Paper Palate

When I was a little girl, my great-aunt used to take me to New York City a few times a year, just for the day. I remember dressing up to go shopping, balking at the revolving doors, and being amazed that the store just kept going up and up and up. I also […]

I drink pink wine.
HEY, stop that giggling. No, really, I’m serious. Pink wine isn’t funny anymore. Long the butt of oenophile jokes, pink wine got a bad rap back when I was listening to Cyndi Lauper and watching St. Elmo’s Fire, and it’s had a long road to recovery.
True, some pink wines […]

For perfect risotto, just open up the April/May issue of Fine Cooking and follow Lidia Bastianich’s recipe; experiment by adding shitake mushrooms, sausage, or even saffron (budget permitting). Plenty of people are scared of risotto, but it’s really very simple – just add your hot stock slowly and keeeep stirrrrrrrring. The long slow […]

It’s amazing how much you can learn about people simply from reading their recipes. This weeks’ Chronicle looks at the recipes created by the survivors of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, poking fun at the lack of information about quantities and the pasta boiled for 30 minutes.
The Chronicle inspired me to […]

Was anyone else a little put off by the Kitchen Couture on pages 138–139 of this month’s issue of Bon Appetit? In March, I noticed a floaty little peasant top on page 69, but thought nothing of it. Wrong. April features “[t]he hottest looks and accessories” that “work just as well in […]

This week’s Chronicle is all about eggs. Check out the recipes for Bitter Melon Omelet, Spring Asparagus and Crab Quiche, Lupa Frittata with Goat Cheese and Vegetables, Potato Tortilla, and Gruyere Omelet with Mushrooms and Shallot Confit.
As the Chronicle demonstrates, eggs are the perfect vehicle for experimentation with new flavors and cooking methods. […]

Peeps!
This weeks’ Chronicle features the newest product from JustBorn, a Peep chick encased in a hollow egg made of milk chocolate or crispy milk chocolate. I had a terrifically difficult time tracking down the elusive unhatched Peeps, but finally found a lone egg at the pharmacy a few blocks from my apartment.
Something about […]

Everybody’s talking about cupcakes. It’s nearly impossible not to notice the cupcake mania gripping the nation - Magnolia Bakery in New York’s Greenwich Village has lines out the door and around the block, and cupcake bakeries are popping up all over, including Citizen Cupcake in San Francisco’s Virgin Megastore.
This week’s Chronicle is […]

Pureed Soups – Just Follow the Formula
Pureed soups have a hearty, rich flavor without relying on cream or butter to plump them up – their thickness comes from the main ingredient, the vegetables themselves, and sometimes a starch thickener such as rice.
This week’s Chronicle features recipes for seven pureed soups: Sweet Pea & Green Garlic […]

Last weekend I was planning a meal for a crowd, and turned to the March 2006 issue of Fine Cooking for inspiration. I had a few prerequisites: I didn’t want to spend a fortune on ingredients, I needed food that could be prepared in advance, leaving me time to socialize and I wanted […]