My mother was born on a farm in rural Tennessee in the mid 1930s, after the Great Depression ended but before economic recovery found that particular remote outpost. Her father, who had the God-given talent of being able to fix anything mechanical at first sight, chose instead to be a preacher and to live off … Continue reading Field peas.
Let's start in a silly place and take it from there: Remember that scene in the movie Forrest Gump where (when?) Bubba talks about shrimp? "Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. [There's] shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. … Continue reading Theme and variations.
Tomato pie was an adulthood discovery for me. One evening, years ago, we gathered with neighbors on our front porch for a summer potluck (possibly a July 4th gathering, though also possibly not), and one neighbor's contribution was a pair of magazine-worthy tomato pies that featured beautiful hand-curled crusts and a rainbow array of heirloom … Continue reading Heirlooms.
"And what did you learn from that experience?"Sam Sanders (via Twitter), regarding the best interview question to ask Sometimes, Twitter is worth the trouble, especially when Sam Sanders is involved. He's as funny and thoughtful in his Tweets as in his interviewing, and I never regret checking in to see what he's up to. Every … Continue reading A few things: June 2021
The first rule of knives, in my mother's teaching, was the most important because it has to do with people and relationships. The rule was simple: Knives are not given but sold. If you think a friend or neighbor (or child, partner, or spouse) might enjoy having a particular knife, then tape a penny to … Continue reading No. Knife skills are not bulls*it.
There will be recipes. Is that enough to keep you reading until you find them? Excellent, because there are a few things to cover beforehand. (And, to be clear: there are multiple recipes, all in one post here, all together, because I am too lazy to write about and publish each one of the separately.) … Continue reading A few things: May 2021
This is a pandemic story, though it won't be clearly so until the end. It's an old story, rooted in distant places, long ago. We'll start here: The first time I cooked for other people I was in college. A friend invited several of us to her family's house in Vermont for a Presidents' Day … Continue reading Midnight cooking.
John's yard was a meadow of clover and Queen Anne's lace long before the anti-lawn movement spread to Harvard orTikTok. Our section of the street was a curved tail-end of a longer road, a detour along an otherwise linear path. There was (still is) a cove in the middle of the curve, which gave our … Continue reading A few things: April 2021
