Ruminations – Page 2 – Not Eating Out in New York

9 Dec 2015

Be a #FoodBloggerSanta and Give Your Extra Swag to Charity

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Events, My Events, NYC Events, Ruminations | 3

It was last Tuesday. #GivingTuesday according to the hashtag gods, which came at the heels of #CyberMonday and (pre-hashtag era grandfathered) #BlackFriday. I felt like the initiative to give to charity came at an inopportune time, since people just spent so much over the weekend already. But in my inbox, there was a handful of emails from PR firms offering me samples of new food products in exchange for my sharing them over the Internet, or just my consideration of doing … Read More

17 Nov 2015

Giving Thanks in a World of Conflict

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Ruminations | 136

Hey guys, I made a buckwheat-crust apple pie recipe recently. But that’s not really what I wanted to write about this week. In light of the Paris and Beirut attacks and continuing threats from their perpetrators, it’s awkward for me to talk about the relative pros and cons of a nutty, alternative grain. But I think we do need to come and sit around the table.

20 Mar 2015

Update on New Cookbook: The Food of Taiwan

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Events, My Events, NYC Events, Ruminations | 12

For the last eight and a half years, I’ve been writing here and elsewhere about my main passion in life: not eating out in New York. You must know plenty about that. Fortunately, the topic of home cooking is infinite; there is no end to delicious (and budget-friendly, healthy, seasonal and sustainable-minded) recipes that can be cooked up, or avenues to explore within this broad realm (urban farming? foraging?). Or, indeed, books to read and write about it. I’ve taken a passion for the … Read More

17 Dec 2014

5 Alternative Gifts for the Food-Obsessed on Your List

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Ruminations | 2

The holidays are supposed to be about throwing your hands up in the air and relaxing, but those weeks just beforehand are a frenzy of anxiety and anticipation. Some of this is very unfortunately caused by the lovely tradition of giving. As a co-worker made clear today (with “I haven’t even begun!”), holiday gifting can be a chore. But it doesn’t have to be. Especially if you’re a food-obsessed like me.

19 Jan 2014

We Are So Divorced From Nature Example 2: Spent Christmas Trees

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Ruminations | 3

Here lies the crisped remains of the tree that spread so much cheer throughout my home; decked the hall with boughs of Balsam fir; stood a symbol of goodwill and love and green leaves so unchanging. O tanenbaum, rest in peace ye merry fellow. (AKA, good riddance, ye fire hazard.)

20 Dec 2013

My Five Favorite Food Books of the Year

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Ruminations | 3

It’s that time of the year to look back at the year. This Monday on my podcast Eat Your Words, I’ll be joined by two local foodies to discuss our favorite words on eating this year. That is, we’ll be rounding up our favorite food books from 2013. Since I promised my guests to provide them with my own short list before the show, I thought I’d go into what these picks are, and why I think they’re so great, beforehand. … Read More

12 Dec 2013

We Are So Divorced From Nature Example 1: Moonlit Lavender

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Ruminations | 3

A large factor in my quest to cook more was getting acquainted with the basics. I would say “back to” the basics, but given that I was born in Brooklyn and grew up in New Jersey, I didn’t have too much experience with nature aside from cooking store-bought ingredients now and then. It seemed worthwhile — and agreeable enough — to get “down and dirty” by cooking from scratch for a while. But the seedling for this idea was that, … Read More

11 Sep 2013

The Great Clambake

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Eating Excursions, Ruminations, Seafood | 2

Of all the elaborate communal meals to make, there is one that should stand without question should you ever be on a private New England beach: the clambake. After a whole summer of firing up charcoal for barbecues on the stuffy, blackened rooftops of Brooklyn, eight friends and myself found ourselves in such a tranquil idyll last weekend. We did not miss the opportunity.

20 Jul 2013

6 Cooling Recipes (that are no-sweat to cook)

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Recipes, Ruminations | 3

It’s hot enough to cook a hamburger on a car’s hood. But that’s probably not the kind of food you need right now, in 100-degree heat. The weather has become brutal in NYC, and it’s easy to use that suffering as excuse to lax up on good eating habits. But if you eat a lot of warming, acid-forming, heavy or greasy foods, too, the heat will only get worse… internally.

27 Feb 2013

An Heirloom Potato Primer

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Ruminations | 5

Oh my gosh, the winter farmers market is getting smaller by the minute. There is barely any seasonal produce besides root vegetables and maple syrup. This, most post-jogging, baby-strolling, dog-walking, casually-shopping New Yorkers might assume, is not the greatest time to be scoping out the goods from the farmers’ bins. But actually, the scant selection of local produce makes me hungry to dig deeper into each one. And heck, I have more time than ever to do so without the … Read More