November is nearly over and the daily temperatures in DC are still hovering around 65 degrees. You would think the mild weather would keep this Bostonian in t-shirts and short skirts all month long, but I boxed all the summertime clothes up months ago. This is mostly due to the fact that none of them fit me right now (more on that later), but also because I’m eager for fall to begin in earnest. I always love the change in seasons – regardless which season it is – but this year in particular, I’m ready for hot cocoa and chunky sweaters, the hiss and clang of radiators and bottomless batches of chocolate chip cookies. Continue reading
Tag Archives: vegetables
My Friend’s Urban Farm Salad
Isn’t that a pretty plate of leftover veggie sides? On Sunday night, Matt and I finally hosted a game night. After months of procrastination and laziness, we invited a dozen friends over for dinner and games and we’ve been eating the remnants of the ridiculously large meal ever since. I would love to give you the recipe for the beautiful green salad at the bottom of the plate. It was the clear star, but sadly the recipe resides solely in my friend’s head. And even if she committed the recipe to paper, it wouldn’t do you any good because step one takes place two months earlier and requires that you turn your concrete parking pad into an urban farm complete with hand pollinated corn. Continue reading
Summer in Maine and Artichoke Salad
We had a wonderful time in Maine last month. The weather was hit or miss with some days of sun and some days of rain, but the dreary days were far nicer than anticipated. A good excuse to bake cookies, read books, and drive forty-five minutes to the closest movie theater. (Or at least the closest theater that shows movies released in the current decade.) Rangeley is a tiny Maine town. There’s one grocery store, one bookstore, an old stone library, one K – 12 school with a dozen students per grade, a handful of restaurants, sporting good shops, and antique stores. And of course a historical society with a dresser full of local bird eggs and a logging museum full of chainsaws and old photos of bearded men wearing plaid. There’s an ice cream stand that serves Gifford’s and bags of corn kernels to feed the ducks in the pond out back. There are four churches. (Needless to say, there’s no synagogue.) Or traffic lights or chain stores. It’s a little slice of heaven. Continue reading
Happy Memory Pie
The recipe I’m sharing with you today is strange. While it’s called a gratin, it’s really more of a vegetable pie in a couscous crust. I found it on the side of a jar of wheat germ seven or eight years ago, which is also strange. I mean, who buys wheat germ? And then there’s the fact that I still regularly buy wheat germ just to make this recipe that I’m not even that crazy about. So, why share it with you? It’s partly because Matt requested it this week, but mostly because it reminds me of another strangely delicious baked pasta dish that my grandma used to make for me: spaghetti pie. It was a little brown and crunchy-chewy around the edges and the bottom was dense with egg, topped with tomato sauce and a layer of melted cheese. I adored that spaghetti pie and I was always excited when I got to stay with grandma and grandpa because grandma would always make it for me. I liked it so much she shared the recipe with my mom, but it wasn’t quite the same if grandma didn’t make it. Continue reading
Green Thumb Dreams
Every morning on my walk to work I pass the gardener for The Farnsboro condominium building. He is meticulous; raking every last leaf out from between the hydrangeas, pruning each plant to perfection, arranging mulch like Tibetan monks creating sand mandalas. Everyday we exchange pleasantries, and everyday I secretly wish I could stop and play in the dirt and soak up his green thumb secrets. Despite the summers I spent on the farm, I am not nearly the horticulturist I should be. It’s not that I kill every plant I touch, I just haven’t kept every plant alive. Continue reading
Veggies and Weddings
It’s been a while since I last posted. I have my reasons. First, the internet and I aren’t really getting along right now. There’s nothing like a Facebook hacking to sour me on the idea of sharing private information in a public forum. But don’t worry, the internet and I are working out our differences and rebuilding trust, we should be back on good terms very soon. Second, life got busy! I spent Saturday consuming a misguided combination of wine, champagne, and hard alcohol at a fabulous bachelorette party in Charlottesville. The bride-to-be is a dear friend, whose family owns the house next door to ours in Rangeley. She and her sister were my summertime best buddies. We swam and water-skied together. Took up old lady hobbies, like knitting and needle point. We camped out overnight on the boat and in a tent in the yard. We baked cookies and ate half the dough. We even cooked elaborate meals together with multi-course menus that we handed out to our parents before plating their food. Continue reading
Really Good Salad (Really)
I’m sure this is not the post that you expected after my rant about eating whatever the heck I want. You probably thought I would write about macaroni and cheese (again) or breaded, pan-fried chicken. I will eventually, don’t worry. But right now I have to talk to you about salad. You see, this weekend, I really wanted a salad. And when my body tells me it wants salad, I listen. I figure it’s a sign that I’m low on some essential vitamin or mineral and I need a whole bunch of green things to correct that. And sometimes I just want salad because it tastes good. Continue reading
Corn in October
Tonight I committed a food crime. I made a corn and tomato frittata, a dish that is undeniably a high summer meal, on October 17. Somewhere my father is cringing and for that I am truly sorry. In my defense, I had a pretty good reason for making this recipe. You see, I recently inherited three pounds of frozen corn and of all my corn recipes, this one seemed the least summery, mostly because it requires a 450 degree oven. Continue reading
Cooking For Sig 