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White Bean and Kale Mash

Earlier this week I had a half-bunch of kale wilting away in the refrigerator. Not enough to bake into chips and too small a quantity to braise or steam and be substantial, I let it sit there for days as I wrestled with the desire to be rid of it and the preemptive guilt of [read more ...]

Birthday Cake

“Hey,” I said to Stu the other night. He looked up from the book he was reading and I set mine down in my lap. “Would you call me a parent?”
“Well – yeah. I mean, you parent.”
I brought my gaze back down to my book and thought about that. I parent. As in, the verb. [read more ...]

Pecan Sandies

What can I say about these? They’re a retro classic, a lovable throwback to childhood while still managing to be somewhat sophisticated and adult.
In my flurry of avoidance baking and cooking last week, I threw together the dough before starting in on the evening’s dinner preparation. I’m typically irritated by desserts that require “resting” time. A [read more ...]

Turkey Meatballs

There are times when, in deciding what to do for dinner, I say to myself “What can I make that requires the most work possible, as well as the maximum number of dirtied pots and pans?” I then go ahead and make it. Well, not exactly. That is what my cognizant mind says. My subconscious mind [read more ...]

Quinoa “Cake”

Sometimes recipes don’t turn out the way I planned.
All day long yesterday I dreamed of quinoa patties bursting with chickpeas and cashews, then pan-fried in a skillet. Hell if I know what gave me the idea; we had a bag of red quinoa that seemed to be calling out my name and the rest just [read more ...]

Hot Toddy

Did you know that Jay-Z and Usher wrote a song called Hot Tottie? I did not. The spelling is puzzling, but all the same, the name is familiar.
Apparently this juicy musical morsel is over a year old, but it’s new to me. I’ve always sort of believed that I’m a 74-year-old trapped in a 24-year-old’s body, so [read more ...]

Spaetzle

I don’t know what made me think of spaetzle. It’s certainly not something I make often, nor is it something I’ve ever craved. Blame that on my mother – in our house, comfort food was buttered egg noodles. I don’t recall her ever making spaetzle from scratch, though after learning the process in culinary school [read more ...]

Slow-Roasted Lamb

Hello. It’s been a while.
It’s my fault. I’ve been awfully negligent, avoiding not only writing here, but writing in general. I’m a bit ashamed to admit it, but it was largely fear that kept me away.
As part of my job as Food Columnist for the Post-Standard, I write monthly pieces that get posted to the [read more ...]

Tomatoes: In Full

I wrote and read a version of the following for the Oswego County Harvest Dinner on October 21, 2011. It was a great honor to be the guest speaker at an event that champions area farmers and supports the local food movement.
It was the middle of December, and the executives were hungry.
I was working as a [read more ...]

Tomatoes

I am honored and thrilled to be attending the Second Annual Oswego County Harvest Dinner this Friday as the Guest Speaker. The dinner is a community effort, sponsored by the Cornell Cooperative Extension, to bring attention to eating locally – and the people who make that possible.
What follows is an excerpt from my speech. I [read more ...]