The First Stage: Shock The original plan was to take Craig to see the play "Speech & Debate," which he's been eager to see, and then to dinner at Soto--a Japanese place in the West Village, praised as the...Adam Roberts

I grew up in the 1970s in Dallas, Texas, at a time when processed food was the hot new thing (think Funyuns , Cap’n Crunch and Velveeta , and the list goes on…). So you can imagine what I must have been surrounded by foodwise. Fortunately, my mom was a foodie at heartshe baked loaves of bread, cultured her own tangy yogurt, and not only grew a good-sized vegetable garden, but maintained a healthy compost pile. She was no doubt considered “weird” for the time and the place, and I for one have never stopped appreciating her weirdness. My mom’s garden was really sweet, and gave me a whole new appreciation of fresh vegetables as a kid. I remember once she grew a cucumber that was nearly as tall as my younger brother. We were in awe. I also remember stealing plenty of tomatoes, fresh off the vine and warm from the sun. And I still think that there is probably no better thing in the world that you can eat than a freshly-plucked tomato at the peak of ripeness. Up until now, I haven’t really been in a place where I could easily grow my own vegetables. So, a few weeks ago, on a whim, I decided to buy a few half wine barrels and start my own urban garden. I managed to find 4 barrels for only $20 each with free delivery on craigslist . What a steal!  read more »

Isn't it wonderful when winter slooooooowly starts to recede and bit by bit, you can see the selection of fruit (and vegetables!) improving?  Where before there were only forlorn and ridiculously out of season mangoes and strawberries, suddenly the wonderful deciduous fruits are reappearing - and English cherries and strawberries can't be far behind!  As a professed non-sweet-tooth, I put my recent flurry of sweet stuff (peach clafoutis, cherry muffins) down to being overexcited at the sight of all this fruit,  And when the raw materials are so beautiful, how on earth are you meant to resist popping it in your basket and making something special with it?  read more »

Since Kevin is a huge lover of turkey burgers, it also follows that he is into turkey meat loaf. I've never been fond of meat loaf of any kind. He used to love eating traditional meat loaf back when he ate red meat and is now more than happy to eat turkey meat loaf if I make it for him.

For years I experimented with all kinds of turkey meat loaf recipes. I tried adding sauteed vegetables. I tried making a meat loaf "cake" where the meat was layered with a mixture of nuts, cranberries, and spinach. No matter what I did, it never tasted all that good to me and the texture was generally that of the dreaded "hockey puck" variety.  read more »

Oh, do you know the muffin man,
The muffin man, the muffin man,
Oh, do you know the muffin man,
Who lives in Drury Lane?

Oh, yes, I know the muffin man,
The muffin man, the muffin man,
Oh, yes, I know the muffin man,
But he don't live in no Drury Lane???
He lives at Oak Cottage!

 read more »

Well, it's Tuesday morning and we all know what that means now, that means it's Tuesdays With Dorie day, one of my most favouritest days of the week. The day that I get to join in with some bazillion of other bakers around the world and bake a recipe from our most bestest favouritest book of all time, Baking From My Home To Yours, by the bestest baker in the world, Dorie Greenspan! Whew! What a mouthful! If you want to know more about the group and how they got started, and how you yourself can join, you can go to their page Tuesdays With Dorie and it's all there in glorious Technicolour for you to read all about it, but to make a long story short . . . each week we all prepare the same thing, and once in a while we even get to pick which recipe it is we are going to bake. It's going to be a loooooong time before it's my turn, but that's ok . . . I am enjoying baking, not to mention eating, my way through the book! This week's recipe was Bill's Big Carrot Cake as chosen by Amanda of slow like honey . Ohh , what a delicious choice Amanda! Carrot Cake has to be both my and Todd's favouritest cake of all, and also one of the easiest types of cakes to make!! I had the chance this past week to get together with some friends for a bit of a coffee morning and a gab. I don't really drink coffee myself, but it is always nice to get together with people you enjoy and share in some refreshements and a nice chat. When I saw this weeks choice for the baking challenge I just knew it would be the perfect accompaniment. Carrot cake has to be one of most people's favourite cakes!  read more »

With Apologies to Tania, Garrett, Garrett's Grandma Capune, and My Dogs These Giant Cookies are a Hit with Both Kids & Grownups Before I became a farmgirl in rural Missouri , I was (among other things) a graphic designer in urban Nortnern California. I had a collection of Rapidograph pens and subscribed to magazines with names like Communication Arts and Print .  read more »

(This is the web elf. This is one of the articles Maki instructed to post while she’s on the disabled list.)

I love bunnies, and Easter is a great excuse to make something edible in a bunny shape. Last year, I made bunny bao. The year before that, I took a class in making chocolate bunnies. I’ve also made pastel colored Easter Bunny cupcakes, and given you a diagram for cutting usagi ringo (apple bunnies).  read more »

It takes so long to prepare for, and it's over before you know it.

We had a nice day for it. The ducks who live behind my building were very happy that they weren't on the table that day.

Thank you, Martha Stewart. Your busy schedule opened the way. Thank you, Martha Stewart. Your cancellation brightened our day. Thank you, Madam Stewart. Wed have missed this fall menu. Thank you, Martha Stewart. Cest tout. In all seriousness, its only through the combination of a little luck and the good graces of Ms. Stewarts last minute cancellation for a kitchen seating at Talulas Table that our recent meal (and hence this post) became possible. So happily, just a couple of days before the airing of Chef Bryan Sikoras prerecorded appearance on The Martha Stewart show, my dining companions and I were able to make it out to mushroom country and into Talulas for a late taste of their autumn menu.  read more »