Pink of Perfection

The 4th of July, a holiday I’ve never had a particular penchant for, is the official start of picnic season. Though they are impractical, involve a fair bit of planning, and can be quickly undone by a rain cloud or two, picnics have my heart. I love the woven baskets, the opportunity to bring out the melamine plates my sister gave me, and spreading out a blanket on a square of grass, an arrangement more romantic than comfortable. Picnics take you away from the familiar context of table and chairs and drop your dining experience somewhere else entirely: the parched slope of grass in front of a performance stage, the slick, mossy stones next to a creek, or even the alleys of hot asphalt between cars in a parking lot, where Rachel Perry and I ate our sandwiches in high school and crouched out of view of the vice principal. She’s the one who taught me the phrase en plein air. And also the word pestilence, which is neither here nor there.

Continue reading “The 4th of July Picnic That Wasn’t” »

Bogged down on the couch with one of those wicked summer colds, sneezing and shivering under a wool blanket on a 90 degree day, I wanted nothing but a vanilla milkshake. Never in all my days have I craved a milkshake when sick. Apple juice, yes, tom yum soup, definitely, but a milkshake? This was new territory for me.

Luckily in New York you can get everything from toilet paper to organic red zinfandel delivered to your door and you don’t even have to change out of your pajamas. But the local diner had a $10 minimum delivery charge and, without going into details, I just couldn’t stomach a triple decker turkey club. It was time to get off the couch and take matters into my own hands.

Continue reading “Root Beer Float” »

In an ordinary year when my mom’s garden is overrun in late summer, zucchini makes a near nightly appearance on the dinner table. The rounds are sauteed with butter and onions or their whole long bodies hollowed out and stuffed with sausage. For breakfast and afternoon tea, they are grated into the zucchini bread recipe from the Silver Palate Cookbook that has practically been claimed as our own.

Continue reading “Zucchini Fritters” »

• High bandwidth

If you’ve ever taken an early supper during which the restaurant staff changes the lighting scheme over from all-business lunch to starry-eyed dinner, you know that your dining companions instantly become twice as attractive. You don’t need a McMansion with dimmer switches in every room for an intimate effect; the basic element of fire will serve you quite well.
Continue reading “Fire With Fire: Simplest Lanterns” »

The summer heat does not take away my oft-insatiable appetite, though it does make me loathe to turn on the oven or stove. More often than not, dinner time finds me sorting through a stack of take out menus, a habit unkind to both my wallet and my waistline. Even if I won’t be ordering them from the taqueria down the street, I would rather forfeit my summer than give up tacos. Unready to wave the white flag, I looked in my cabinets only to find the lowly but loved staple, the black bean.

Continue reading “It’s Too Darn Hot! No-Cook Black Bean Tacos” »

• High bandwidth

When Sebastian was first courting me, it was a cross-country affair that could well have turned cold with the fall. But I knew this suitor meant business when he flew to St. Paul, Minnesota with a backpack and a bottle of champagne, eager to see the bucolic campus paths where I rode my bike, the sunny coffee shop I read in each afternoon, the restaurant where I served brik and met a mentor, and most importantly, the friends who were my daily bread and butter.
Continue reading “Sebastian’s Steak” »