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Ferdinand came home from school yesterday saying “you know Mom, everybody in the schoolyard had their sweaters off and were swinging them around–no coats, nothing.”
Some people feel a grip in their chest in the middle of the night when it sounds like someone is definitely breaking in, or maybe walking along the edge of a cliff with an overloaded backpack and a donkey with an ankle issue. It’s nothing I can help–I’m afraid of the cold when it’s wearing Summer. Monday it’s snowing outside and Tuesday the weather is calling to your child like some kind of Evil in a ...
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I feel like a person with no legs in a race, at the bottom of the steps of the Empire State. If you were equipped it might leave you breathing a little harder–with no legs, it is more likely that you are going to have to pack a tent and a week’s worth of meals. I have been editing for 48 hours what would have taken a know-how, the time it takes to eat lunch. It’s programming big on quality and teeny weeny on budget–just big enough to fit inside what an ant uses as a coin purse.
Watch “To cook ...
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The world as I know it stops when Jonathan leaves me. I feel a shift in my plates. It is only for two weeks. I’ll be eating crackers and jam and drinking yesterday’s coffee.
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I sit around here thinking I don’t have time to clean, I don’t have time to get stamps, I don’t have time to remove the dead plant from the living room, or maintain a cheerful disposition, because I am working. And I have a child, and a husband and a dog.
But then there is Trenesa–who works so much she works in her sleep, has two children, a husband, learned Mandarin Chinese for her clients in China, has a warm, inviting, and spotless house, and a sense of humor and made us the best avocado white bean guacamole with jalapeno and ...
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NYC 7PM DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR DINNER IS?
Watch the latest episode if Dinner Confidential, posted just last night:
http://www.youtube.com/DinnerConfidential
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I have taken to saving my vegetable braising liquids and packing them into my recycled raw honey jars. I am hoping it’s not a slippery slope.
The story goes that my great Aunt Myra would let you know plain and clear that you were wasting a Kleenex if you blew your nose on both sheets; two ply meant one for the nose and one to save for later to mop a small spill off the floor, or to shove into a hole in the wall to keep the breeze from coming in. My grandmother was raising three children on her own ...
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In the back of my neighbors garden, the forsythia bush–no leaves in sight–is all of a sudden an almost florescent green and along a hedge that separates our yards, teeny weeny tiny fuzzy buds of pussy willow are showing on branches gone deep red and waving like loose strands of hair. I think in Science class or Siberia, they might call this Spring; there is nothing warm about it, and every five minutes the rain turns to snow–it’s that feeling you have when you have moved from “I think I’m pregnant” to “I am pregnant.” Anybody else would have to ...
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Cooking is my forte, but what if I had the opportunity to have somebody come into my house and fix the problem I have with organizing, would I do it? I don’t think so. I could easily say that I would not be able to live with me, being as disorganized as I am, but to ask me to change that, would get below my nerves. I know how to organize as well as the next person, but the way I like to look at it is, I choose to spend my time doing other things. ...
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This week Kelie and I are going to poke our noses into Trenesa’s house–she’s a high powered executive with a high powered schedule who wants to eat dinner with her family. If I asked the rest of you: “Who else out there has to be superwoman to get the whole job (work, family, food shopping, cleaning, cute clothes or any clothes really, exercise, read the paper or a memo) done?” I’ll bet 98% would raise your hands, and the other two percent would agree if you could, but you’re sleeping on the job from lack of rest.
Trenesa needs help figuring ...
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I have fallen in love with a tiny little bundle, and I have been using it like some girls use French perfume–nobody knows what it is, but everybody wants to know who just walked in the room.
In the same old mix of leeks and potatoes, I add the tiniest stalk from the inside of the celery–no bigger than my pinky, a sprig of thyme, a sprig of flat leaf parsley, and a bay leaf, and in 20 minutes, I don’t want to be anywhere, but with that soup and a spoon. Last night, just as the potatoes were nearing tender, ...
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http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/travel/02weekend.html
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It’s all about the feeling.
When you walk into the new Jacques Torres at Chelsea Market, the first thing you come to is the side of the espresso machine which takes your mind right to hot and delicious, which takes you to hot, delicious and chocolate. Jackpot. The barista was taking a moment’s pause and was leaning up against the counter. I started to ask him if he did shots of hot chocolate, and as he was pointing to the espresso cups, about to say something, another person working the counter, turned from the person she was speaking ...
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Did she cook or didn’t she cook, on Dinner Confidential.
http://www.youtube.com/DinnerConfidential
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I’m practicing being a vegetarian again for our next show.
In the Tiger Milk 70’s my mother decided that white flour, white sugar, all red meat, and poultry were no longer welcome in our home. In the bat of an eye, no more Hamburger Fridays, Twinkies, Ring Dings, Pop Tarts, Spare Ribs or Chicken and Dumplings. We couldn’t believe it. If there had been such a thing as Sugar and Meat Protective Services, we would have called them. Kids at school who had never felt for me before, felt for me. “What do you eat”, ...
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There is something very magical about a bite of something. It is the seduction of a stolen kiss. Or the step onto the only stone between you and the other bank of a rushing stream. It is a day so full of life, that the essence of it lasts forever.
This is the opportunity and challenge of a cupcake.
In a single creased paper no bigger than a silver dollar can be tender crumbs of the memory of a birthday in yellow cake covered with chocolate and showered with a kaleidoscope of color. You could give Fall to someone in six chews ...
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It makes sense that Romesco would come from Catalonia, a corner of Spain that has a firey history of not wanting to be part of Spain at all. A Romesco sauce doesn’t blend in, it stands out. It says WAKE UP and LIVE A LITTLE! It’s snowing like crazy outside which puts me off making today the day that I conquer the world, so I’m making Romesco instead. Hopefully you’ll have some ancho chiles in your pantry so you can make some too. Start with 5 chiles–they come completely dried out and need to be soaked in warm water for ...
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There is a little magazine published in my neck of the city, that I really like. It is all about–food. I sent off an idea to this magazine that Kelie and I had, about us penning a column in an Ann Landers advice style, of How to Make eating a Home Cooked Dinner a Regular Reality. Kelie has worked as a writer for Fairchild Publishing so she is a no brainer for writing an article. The problem is Moi.
In my initial contact with the editor I included fun facts like, I am a cook, I write a blog, and I ...
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If you put a platter of these on the Valentine’s Day table with a bunch of hearts that you cut out from yesterday’s newspaper sprinkled everywhere like confetti, you are looking at huge rewards for very little cash.
Ingredient List:
1 dark chocolate bar that you would love to eat
1 can Hershey’s cocoa
vegetable oil
baking soda
a little leftover milk
a little leftover coffee or yogurt
vanilla (if you have it)
plain sugar
plain flour
half pint heavy cream
Mix together and then sift onto a piece of wax paper: 1 cup sugar, 1/3 cup of cocoa, 1 ...
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The Challenge: Get Samantha to cook more than just pasta and jarred sauce. A body needs protein and vegetables
(even at 19 years old.) Click below to see Faye cook it up.
Click to Play
Faye cooks it up for Samantha.
Here is the letter that we sent with The Grocery List and Recipes:
Hi,
Buy all of the ingredients and see what you are inspired to make. ...
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My friend Rebecca–sharp as a tack–noticed the scones on the table in “Samantha’s List.” I had four lasagnas in the oven that morning for a 10 o’clock pick up and if the oven is already on, may as well get some scones in there for breakfast and ready for the camera at 10:30. It’s amazing what you can get done before the sun gets up. I had sheets of noodles rolled out and hanging by the window, eggplants and peppers roasted, baby leaves of spinach rinsed and waiting, parmesan grated, a marinara sauce on the front ...
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Click to Play
Kelie and Faye try to figure out how to inspire Samantha to cook more than pasta and jarred sauce at college.
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Kelie and are spent yesterday trying to come up with a list of what to make for her daughter Samantha, who is away at college and has a daily diet of pasta and sauce. I mean, we came up with a list of what Samantha could make–all by herself.
We started with what Samantha likes; now is not the time to ask her to try new foods–maybe later. She likes carrots, peas, sausage, salad as long as it has a lot of stuff in it, pasta, eggs and cheese. She doesn’t like soup, broccoli, potatoes, ...
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The average day of my neighbor Olga in Italy: rise at 6, put on about four layers of clothes, including hand knit stockings and sweaters, then head over to the bar on the other side of the fountain in the piazza for about one measured tablespoon of espresso with about 4 miniature teaspoons of sugar stirred in. Squish into the car the size of a lost button with husband and various pieces of farm equipment and drive up the hill, over Pien di Marte and down to Corgna. Feed the cows, find the sheep, round them up, feed the lambs, ...
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Mama is tired. I have stooped to reposting. This is from January, 2007. Try it–you’ll like it.
Pizza, Pizza
The first time somebody kissed me, I thought, “I don’t get it. Why in the good Lord’s name, would anyone want anyone to do that?” A smash of lips, near suffocation and then a pat on the shoulder. Then a year later, the goalie of the soccer team took me completely by surprise and kissed me at a Halloween party, and my feelings changed. I understood how a mere kiss can ...
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My mother had a full time job, four kids and a pressure cooker which sound like a winning combination except that when you come home from a full time job and four kids enter your cellular structure and you haven’t had enough sleep since you gave birth, it is a challenge to remember that in the directions for the pressure cooker it says something like “Never use for pea soup.” And then in finer, meaner print: “Your walls and your ceiling will remind you of the pea soup, forever.” I remember three separate incidents of our walls wearing pea soup, ...
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From the minute Ferdinand was born, I have been consumed with What Ferdinand Eats and Is Ferdinand Eating Enough? To say, “Hey, don’t worry about it” is ridiculous. It’s akin to saying, “Your baby will float” to a mother in a windstorm, in a dinghy, in the middle of the ocean. Even being in the privileged position of having a grocery store and enough money to buy the groceries, can leave you unable to sleep. Out of your grasp and in the clutches of a school cafeteria or grandmother, the child’s main food group can easily become air or chocolate ...
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And how long are you responsible? WATCH THE NEWEST DINNER CONFIDENTIAL EPISODE
AND LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! DINNER CONFIDENTIAL
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Menus from this weeks (work) parties:
Party 1:
started with a platter of little tastes: medjool dates, clementines, shaved fennel with olive oil and lemon, radishes with a dish of French sea salt and almonds
teeny first course: the red grapes with fresh tarragon and ricotta salata with a little olive oil and salt
first course: Linguni with lemon zest, fried parsley, garlic, basil and toasted breadcrumbs
main course: seared chicken marinated in dijon, lemon, parsley, thyme, garlic and olive oil with tomato confit, slow cooked fennel puree, and a toss of roasted fingerling potatoes, carrots and leeks
salad: zucchini pappardelle (raw zucchini sliced thinly lengthwise) ...
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Not so nice. It reminds me of when Ferdinand and I get really mad at each other about something and the only thing I can think of is to say “Ferd, we are stuck and we have got to change the direction.” We either hit the “love” button on a stuffed lion that he has which starts the tune “I love you babe” going which gets anybody’s head bobbing and automatically feeling more relaxed, or if that doesn’t work, we walk around the block.
It’s all about distraction.
Try a teeny tiny plate of it. ...
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I got up from my desk yesterday to make lunch and as is usual, I ate while I was looking in the fridge. Nicoise olives with fennel fronds and lemon zest; could have been some parsley leaves in there as well. I was moved to sing. SIT DOWN GIRL, I THINK I LOVE YOU; NO STAND UP GIRL AND SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT!
Food gets me all worked up. I got the frying pan going and threw in a good spill of olive oil and chopped shallot with slivered garlic and few leaves of parsley along with a sprig of ...
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You know about eating your vegetables. You love fruit. Your middle name is broccoli. And if it’s not fresh, you don’t want to know about it.
Okay. That’s all right. I like it. All I’m saying is do you Walk the Walk or do you just Talk the Talk? There is a very vocal and visible part of America who are holding onto their half pound hamburgers and then it goes a little misty about which the group the rest us of stand in. There is a group out there who know what’s good for them and they have cookbooks ...
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My grandmother died the day after Christmas at my mom’s house. She was the kind of grandmother that if you were given the chance to win the Big Prize, and you had to choose between Door number 1, Door number 2 or Door number 3, and you chose Door 3 and there she was you’d be screaming YES!!! YES!!! and you would be jumping up and down and you would be crying and laughing and your whole family would be running up to the stage to jump up and down with you and the balloons would be flying around ...
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I just want love in a bowl. I want healing in a spoon. I want all my vitamins in a single dish supper. You can’t beat Ribollita for this. Don’t pay any attention to the name which is anything but appetizing and will only make you feel like a geriatric before your time. (ribollita=reboiled). You will need a few teeth to eat my version, but if you are missing them, you could just puree the lot and be sure that the bread is fully soaked with the liquid before digging in.
...
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This morning’s paper has left me heartbroken. Hospital patients are lying in the grass. Those left living are wandering the streets. There is no home left to go to or dinner to eat.
Call an organization that you know is legitimate and has the ability to get to Haiti to help immediately. I chose Doctors without Borders. 87% of the donation goes directly to those in need, and Doctors without Borders is already there.
Medecins Sans Frontiers
I am going to make some red beans and rice to keep the people of Haiti with me–if I could I would ...
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Last night on the phone, my girlfriend told me that she volunteered to sell snacks at the high school to raise money. She suggested clementines and bananas. The event organizer said, “I don’t think that’s going to work. I don’t think they are going to buy fruit.”
“They are definitely not going to buy it if it’s not offered.” my girlfriend said, and brought along a whole bucket of clementines and conviction to the cafeteria, and sure enough they weren’t that popular. One girl had already spent 50 cents and was looking for something else to round out her dollar. “These ...
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