We’re in the middle of a good old fashioned spring thunder storm. The kind where the rain pelts the windows, the sky stays relentlessly gray, and the day is punctuated with loud claps of thunder. This is the first heavy rain we’ve had since we got our new dog, and, amazingly, she is not currently …
Olive oil
It is officially spring. But official spring never feels like the spring that exists in my imagination. The mud-luscious and puddle-wonderful spring with green shoots and sun peaking through rain and warm breezes and new beginnings. Official spring in Chicago is something altogether different. It is one day in a series of false starts. It is …
Sometimes I forget that I like salad. I remember that I should eat salad, and then I react against the idea with the sulky resentment of a teenager. I go through phases when I dutifully buy bagged baby greens only to pull them out from the crisper drawer, strange and slimy, a few weeks later. In …
Now that it’s fall, can we talk about butternut squash for a minute? I love its flavor, but I have to confess that I find it to be kind of a pain to break down. It’s such an awkward shape to cut, and I’m short enough that it’s difficult for me to get good leverage …
As we get closer to our closing date on our condo and our subsequent move, I find myself returning again and again to my reliable quick meal repertoire. I have begun to pack up the kitchen. Some of it is easy to set aside for a while. The waffle maker, the cookie cutters, the cake …
With the normal thrum of busy lives it can be tough to take time to make a real meal with fresh ingredients. But I hate to miss out on the late summer produce that’s so plentiful this time of year. I especially hate to miss out on in-season tomatoes. They don’t even have to be …