Wednesday, November 26, 9:00 am: Cathy triple-bags a thirteen and a half pound free-range turkey pre-ordered from DiPaolo Farms via the Greenmarket and tucks it into a camper’s backpack. Heads off to the subway, gets off at Midtown. Explains something to startled co-worker as she takes turkey out of backpack, and stuffs it into office [...]

I think the makers of those aerosol cans of spray-cheese need to merge with Silly String. Then we’d have the perfect, edible orange goo to epitomize the celebration that was the second Fondue Takedown this past Sunday. And to clobber the winner with for a photo — “Say Cheese!” So maybe Sunday night’s winner was [...]

According to Wikipedia, the quail is a “mid-sized” bird in the pheasant family. Jesus, what do the very small ones look like? I wondered, after carefully unwrapping the quail from plastic and placing it on my cutting board. I couldn’t help imagining my grade-school pet parakeet sans feathers.

Now that everyone’s hopefully got their turkey situation squared away, and are just about fed up with the annual Thanksgiving-food buzz (to brine or not to brine? Best seasonal stuffings?), I thought I’d take a moment to highlight a few overlooked birds of the feather. First up: pheasant! Isn’t that a lovely word? The live [...]

Since I’m a little behind on my recipe-writing and photo uploading for this week’s eaten-in pleasures, I thought I’d direct you to something I did manage to accomplish: this Brooklyn Based piece on where to find the most clever, crafty, kitschy and most importantly, NOT disposable dinnerware that you can be proud to serve with [...]

Next month, I will be both turning 27 and posting the 27th Reason of the Month for not eating out. (Pretty neat collision of life and blog, isn’t it?) Yes, if you can believe it, you’ve suffered for twenty-six rants from the often irrational, at times delirious, and petty tirade-prone mind of this blogger. I [...]

Whoever said, “a watched pot never boils” clearly does not know the joys of cooking. He or she does not understand the tiny miracles of science stirring in every pot, even before it boils. Never saw the blip of creation right as the first bubble formed against its side. It is like not having watched [...]

You know what? After all the lovely compliments you’ve given me on my Orecchiette and Arugula casserole, I’m not sure how it would have fared, head-to-head, with the winner of the fourth annual Casserole Party. Nor the rest of the amazing twenty-eight casseroles that were brought to the cook-off this past Monday. Emily Farris, author [...]

Last year it was the Bodega Challenge, this year it was the instant Ramen-Off, I swear, Harry and Taylor of The Brooklyn Kitchen have a thing for bringing out the best in the worst of foods. Perhaps terrified that I would endanger this reputation by bringing in something awful (i.e. my bodega-inspired Potato Chips au [...]

This isn’t really a political blog, but in light of recent circumstances (ahem — GObama! — ahem), I thought I’d make a little exception. Because if there’s one thing I learned from the long road to the Presidential election, it’s that food is political. Period. You cannot like arugula, for instance (which ironically was only [...]

I’ve been bringing roasted beets to work for snacks a lot lately. A lot of people have peered over my shoulder and said, “Oh, beets — how do you cook them like that?” My first reaction, that of a not-so-helpful home cook-ophile, is usually to say, “How do you not cook them like that?” I [...]

I can’t over-emphasize the surprise I had last year when biting into my first bit of free-range, organic, all-natural turkey that I’d stuffed and roasted for a Thanksgiving-like feast with friends: Savory. Succulent. Abundantly flavorful. These are words that you seldom think of when you think of turkey breast meat, right? That’s why we traditionally [...]

Hi. Perhaps you’re here because you’ve managed to navigate away from Pollster for five seconds, to allow time for some updates to set in. Maybe it’s close to lunchtime, but you don’t have an appetite because you’ve gotten yourself into such a stressful tizzy that your bodily functions are not working quite right, and you’re [...]

Look, I know we’re all frightened about the economy, but that doesn’t mean we have to resort to eating instant ramen every day… Not convinced? Okay, neither am I. What I meant to say, really, is that you don’t have to resort to eating blahmen every day. As long as there’s still a few leafy [...]