I have a friend who lives in Noank and she asked me some time ago why she should keep her large Cuisinart. I literally blanched. There are two reasons to keep your kitchen counter appliances. One, of course, is because you use them fairly often enough that you want them close to you. The second is perhaps you adore them, as I love mine, and consider them -- if not as pets … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Summer Means Picnics; Picnics Mean Cole Slaw & Potato Salad! Lee Shares Favorite Recipes for Both
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A la Carte: Can’t Imagine Grilling a Salad? Then Try This, But Don’t Forget Blue Cheese & Basil!
When I was little, my mother used to call me Sarah Bernhardt. I had no idea who Sarah Bernhardt and she told me Bernhardt was a famous actress in the early 1900s. I think today my mom would call me a drama queen. She also suggested I not wish my life away, that someday I would wish I could get those years back. I thought about this again as I was reading my newest food … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Can’t Imagine Grilling a Salad? Then Try This, But Don’t Forget Blue Cheese & Basil!
A la Carte: How Do I Love Lemons? Let me Count the Ways …
Over the past few weeks there have been so many holidays-- Easter Sunday, Passover and Ramadan-- and all had something to do with food. For Lent, we gave up something we wanted (often sweet stuff) for 40 days and had to have fish on Fridays; for Passover nothing leavening (desserts made with matzoh and matzoh for breakfast, lunch and dinner for eight days) and, at Ramadan, … [Read more...] about A la Carte: How Do I Love Lemons? Let me Count the Ways …
A la Carte: Gingerbread Cake is Super for Sharing
What a weekend! The weather was gorgeous so I thought I would go to Lowe’s and get some flowers to plant in my tiny front yard and some flowering plants to place where my bird feeders help my feathered friends during the fall, winters and early spring. But Monday morning at 4:30 a.m., as I drove my daughter to catch her plane back to sunny California, I had to use the … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Gingerbread Cake is Super for Sharing
A la Carte: Ricotta Cheese Pie Makes a Luscious Dessert for any Easter … or Passover!
Editor's Note: This is a column that our dear friend Lee White wrote for us in April 2016, that somehow we failed to publish (our apologies) -- but the recipe is as good today as it was then! This will be an odd Easter weekend for me. On Good Friday, I will pick up my Newbury, Mass., daughter-in-law. Nancy and second-youngest granddaughter, then drive up to Kennebunkport … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Ricotta Cheese Pie Makes a Luscious Dessert for any Easter … or Passover!
A la Carte: Spring is Here … Celebrate with Spring Minestrone
I have spent the past few weeks with friends, first with the Oscars (yes, we all saw the slap and, with all the brilliant actors and crew from the amazing movie, CODA, they knew what Will Smith was saying. I myself don’t read lips, but I knew what he was saying.) The following Friday, we watched UConn ladies in the Final Four. On Sunday, I watched them alone. … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Spring is Here … Celebrate with Spring Minestrone
A la Carte: Thinking Lent (or Passover or Easter)? Then Think Fish
Oh my, it may be April 1, as you are reading this. But this column is not about April Fool’s Day but rather two important holidays, which follow in just a couple of weeks—Easter and Passover. Because the two holidays follow different calendars, rarely do Easter weekend (including Good Friday, Easter Sunday or, that new holiday, Easter Monday) and Passover coincide. As … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Thinking Lent (or Passover or Easter)? Then Think Fish
A la Carte: Thinking of Those Southern Warmer Climes? Creole Daube Will Take You There
Finally, inflation has really got to me at the supermarket. I so wanted to make a pot roast and saw a lovely fat chuck roast. Before I put it into my cart, I saw the price: $31. I looked again. Yup, $31 for a piece of meat that requires 3 to 4 hours of cooking before it has the perfect chew. I left that market with chicken. The next day I tried another market. That … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Thinking of Those Southern Warmer Climes? Creole Daube Will Take You There
A la Carte: It’s St. Patrick’s Day, So It Must Be Time For Corned Beef & Cabbage!
I had such a fun weekend watching the UConn women play basketball at Mohegan Sun. And as I write this column, the final game (UConn vs Villanova) is tonight. We had only one loss in the Big East, and that was to Villanova. I have my fingers crossed. Friends Sue and Karen had extra tickets for me to see all the games. Frosting on the cake was the ability to see most of our … [Read more...] about A la Carte: It’s St. Patrick’s Day, So It Must Be Time For Corned Beef & Cabbage!
A la Carte: Twice the Usual Feast Today:- First Maple Gooey Butter Cake, Then Whole Coconut Curry Chicken
Column #1 All winter, friends have been wailing about winter. When will it be over? Will summer ever come? Others complain about the cold. Some have slipped on ice. For me, winter on the Connecticut shoreline isn’t bad. I grew up in Troy, N.Y. Went to college in Ithaca and Rochester, and lived and worked in Worcester, Mass. Even the isolation during the pandemic … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Twice the Usual Feast Today:- First Maple Gooey Butter Cake, Then Whole Coconut Curry Chicken
A la Carte: This Five-Way Chili is All The Way From Cincinnati!
I get excited when I see old recipes in my computer and haven’t made in decades. Friends asked if I could make dessert for 12. I wanted it to be yummy and attractive and decided on a flan, or custard. I’d made it often as a dish but not in years. When you take it out of the oven and turn it onto a slightly oval plate, the caramel waves over and stays that way for … [Read more...] about A la Carte: This Five-Way Chili is All The Way From Cincinnati!
A la Carte: Caramelized Coconut Budino Makes a Luscious Dessert
I am going to a dinner party next Saturday evening in Madison. There may be 12 people. I may have met half of them. Most are flying in to see their daughter and son-in-law in their new house into which they moved just three weeks ago. The last time I moved, it took me months to unpack boxes, never mind ready to host a dinner party in less than a month. And many of the … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Caramelized Coconut Budino Makes a Luscious Dessert
A la Carte: A Soup for Snow? Try This Intriguing Sweet Potato-Coconut Soup
What do you do on a Sunday when there is nearly three feet of snow on your front door? Obviously, the meteorologists were right this time ... Is there enough food in my house to keep me a day or two from starvation? Sure, there is. But what would I be in the mood for? Yes, my friends, I had stocked up on produce with what I wanted to cook: three different soups. … [Read more...] about A la Carte: A Soup for Snow? Try This Intriguing Sweet Potato-Coconut Soup
A la Carte: Lemony Shrimp and Risotto Makes a Luscious Entrée
I used to wonder about people who won’t go out if the weather is crappy, especially if it is snowing. I grew up where there is snow most days from mid-November until the end of March. I don’t remember having any snow days, but maybe we did. In any case, I never saw a school bus and, to this day, I have never been on one. From kindergarten until junior high school (now … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Lemony Shrimp and Risotto Makes a Luscious Entrée
A la Carte: Winter Vegetable Soup for a Wintry Day
Over the years, I learned a lot about buying cookbooks. Never mind the first one I ever had: it was a cookbook that was part of the first (and only) encyclopedia we order for our daughter. I bet no one under fifty years old has ever bought one. My second was Craig Claiborne’s New York Times Cookbook. It was one hell of a cookbook and still is. I learned to cook from that … [Read more...] about A la Carte: Winter Vegetable Soup for a Wintry Day