Was it the stuffing? The mashed potatoes? No. I’ve realized my favorite parts of Thanksgiving are not so specific as one dish on the table. As Tom and I begin to establish our own Thanksgiving traditions, I’ve become attached to many of them. This was our firstofficialthanksgivingasamarriedcouple and we were lucky to enjoy it with […]

Although ostensibly a day devoted to giving thanks, Thanksgiving for many descends into gluttony – or at the very least eating a bit too much food that is a bit too rich. Whatever effect this might have on one’s soul, it definitely takes a toll on the body, as the pending post-thanksgiving naps will attest. […]

As much as I love a good risotto, what I’m really hoping for when I serve one is that people won’t want to finish the whole dish. I wasn’t after a risotto lunch; I wanted to try an idea I’d had in mind for a while. Probably the best thing to do with day (or […]

Local food mega-site the Heavy Table recently stirred up controversy by deeming, after conducting a metro-wide tasting, the Bruegger’s bagel to be the best bagel in the Twin Cities. To have a giant national chain beat out all the local options was understandably upsetting to the many people whose culinary ethos is built around eating […]

Why is it always the smallest dishes that require the most work? Take these two-bite-sized steamed buns: for all the time I spent making them, I probably could have barbecued a whole cow. Twice. The work began two weeks ago when I started my kim chi, the Korean fermented cabbage pickle. Beyond ingredients I had […]

Some people have their broccoli-cheese casserole; I have this: penne with blue cheese and broccoli. It’s filled with the same comforting overload of starch and gooey cheese but has an added element of danger provided by tangy blue cheese and generously-applied red pepper flakes. I’ve been making this dish for years – I distinctly remember […]

It’s almost election day, a time for Americans to exercise the most basic mechanism of self-government by choosing our rulers. Nobody can have failed to notice that the stakes are high this year. Issues that once elicited some kind of consensus have become the source of bitter disagreements. As a food blogger, I have a […]

I wish I could tell you that what follows is my grandmother’s world-famous recipe for beef tongue, a treasured family secret passed down through the generations. It is not. While I expect my grandma has a beef tongue recipe – she grew up on a farm, after all – that recipe would never have made […]

For someone who basically refused the meal as a teenager, as an adult breakfast has captured a special place in my heart. Part of the reason for this must be my discovery that breakfast needn’t involve sickly sweet grains swimming in milk – I prefer butter and salt to jam and honey on the breakfast […]

One of the greatest pleasures the table offers is a leisurely couple of hours spent snacking over wine: embracing the Spanish concept picar – just a nibble here and there. For something so delicious and satisfying, a dinner of tapas is also easy to prepare: we already had a chorizo in the fridge from Olympic Provisions in […]