Reason of the Month – Page 3 – Not Eating Out in New York

16 Apr 2011

Reason For Not Eating Out #45: One In-Season Vegetable, Six Maddeningly Simple Dinners With Little Else

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Reason of the Month | 6

I’m tapping my fingers waiting for asparagus to arrive. It’s like the night before Christmas, or worse, the early morning hours when you’re not sure whether Santa’s come and gone, or might shuffle in yet. So while we’re waiting, I thought I’d rehash some of the simplest, most satisfying, no-nonsense ways to turn asparagus and other fresh produce that will soon arrive into meals. Because it’ll be too nice outside to worry about it too much.

14 Jan 2011

Reason For Not Eating Out #44: Because Cooking Will Help Heat Your Home

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Reason of the Month | 9

Brrr! Two blizzards, about two feet of snow on the ground, and two straight nights of temperatures in the teens. Have you been staying indoors a lot this new year? I don’t blame you, and I’m not moving much either. Maybe ordering in some take-out sounds tempting, but after a couple nights of this, you might realize how much more often you’ll have to walk outside to get rid of the copious container-trash. Not fun! No, I find it much … Read More

17 May 2010

Reason For Not Eating Out #42: Because You Can Grow Your Own Food

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Reason of the Month | 13

In the epilogue of The Art of Eating In, I bemoaned my oversight of home gardening as one of the restaurant-free food subcultures that I explored in its chapters. Thinking that my outdoor space-free residence would eliminate the option, I’d left out the very preface to cooking: growing the stuff. Fortunately, there have been many sage leaders in doing just that, even in the tiniest urban crevices they can find, and their voices are getting some much-deserved attention. Last month, … Read More

9 Apr 2010

Reason For Not Eating Out #41: Because I Don’t Need to be Doted On

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Reason of the Month | 8

I am not the type of person to get my nails done, or have my eyebrows plucked and pruned. If I could figure out how to cut my own hair, I would. Though I enjoy the convenience of it, I have never felt truly comfortable riding in the back of a cab, and get a slight jolt of awkwardness when a hired hand opens a door for me, or takes my bags. Don’t even tempt me with a foot massage … Read More

13 Mar 2010

Reason For Not Eating Out #40: Strength in Numbers

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Reason of the Month | 12

You know the saying. If everyone else was jumping off a cliff, would you? It’s a small reminder to use your own head, and not follow the masses mindlessly. So no, of course not. But if you did, or had to — jump off a cliff, take a leap of faith — and all those masses were at your side, it would sure make you feel a little better about it. And that’s what’s gradually happening with not eating out.

22 Jan 2010

Reason For Not Eating Out #39: Because the Hair In My Food Is Always Mine

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Reason of the Month | 16

There’s nothing ickier than raising a fork to eye level and finding that intimately human object entwined in your food: hair. All the sudden, it’s like you’re in bed with the chef. And how well that person cleans him or herself, or where he or she has been in the last twenty-four hours — and who that person is — you have no clue. Panic ensues.

16 Dec 2009

Reason For Not Eating Out #38: Having the Wildcard Every Time

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Reason of the Month | 5

I was out with a small handful of NYC-based food writers the other night. We were on our way to Edible Brooklyn‘s food trivia night, so I was feeling quite smug about my smartness in all things food-related right then, especially being among such illustrious company. As we made our way from the West Coast-oriented bar (with, according to my mentors, not enough beer cred for that claim) Pacific Standard to the Australian meat-pie joint, Sheep Station (kitschy, but the … Read More

12 Nov 2009

Reason For Not Eating Out #37: Going Back to School

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Demos & Workshops, Reason of the Month | 11

When Taylor Erkkinen and Harry Rosenblum opened their Williamsburg store for kitchen appliances and cookware in 2006, they’d had a notion about cultivating a community around cooking through occasional classes and demos. But who knew that the educational programs they would hold at the store would soon become The Brooklyn Kitchen’s biggest draw, with classes frequently selling out a day after being announced?

6 Oct 2009

Reason for Not Eating Out #36: For the Sport

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Cook-Offs, Reason of the Month | 2

You can’t exactly sit through a restaurant meal and claim to have the best culinary know-how of a group by pooh-poohing this, or extolling that. Well, maybe you can to an extent, and many people do — and I have, too. But it’s much more convincing, in my opinion, if you walk into a social setting with your own homemade dish, and compare it against those of all the others in the room, who did the same. And that’s what … Read More

7 Sep 2009

Reason For Not Eating Out #35: The Whole Side of the Story

by Cathy Erway | posted in: Reason of the Month | 4

A cook’s gotta do what a cook’s gotta do. That usually includes dealing with the whole vegetable or grain from its raw to fully-cooked and plated states. Sometimes, it means the same for an animal. And the way I see it, all the better for the person cooking it.