Posts categorized as Food

They call it molded meals. It’s a form of fruit salad. It can be savory or sweet. Some of the recipes include mayonnaise. Jello was a thing. A very fashionable, opulent food thing in the Victorian era. Jello had a mid-twentieth-century revival when the Jell-O company changed their advertisements from black and white, to color lithographs. Jello is color. Today, the only place I can think of that serves Jello is the hospital. And then there’s Bill Cosby. But to my delight, there are others like me. I found them […]

Dear gardeners – we made it. Spring is upon us! I know you can feel it. The need to get your fingers in the soil. The want of the sun on your back. And the warm breeze on your skin, that carries the fragrance of spring. Gardens at Wave Hill This is our busiest time of year – pruning, clearing organics, and seeds, sourcing compost, and I’d argue the best part, planning out our gardens for the season. Last summer I visited Wave Hill with my friend Winnie – a […]

Three days of prep for three hours of perfezione. I learned how to throw a party by watching and helping my mother. We go to extremes. We indulge… we’re Italian. Too much food is all part of it. You need abundance so people feel comfortable around the table. You can’t have “Look at me, look at you.” This phrase I’ve lived with my whole life. Grandpa Ralph coined it. Here’s the best way I can explain… There are a few morsels left on the table. No one wants to be […]

Most of my choices are based on aesthetics, not practicality. Look at this cover design! The book also matches my cat. A few weeks back I wrote that I’ve pulled my cookbooks off the shelf, using them for recipes instead of the stupid internet. This week, I chose Better Homes and Gardens, New Cookbook.  Note, “new” means published in 1981. That’s my birth year and all the more reason to try it out.  Old doesn’t mean irrelevant. After flipping though, I firmly concluded this is a fantastic book. The recipes […]

“In Tuscany, white beans are more than just ‘the poor man’s meat’; they’re a whole way of life. – Lori Zimring De Mori, – Saveur You think Italian food, you think pasta. But us paisans know that beans are just as traditionally significant in the old country. Rome early 1500’s – enter beans by way of import from the new world. Italians took to the taste, incorporating the legume into their everyday meals. Some included, beans and escarole, minestrone, beans and gravy, pasta e fagioli, sauteed cannellini with sage drizzled […]

It’s feast or famine with freelance work. Right now… famine. For that reason, I’ve decided to go deep into organizing my home – like every draw, closet, and corner. It feels good to purge. It also feels good to know I have five whisks, three crock pots, four pizza cutters, and six very cute measuring spoon sets, among other multiples, I don’t remember buying. I’m pretty much done with the kitchen. Now I’m tackling the office. I’m going through my books with the intention of donating 20%. Alas, I’m having […]

  Gift giving is part of the holiday season – for better or for worse. My intentions are to give meaningful presents but then end up delaying because I haven’t thought of that perfect gift idea. Then I’m scrabbling. If this sounds familiar “the gift of food and drink” is a great last minute solution. Let’s get the juices flowing… fancy coffee, tea, seltzer, kombucha, wine, beer or liquor. I say fancy because I’d suggest buying higher-end. Purchase something the recipient would not often splurge on. For your friends and […]

I just returned from a family vacation to Colorado with my sisters and two nieces. The landscape of the valleys and mountains, rock formations and waterfalls was stunning. Exploring a new city is awesome and this trip gave me an opportunity to spend quality time with my nieces. The girls are 10 and 12 years old. Kids are refreshing and have a wonderful perspective that adults need to be reminded of from time to time. They see and approach the world so differently! We ate a lot! At each meal […]

By Matt Johnson Everyone has that weird obsession that not many other people grok, and mine is bodysurfing. I’ve been doing it for so long that I don’t even remember learning how, but I spent my summers sliding solo until the day I saw a half-dozen torsoless heads (board surfers have torsos) bobbing well past the end of the groin at 84th Street. I’d finally met my people: the Rockaway Beach Bodysurf Underground. I started to cry, but who could tell, what with the surf breaking over our heads and the […]

Purslane I know a great deal about foraging at this point in my gardening “career.”  But there’s always more to discover. A few weeks back, I learned of a new edible from my friend Melissa Draugsvold. We were at the Beach 91st Community Garden watering our adjacent plots. She pointed out the purslane that popped up between her lettuce crop. Purslane (also known as little hogweed, pigweed, pusley) is an annual in our garden zone 7.  This succulent can grow in sandy soil and resists drought. You’ll see it everywhere if you look […]