Pink of Perfection

I had it all planned out perfectly — Lisa was coming over for a cocktail and I knew the pepper jelly she gave me at Christmas would go magically with some of Martha’s famed cheese coins. It would be one of those rare moments when all the elements come together and you have a brief turn as an exceedingly gracious hostess, shining the spotlight not only on your delicious nibbles and refreshment, but on your guest’s contribution that makes it complete. That was the idea anyway.

What happened in reality was that the so-called cheddar coins were more like…crumbly lattice wafers. The flavor was wonderful, but what good is it if you have to scrape up bits off the cookie sheet and serve them off a spatula? Not the elegant Mad Men cocktail hour I was hoping for.

Have you ever had a recipe utterly and totally fail? This hasn’t happened to me in awhile, and the devastation was crushing, not only for the occasion at hand (I was two steps away from cracking open a can of salted peanuts), but for the sheer waste. Two sticks of butter and a cup of New York sharp cheddar cheese, come to nothing. I followed the direction precisely, so what gives?

The drinks, though — the drinks did their bit. Since my friend Laureen mixed up an old-fashioned at our book club reading of 50’s novel, The Best of Everything, this has been my cocktail of choice. It’s strong and appropriately boozey (it’s Don Draper’s drink of choice, after all), but ever-so-slightly sweet. And it would have been really perfect with some spicy, cheesy nibbles. But, so it goes…

Continue reading “Happy Hour at Home: Old-Fashioneds…And The Appetizer That Wasn’t” »

I know Twitter isn’t a completely useless media development because it brought me to Tea. Known more formally as Tara Austen Weaver, Tea & Cookies’s namesake is warm and utterly real. If you can sense a kind, salt-of-the-earth nature in 140 characters, you know it’s the real deal. And today is a huge day for Tea. Her book, The Butcher and the Vegetarian, just hit the shelves. It seemed like a more than fitting time for a celebratory chat.

Tell us about Tea & Cookies. What made you decide to do the blog? What are the biggest challenges? What inspires you, your food, and your posts?

Tea & Cookies was a total accident. I was sick, I was bored, I had been reading a lot of food blogs. One day I started one—but I never put my name on it or told my friends. I didn’t plan to keep it up once I was healthy and back at work, but by that time I was hooked and couldn’t stop.

The site has always been about what is inspiring me at that moment. It’s a personal place where I talk about what I love—food, travel, tea, pretty things, amazing people. The name for the blog was an accident as well, but now I think of it as my tea party where I get to chat with lovely people about things that make me happy. It’s a joy.

The hard part is staying motivated and finding the time for it all. I burnt out after finishing the book and had to step away for a little while. I thought about stopping entirely, but the site has brought so much that is wonderful into my life—people who have become dear friends, a wonderful community of other bloggers, amazingly kind and generous readers. I would miss it terribly if I gave it up.

How did your experience blogging affect the process of writing a book? Do you approach the two forms differently, and if so, how?

Writing a blog is like going for a lap swim each morning—a slight effort, but ultimately a nice little workout that leaves you energized. Writing a book is like swimming the Atlantic. There are sharks, there are storms you couldn’t have predicted or prepared for, but there are huge triumphs as well. A regular writing schedule like blogging is good practice for a book, but I’m not sure anything prepares you to lose sight of the shore.

In my case I knew the book was going to look very different from the blog, as it covered material I had never written about. If my blog is about putting forth what I want to write about, the book pulled out things I was scared to write about. It was much harder, though ultimately more rewarding.

Continue reading “POP Profile: Tea & Cookies” »

photo via stefski

Aimless Love

This morning as I walked along the lakeshore,
I fell in love with a wren
and later in the day with a mouse
the cat had dropped under the dining room table.

In the shadows of an autumn evening,
I fell for a seamstress
still at her machine in the tailor’s window,
and later for a bowl of broth,
steam rising like smoke from a naval battle.

This is the best kind of love, I thought,
without recompense, without gifts,
or unkind words, without suspicion,
or silence on the telephone.

The love of the chestnut,
the jazz cap and one hand on the wheel.

No lust, no slam of the door –
the love of the miniature orange tree,
the clean white shirt, the hot evening shower,
the highway that cuts across Florida.

No waiting, no huffiness, or rancor –
just a twinge every now and then

for the wren who had built her nest
on a low branch overhanging the water
and for the dead mouse,
still dressed in its light brown suit.

But my heart is always propped up
in a field on its tripod,
ready for the next arrow.

After I carried the mouse by the tail
to a pile of leaves in the woods,
I found myself standing at the bathroom sink
gazing down affectionately at the soap,

so patient and soluble,
so at home in its pale green soap dish.
I could feel myself falling again
as I felt its turning in my wet hands
and caught the scent of lavender and stone.

– Billy Collins

image via LIFE

This is the time of year in which homebodies are at their peak. The weather outside is frightful and if you really want to, you can use it as an excuse to get out of just about anything. Snowing? I don’t think I can make it to that event after all. Bitterly cold? I might be coming down with something and wouldn’t want to make it worse. Then you can stay on the couch in your comfy pants, watching dvds and feeling snug as a bug in a rug. And is there a problem with this?

Lately I’ve been thinking of my homebody ways. I live in a really vibrant city, one in which there is a fabric store that deeply delights me, 100-year-old butcher shops run by men in sharp paper hats, and the kind of imaginative home design and clothing boutiques that can inspire great ideas. But I would rather not brave the elements, schlep to the subway, and battle shoppers in SoHo. I would rather, from the comfort of my silk bathrobe, order things online and have them delivered to my door. Is this being a homebody? Or profoundly lazy?

Continue reading “The Homebody Season” »

Lately, most people I know have been hunkering down with a big bowl of noodles at least once a week. And rightfully so: the indignities of making our way through the cold and muscling into boots calls for dinner in a bowl, and preferably one that will leave you in a blissed-out carbohydrate haze. Sometimes, though, those of us who do not excel in the ways of moderation end up regretting it afterward. I like to think that if a healthy dose of cruciferous vegetable gets folded in with a wheaty tangle, the same comfort level can still be achieved and the bloated guilt diminished. At least, that’s the idea.

It wasn’t until recently that I began to explore cauliflower’s charms. I’ve always loved it as a crudité, but when it came into my life as a gratin, a soup, and most recently in Sebastian’s off-the-cuff red vegetable curry, I could feel myself falling in love. I doubt that cauliflower will stir the passion nor the vitriol sardines recently did, but that’s okay. Cauliflower is cool — a laid-back, mellow, vegetable that hangs around in the background until you need it to take center stage. It doesn’t need to live in the spotlight, but when it does, it really steals the show. And in a quietly confident way I sort of love.

Continue reading “$5 Dinner: Sweet and Spicy Cauliflower and Penne” »

The Recipe Club is rich in the best kinds of ways. Picking your way through thick, beautifully designed pages of recipes, letters, and emails over forty years of friendship feels finding a secret box of mementos in a closet (kind like Griffin and Sabine for foodies). But it’s the sustenance of friendship that makes this book so satisfying. I loved most what my girl crush Lynne Rossetto Kasper said: “Food and love without the schmaltz and warm fuzzies is what kept me turning the pages of this book. If you’re lucky enough to have that one true best friend, you’ll find all the love, prickliness, laughter, blood curdling honesty, and joy here.” One reader will be picked at random to win a free copy from Harper Collins. Enter to win by leaving a comment about a memory of food and friendship by 12 midnight EST, Friday, January 29. Only US mailing addresses.

Update 02/01:

And the winner is Dana! Thanks so much to everyone for sharing your awesome stories.

Oh, believe me, I know what you’re thinking. Even the very word seems a little unappetizing. Sar-deeeens. Poor guys, they just don’t have the best PR in the world (or, as I gather, on this side of the pond), and it’s a shame, really. Because if you can get past your initial feelings, you might find that this inexpensive fish — high in protein, iron, calcium and all important omega-3 fatty acids — rather suits you. Or you may be like my friend who, when asked to join me at home for a sardine sandwich after an exceedingly pleasant morning spent writing side-by-side in a coffee shop, could not run away quite fast enough muttering something about ravioli in her freezer. I suppose they’re not for everyone, but all I’m asking is that you try. Where would you be if you had listened to the prevailing sentiments on liver or brussels sprouts? SOL, is where.

I used to splurge on a $9 sandwich that made me feel rather posh in the middle of the workday: marinated anchovies, soft-boiled egg, frisée and country bread. (I belong to the club, by the way, that likes just about anything topped with frisée and an egg). When I saw a recipe for this sardine sandwich in a recent issue of O, I thought it might be able to stand in for that beloved midtown lunch now that I am a work-at-home kind of gal. (Which really, presents a whole slew of problems that we should discuss at a later date, namely, what do you wear that makes you feel 1) not like a schlump in her pajamas at noon but 2) not like an idiot wearing a pencil skirt and blazer in her living room. I have resorted to looking at mommy blogs for guidance on this front, but am more than open to your expertise. End of digression.)

This sandwich was everything I wanted it to be: hearty, healthy, and full of flavor. The exact kind of lunch you want to have when you’ll be too busy to stop for a snack at 4pm; this is the sandwich that sees you straight through to dinner. I also surprised myself at how un-fishy I thought the sardines were. If you can handle canned tuna, you can certainly handle this.

And, last but not least, I was able to make good on my promise to Dayna and investigate some other recipes using sardines. Here are six elegant-sounding recipes that star our beleaguered fish friend:

Continue reading “The Case for Sardines” »