The Tuscans have a way with beans. If I came away from my year in Italy learning one thing about food, it was this. As much as I love pizza and fresh pasta and gelato, and, oh, do I love those foods, my most memorable meal on the boot shaped peninsula involved none of them. …
Recipe
We are in the bleak mid-winter in Chicago, the ground crusted with snow, the wind face-bitingly, finger-numbingly cold. Apart from the rare bit of blue sky peaking out at us today, we have been living in a palette of whites and muted grays. I am getting tired of pilling scarves and hats and salt stained …
I don’t do well in the heat. On days when the mercury pushes 90 degrees F I wilt. I can go for weeks without cooking anything substantial. I drink big glasses of lemonade mixed with iced tea. I stick my head in the freezer in search of some refreshing sorbet. I sip on gins and …
On Saturdays in the summer, my routine almost invariably includes a trip to the Evanston Farmers Market. From time to time, I think about swapping my northerly trek for a southerly one and finally checking out the Green City Market or just making a quick trip to the little Edgewater Market that’s within walking distance, …
At their peak ripeness, summer fruits need little adornment. It’s tough to improve the flavor of a meltingly delicate, sweet tart raspberry or a succulent peach on the verge of bruising. But when you find yourself up to your elbows in fragrant baskets of the summer bounty that you simply couldn’t leave at the farmers …
I’ve been away from here for too long, I’ve been distracted by little things. A new camera with a broken dial that needed to be sent back once and a bit more of a learning curve than the point-and-shoots I’m used to. An excursion to Michigan for a holiday weekend with extended family including a …