As we usher in the season of more cooking and eating and gathering (in small, socially distant groups, of course), I bring you cookbooks. Here are a few favorites for everyday or special cooking. And welcome gifts for your holiday host/hostess—or yourself! The Well Plated Cookbook by Erin Clarke With her cookbook’s beautiful and warm recipe commentary, Erin comes across as a girlfriend. The friend who wants us to succeed
“I lost my wife a few months ago,” said the polite, older gentleman. “She always made the Thanksgiving turkey, and I want to cook a nice dinner this year. As a gift to my kids, in memory of their mom and my wife. But I need some help.” While the caller took notes, Bill Nolan walked the man through the fine points of cooking a perfect Thanksgiving turkey. Step by
As he leaned against the door of a New York City subway train, my adult son fainted. Like a giant redwood tree, he toppled over, his head crashing against the edge of a hard plastic seat. Out cold, he lay on the filthy floor, blood gushing from his eye. A couple of good citizens called an ambulance, maneuvered him off the train, and waited with him until help arrived. He
Mary Laura Philpott gets me. Or at least a big part of who I am. The me who loses my car in the grocery store parking lot, bristles at misspelled words in emails I receive, and counts the steps as I climb the stairs. In her national bestselling memoir, I Miss You When I Blink, Mary Laura comes across as your best girlfriend or younger sister. Covering topics like reinvention and
I dread this weekend. Sunday morning, after we turn our clocks back, I will sink into my annual semi-funk. Next week, with darkness arriving before the workday ends, I’ll be ready for dinner at 5 and bed at 7:30. Not long ago, I read an article about the folks in Tromso, Norway. The sun in this urban area, 217 miles north of the Arctic Circle, doesn’t rise—at all—for two months.
Colorful trees, crunchy leaves, pretty mums on doorsteps… When the calendar flips to October, I turn to all-things pumpkin. I love the cozy and delicious smells of cinnamon and nutmeg and vanilla warming up our home. Even if it is still 80 degrees outside! Here are five of my favorites. Pumpkin treats from recipe developers who come up with wonderful food combinations again and again. Enjoy – and I’d love
The American Cancer Society estimates ovarian cancer will strike more than 22,000 women in the United States this year. And 14,000 of those women will die. Ovarian cancer is difficult to detect in its early stages and challenging to treat once the disease spreads. According to Marci Houff, “Every woman in the world is at risk of developing ovarian cancer, and a great majority don’t know much about it.” Including
At the height of the pandemic, when grocery staples were in short supply, my husband returned home from the market. He plopped three packages of chicken wings on the kitchen counter. “They were out of breasts and thighs. It was wings or nothing,” my husband said. But how do you make chicken wings into…. dinner? Ashlea Carver Adams, and her foodie site – All the Healthy Things – to the
“Who will read this? I don’t think people care that much about the royal family.” A devastated Katharine McGee took the manuscript from her agent and put it aside. For six years. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. This is a good idea,” she thought. In the meantime, the Princeton/Stanford grad plugged away at her day job in the publishing world. As an assistant editor, she “developed and edited
In my attempts to achieve gold-star grandmother status, I’m always on the lookout for ideas to inspire teachable moments. And, not trying to rush the fall season, I can’t wait to introduce you to a new feathered friend with a good lesson behind him. My granddaughter may be a bit young this year, but Mr. Turkey on the Table is all set to head west for his first Thanksgiving in
On March 18, 1990, around 2 am, two police officers knocked at the employee entrance of the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. A security guard, breaking protocol, opened the door and allowed them to enter. The fake police officers handcuffed and bound two guards and made off with thirteen pieces of art from the beloved museum in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood. The crime remains unsolved, and none of the nine paintings or
Ashley Campbell is a stickler for thank you notes. “When I was growing up, if a relative sent a gift and didn’t receive a written thank you, everyone in the family heard about it,” laughs Ashley. She watched her perfectionist daughter struggle with the cute kids’ stationery Ashley had on hand at home. Dear Grandma and Grandpa ran off the page with the traditional note cards. “Kids in kindergarten and
I can’t think of anything I enjoy more than walking the beaches of 30A, the pristine stretch of coastline in Northwest Florida’s Walton County. When surrounded by waves and sandpipers and the rising sun, I’m in my happy place. If I’m lucky, as I sip my morning coffee, a dolphin or two will swim by to greet me. And then, I know, it will be a good day. Besides soft
A few years ago, while conducting research for his first book, RJ Jacobs reached out to a virologist at Vanderbilt University. She and her lab colleagues studied viruses and the diseases they caused. “We’re currently investigating a strain of the coronavirus,” she said during their interview. RJ, and most of the rest of the world, had never heard of it. And Then You Were Gone arrived in bookstores last March,
In a world with disturbing news coming at us from every angle, Evelyn Henson’s art makes me smile. And don’t we all need a little happy these days? Loaded with bright colors, delightful animals, and spirited landscapes, her colorful art is “meant to brighten your day and bring sunshine to your home for years to come.” Mission accomplished. As I browse the splashy paintings and mugs and beach towels and
I love pretty clothes and shoes, but I don’t have the budget for Chanel or Prada or Gucci. I’d only given The RealReal website, and its high-end apparel, a cursory glance. “Take a harder look,” Julie Wainwright encouraged me. “Not all our brands are luxury, and I bet we recirculate some of the lines you do buy.” Julie hasn’t changed. The 62-year-old is still energetic, confident, beautiful, and whip-smart. And
A well-meaning friend, bearing a box of individually-wrapped cookies and cakes, knocked on Bea Johnson’s door. “Are you kidding me?” grumbled Bea after the guest left. “I guess people don’t know what our zero-waste lifestyle means.” Before I spoke with Bea, I didn’t either. I run errands with my fabric bags and reusable water bottle, plunk our wine bottles into our glass recycling bin, and switched to cloth napkins for
At an Aspen dinner party, martini in hand, Chris Crowley chatted with an Exercise Science and Muscle Physiology researcher. This PhD showed Chris a graph of normal aging patterns in our country. According to the data, after age fifty, people tend to gain weight, move slower, and develop aches and pain. One man represented on the chart seemed to hold steady. He didn’t slide downhill as he grew older. The
After a weekend hike in the grassy, woody area near their northern California home, Wendy Adams’ twin daughters know the drill. The 11-year-olds head straight to the laundry room, not flinching as Wendy inspects them from hair to toes. Once mom gives the ok, the girls jump in the shower and rinse off. “Hyper-vigilant,” some might say. But Wendy’s learned the hard way. Found in 65 countries and throughout the
When I seldom leave the house and yearn to see my adult kids, a routine comforts me. During quarantine, my husband and I wrap up our days and meet on the couch for a drink and the evening news. A little after 5 pm, Reed Clapp comes into our living room with his inventive bag of ideas for kids and parents and grandparents. Reed, or Mr. Clapp as he’s known
