When I was growing up, my grandmother was friendly with another farming family who had orchards full of apples, pears, and stone fruits. It was a rite of fall for my mother and I to go to Schenks’ to buy apples, cider, and Italian plums for plum dumplings. We would walk past their farm stand to the apple cooler; its giant, maple-fronted steel door opened slowly, like a bank vault. Inside, the metallic fragrance of cold apples enveloped us, as […]
Flower arrangements are evolving, becoming more naturalistic, asymmetrical, and unstructured, to be more in tune with our comfortable homes and unfussy lifestyles. There are some gorgeous flowers out there these days, and I want to share a few ideas as the holidays approach. The flowers below, Queen Anne’s lace, rosehips, David Austin Juliet roses, heather, clematis, and copper beech leaves are not things you’d commonly see in one bouquet – yet it works, because the flowers are gathered into loose […]
When you’re in the mood for a cozy, romantic dinner at home, wouldn’t it be fun to snuggle yourself and your significant other up to a good steak, flavored with brandy and black peppercorns, and accompanied by a red onion and sour cream tart tatin? It feels like a special occasion meal, luxurious and special, but there’s less effort and expense than you would imagine: you grill a steak, pop some puff pastry dough from the freezer section of the […]
I love a quick twist on a classic cocktail: it makes an evening a little more special. I was recently looking at the patch of lemon balm in my garden and thinking that it would be a fresh and fragrant addition to a gin and tonic. Lemon Balm G&T Prep time: 10 minutes
One of the original desserts of early American cooking was hasty pudding, or, as it was sometimes known, Indian pudding. (You may remember that hasty pudding is mentioned in the lyrics of the Revolutionary War song, “Yankee Doodle.”) Made with cornmeal, eggs, milk, and whatever spices a cook had on hand, it was sweetened with molasses or maple syrup. Later versions added ice cream, or candied fruit. This is my updated take on hasty pudding, based on recipes found in […]
