The Foodlife Journey: The Friendly Lunchbox

Posted by    |  September 29, 2010  |  Filed under: Foodlife, Home

When it comes to the contents of your kid’s lunchbox you can break (almost) all the rules. Don’t try so hard. Stop wringing your hands about your lack of creativity. If your kid eats a PBJ every day for the next five years, it’s okay. Lunch is the meal at which you can apply your impulses to short-order cook. Can you believe it? Has the moving stress gotten to me and I’ve finally gone mad?! Read more



Sweat the Small Stuff

Posted by    |  September 28, 2010  |  Filed under: Home, Technique

Over the past few months, I’ve written a few recipes that call for the cook to “sweat” the aromatics. I don’t mean perspiring over a hot pan into your food.

“Sweating” is a technique for cooking aromatics. Aromatics are ingredients whose purpose it is to create flavor upon which a dish can be built. With French cooking, those aromatics are often some form of mirepoix. For Italian, it’s a soffrito. Read more



Culinary Xanax

Posted by    |  September 18, 2010  |  Filed under: Foodlife, Home


I now have one more important criterion for a new house: ambient light quality. We're just off a four-day whirlwind house hunting trip in Westchester County, NY. I shot this to test the quality of light on the range top. This little cup with cotton-tipped swabs was just sitting on the counter. Pretty, eh? It's a promising backdrop for the Ready Prep Go! kitchen of the future.

 

I am in the middle of another relocation- the fourth in 10 years. We’re headed back to New York- whenever we get there. The emotional and practical chaos has been crushing. House-hunting trips, home showings and endless to-do lists have squeezed home cooking out of my life. Exercise time has become unpredictable. I’ve imbibed too many of my daily allotment of calories from stemware. Read more