• Make Your Own Chicken Burrito

    Make Your Own Chicken Burrito

    Running on the treadmill, it’s useful to dangle an image carrot in your brain: something you can run towards, something to look forward to, a reward for all your hard work. And last week, for me, that was definitely a chicken burrito. I was craving one, hardcore. The problem is that where we live in…

  • Food Gifts

    Food Gifts

    I really didn’t want to write any more about my birthday–two posts were enough, don’t you think?–but then there was this quasi-surprise party (I knew there was going to be a party (it was at our apartment, so we had to clean) but I didn’t know who was coming) and Craig told everyone to bring…

  • Burnt Sticky Buns

    Burnt Sticky Buns

    What’s there to say when you burn your sticky buns? It’s a pretty unkind thing to do. On a Sunday morning, you pique everyone’s interest with rumors of sticky bun making; then you roll them, pop them in the oven, and fill the apartment with a wonderful smell. And then you burn them. What kind…

  • What I Ate On My 30th Birthday

    What I Ate On My 30th Birthday

    My birthday always begins with the Angel of Food hovering over my bed and handing me a pass that says, “EAT FREELY,” which is not so much a mild suggestion, but an absolute imperative. There’s no “maybe I shouldn’t”s on my birthday–the word “shouldn’t” is verbotten, as is “mustn’t” and “oughtn’t” (is oughtn’t a word?)–my…

  • “Baked” Oatmeal Cookies with Cardamom

    “Baked” Oatmeal Cookies with Cardamom

    The title of this post is a misrepresentation: the recipe I’m about to share does not advertise the fact that it contains cardamom. In fact, the recipe–from my new favorite baking book, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking–is titled “Oatmeal Cherry Nut Cookies,” a title that doesn’t mention cardamom at all. But cardamom was what caught…

  • Squid and Leeks in Red Wine

    Squid and Leeks in Red Wine

    I’ve got a Valentine’s Day gift for you. It has a fancy French name–“Estouffade de Calmars aux Poireaux”–and it may be the most perfect thing for you to make tomorrow night as you try to seduce your Valentine. What makes it so seductive? For starters, look at the color: a deep reddish/purple, it positively screams…

  • What Makes A Great Steakhouse

    What Makes A Great Steakhouse

    1. It must be dark, like you’re underground. The consumption of red meat is such a primal, bodily act that darkness–like darkness in the bedroom–opens one up to experience pleasure with reckless abandon. 2. There must be a piano player with a bad toupee singing Neil Diamond songs or a cheesy duo of guitar player…

  • The Radicchio Salad at Franny’s

    The Radicchio Salad at Franny’s

    We all get hammered over the head so often about fresh ingredients and using the best ingredients (“Use a really good olive oil,” says The Barefoot Contessa; “I make my own toothpaste,” says Alice Waters) that sometimes it’s easy to dismiss it all as snobby nonsense. Then you go to Franny’s, which is quickly becoming…

  • Roasted Shrimp & Broccoli

    Roasted Shrimp & Broccoli

    Remember that broccoli post I posted a few months ago? The Best Broccoli of Your Life? It kind of took the world–or, rather, the web–by storm. To prove it, do a Google search for “best broccoli recipe” and marvel at the #1 result. If Google says it’s the best broccoli recipe, then it has to…

  • Patty Eats Thailand

    Patty Eats Thailand

    [Note: My friend Patty is awesome. She’s so awesome that I won’t let her go to Thailand without writing a guest post, so here it is! Thanks Patty. Oh, and check out her website: PatriciaJang.com.] After consuming untold amounts of green papaya salad, pad thai, and red curry at our local Thai restaurant haunts, Lauren…