The afternoon before the evening I invited some friends over to eat this lasagna, I attended a panel of magazine editors. One editor, from an edgy, bad-ass magazine, was talking about how he loved to host dinner parties for friends, in response to a question I’d asked. He listed the main dishes he liked to […]

On weekday mornings, I compose my outfit from bed. Like Cher Horowitz on her ’90s fashion computer gadget, I scroll through my wardrobe–paltry, compared to Cher’s–in my head. That way, instead of trying on skirts and pants and shirts and then shedding them in piles on the floor when I hate the outfit I’ve put […]

Look, I’ve always been in the Super Bowl-watching game for the food. A few weeks ago, I watched a playoff game with friends. But I didn’t really watch: I ate a burrito and talked to my friends. And I played a few games on my phone when the real football fans were watching. Burritos aside, […]

A few weeks ago, I went to visit my sister in Pennsylvania for snowy hikes, quality time with siblings and puppies, and garlic knots. Just before we toured the Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville, we stopped at the local pizzeria, which was bustling with Friday lunchers. I asked for my slice, then tacked a garlic knot […]

The storm is almost here. All day, I’ve been listless. Which is a crazy thing to feel when your favorite way to spend a Sunday is in your sweats, with your husband, cooking, blogging, and watching Downton Abbey – and then Sunday seeps gloriously over into Monday. Most weekend days that I don’t have to […]

For a long time, I thought a lot about finger food. I ran these huge afternoon teas during my senior year in college where I cooked for 400 hungry students. The two days leading up to the events were blurs of grocery trips and cookie dough and clean-up. In the weeks between events, I’d meditate […]

You don’t mind if I stick some candles in this tagine, right? Today’s my birthday – the big 28! There’s lots going on to celebrate: these, dinner out, and this cake from the weekend. But now that I’m in my late twenties (sheeeesh), I figured I should be practical about this whole birthday thing. Instead […]

My elbow is the color of baba ganoush. After I slipped on the stairs leaving a friend’s dinner party last week (thanks to tread-less sandals and tiredness from an epic day at Alt Summit) and landed on my arm, my poor right elbow turned the ugly purplish gray of baba ganoush. I’m not afraid to […]

In spite of the hordes that line up at our city’s many fine brunch joints at 11:30am every weekend, I don’t think I am the only non-bruncher out there. I got the feeling that lots of people are starting to scoff at the meal-turned-phenomenon from this year’s Time Out New York guide to brunching, which […]

FUN FINGER FOOD: BBQ Chicken Satays; Herb and Lemon Buttered Popcorn; Heirloom Tomato Brushetta; Sweet Pea and Crab Crostini It’s a sad truth of NYC life is that hardly anyone just drops by, at least not without a phone call, email, g-chat, or text. It’d be nice if people did, but friends live all over […]