belly didn't […]

When Elie and I first started dating, we had an agreement: I would cook and he would play guitar while I cooked. It's been a successful arrangement, one that makes us both happy. But every now and then, Elie gets the urge to make something sweet.  I bought him an ice cream churn for his birthday, […]

This past weekend, our home was filled to overflowing with many of my closest women friends and family, here to celebrate Bubbles and my transition to motherhood. I felt like my heart might burst with love. It’s an unbelievable feeling to be entering into this new club, and I’m beginning to feel a new appreciation […]

I've been fighting it, but I have finally accepted that one of the only ways I’m going to eat my vegetables during (at least this phase of) my pregnancy is if they are hidden in smoothies, pasta or dessert.  I have officially turned into a three year-old, at least when it comes to mealtime.

I've been trying my best not to eat too many sweets during my pregnancy, but I think this baby definitely has his or her father's tastebuds! We've been putting Elie's birthday present, a home ice cream maker, to good use, with chocolate peanut butter being the winning flavor. That's deadly, because freshly churned ice cream is […]

When I was about 13, my Dad got stationed in the Northeast, teaching ROTC at MIT and Harvard.  Instead of living in Boston, he settled in Portsmouth, an idyllic little New England town on New Hampshire's tiny stretch of coast.  My parents had just separated, and so for the next few years my brother and […]

If you start the pizza dough right now, you could be eating this for dinner tonight.  When I'm teaching classes, many people tell me they are afraid of making pizza dough at home. What is the worst thing that could happen?  It might not be perfect the first time, but you'll get better at it. […]

When my Mom and I are travelling together, everyone always asks us if we’re sisters.  It’s happened ever since I was in college when she used to come and visit me for the weekend.  The salesperson at the store, the server at the restaurant—they would look at us and say, “You two are obviously related. […]

Elie knows me so well.  Not long ago, he came home with a gift, the Cookbook Book, a beautiful book about cookbooks and how they shape our lives.  A cookbook offers possibility—of romantic dinners, celebrations, family traditions, memories.  Cookbooks inspire us, allowing us to dream not only of the meal itself but how making food […]

Two weeks ago, I turned 40. If you’ve been reading along, you’ll know that I had planned to be biking through Vietnam on that day, but we had to cancel the trip.  Instead, Elie made sure I was spoiled.  I went to a yoga class with Mom, got pampered at the spa, spent time in […]