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Holiday Cheese Board
Spark holiday cheer by creating a festive board brimming with an assortment of cheeses, charcuterie, and accompaniments both beautiful and delicious. When I make a cheese board, I start with the vintage wooden round seen here then build around the moment it will be served. Heading into New Year’s Eve, I thought about the sweetness to be wished for the months ahead, incorporating raspberry jam, deep honey, blackberries, and gorgonzola dolce, which has a buttery sweetness. Aged gouda lends its own hint of butterscotch while truffle-laced pecorino and herb-crusted salami offer bold richness. As you build a holiday cheese board, here are tips on what to include and how to…
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Cooking with Kids: A Holistic Approach to Learning
Our kitchens serve as the hub of daily life, the places where we gather and experiment, where we taste new dishes and share our stories. When you think of essential skills to teach children in the kitchen, the ability to read a recipe and execute it well may come to mind, but there are a wealth of opportunities to support growth as you cook together. Guide children toward healthy eating habits and away from self-criticism, bring vibrancy to science concepts, and certainly instill an appreciation of cooking with these tips. Share Food Stories There is a reason you are making a particular recipe with your child. Maybe you grew up…
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Kitchen Organization: How to Stock the Pantry
Cooking with fresh ingredients including seasonal vegetables and fruit can be simpler when your pantry is filled with essentials such as your favorite olive oil, seasonings, and whole grains. Whether you are stocking the kitchen in your first home or organizing the cooking staples you already have, consult this list of items that I find most useful for the home cook. Since they are not as perishable as the eggs, milk, and others stored in the refrigerator, you can use these pantry essentials over time, keeping track of expiration dates and storing them in that order. Allow your personal list to grow over time based on your preferred cuisines and…
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The Spring Kitchen: Cooking with Seasonal Vegetables and Fruit
Thanks to an early burst of spring at the market, I have been thinking about the seasonal produce soon to make its way to our tables. The dish that made its way to mine, sesame asparagus with roasted plums, was so vibrant that I was told it looked like roses and stems. With its green spears and crimson pieces of fruit, it likely will return for spring gatherings and holidays. Certainly the flavor of toasty sesame and the tangy sweetness of roasted plums is something I look forward to sharing again. As bits of spring soon will surface everywhere, here are some tips on how to make use of the…
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Cozy Winter
Whether winter brings to mind the peace of a snowy woodland or pine branches brought inside as festive decoration, this is the season of coziness. A walk through the woods is an opportunity to bundle up with chunky mittens and knits. There may be no better time to wear a fluffy pom-pom. Inside there is coziness to be found in a cup of rich hot chocolate and, for a while, the garlands and ornaments that surround us. I’ve always loved winter for the way it calls us to be a little more still, more warm, perhaps even more thoughtful about things we might take for granted in other seasons. Heading…
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