The Kitchen Game

I’ve been working on two blog posts for the past couple months. I can’t believe how long they’re taking! I comfort myself as I reflect...

Last week I described the restaurant I’m dreaming about opening, Breakfast At Night, and shared a draft of its menu. This week, I want to...

I recently spent a long weekend visiting my friend, Monty, famous on this blog for his pickles. It was an easy, unfolding joy to spend...

There’s a movie I love, an 80s rom com called Crossing Delancey. It stars Amy Irving as Isabelle, who lives and works on the Upper West...

I have a strange story to tell, the story of a breakfast I invented late last Sunday night. I haven’t gotten around to eating it for...

Me: You know that plum cake you make? Mom: Yes. Me (trying to sound casual): Is that recipe from the Balthazar cookbook? Mom: Yes. Me: Oh...

I’ve never had much of a sweet tooth. When I was a little kid and I’d turn down a slice of cake spread thick with cloying frosting, my...

One evening the winter before last, my roommate was cooking dinner. I could hear her in the kitchen as I sat in my room, tutoring. As I...

One blustery afternoon last fall, I was feeling stressed and disappointed. I wanted to be home, but I was out, waiting for something to...

I haven’t mentioned meat in any of my posts yet, and there’s a reason for that: I’m deeply ambivalent about eating animals, for a host of...

For me, nachos stir up a comforting haze of childhood memory: weekend playdates at friends’ sunlit New York City apartments in first...

I wasn’t a big fan of the dining hall at St. John’s College, where I went for undergrad. Or, I should say, I wasn’t a big fan of the food...

I don’t like whole grain bread. I want my bread to be fluffy and chewy, and that almost always means white bread of some kind. I know...

Last week I promised I’d tell you about my favorite thing to do with poached eggs. Here it is, from the bottom up: two slices of...

Pour some vinegar in the water! Make a whirlpool! It seems like everybody has a technique for poaching eggs and, for years, it seemed...

As I mentioned in last week’s post, I’m all about those little tomatoes—cherry, grape, plum, and best of all, sungold. But there’s one...

There’s nothing like tomato season, those glorious summer weeks when you wonder what to do with all that sweet, tart, bright, red,...

A year ago, I baked a pie. It was Pi Day, and I wanted to enter into the spirit of the occasion. I had never baked a pie before and I...