As of January 2012, I am no longer writing Cooking After Five, but have folded its archives into my new website, Eat This Poem. Please scroll through if youre looking for a past recipe or just someth...
Theres a scene in the fourth season of Mad Men where Sterling Cooper Draper Price just lost its biggest client and the agency is floundering, so Peggy marches into Dons office and gives...
I first went to Pizzeria Mozza for lunch in 2009. It was my birthday, and a group of colleagues decided to make the drive from Century City to Hollywood for the occasion. Since then, Nancy Silvertons...
What is it about this time of year that makes us want to start fresh? Its not the same back to school feeling of September, either. Its not new pencils and homework assignments and blank notebooks, b...
Its a somewhat sorrowful beginning, so I apologize I couldnt start the year with a more sprightly piece. There is, however, beauty in the sadness, so much in fact, that the speaker asks the question ...
If were being technical, literature came before food, at least in my world. Ive been writing since I learned how to hold a pen. I read voraciously. I had a creative writing teacher in high school tha...
I was one of those teenagers that thought coffee cake actually tasted like coffee, and since I didnt like coffee yet, I presumed I didnt like coffee cake. It was a sad, sad time. One night I was hang...
The truth is, breakfast is simpler than I originally thought. Im used to the 30-second approach: remove a bowl from the pantry, fill it with cereal, splash milk over the top, eat. Aside from the no-c...
Its that time of year. Here, a look back at my favorite CAF recipes from 2011. JANUARY | Red Lentil Soup This soup was all about simplicity. Minimal ingredients, simple preparation and the beauty of ...
By the time Christmas comes along, Ive had my share of cookies, pies and late-night sweets. More than my share, in fact. I usually give baked goods away, but then I made an amazing batch of cookies, ...
Between cookie exchange parties, baking for school and office parties and whipping up dessert for yourself or gifts for neighbors, there are many sweets vying for your attention this season. These co...
The last time I made this dish was in 2008 after reading Molly Wizenbergs Bon Appetit column. I posted a lone photograph with a link, and offered very little insight into the finished dish. It was ti...
When Andrew and I celebrated our anniversary this spring, we spent a few days in Santa Barbara. Every morning we walked to Jeannines in Montecito, our favorite breakfast spot, to linger over a latte....
This year, it seemed that no food magazine or dining section article discussing side dish trends or offering tips for the juiciest turkey could leave out what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers. But I...
Last year I read Melissa Clarks cookbook cover to cover and marked with red tabs all the recipes I wanted to try. Among them was this cornbread. Not just any cornbread, but nutty, brown butter cornbr...
Since launching The Meal Planner in September, many of you have written to tell me how much you love it. Im so glad to hear such positive feedback, because I designed it to help you simplify your coo...
The color of buckwheat flour has tinges of gray, so when youre mixing the flours with the wet ingredients, your bowl appears to be filled with asphalt instead of batter. Its sort of beautiful in that...
I conducted a little experiment with these pictures. You see, I cook after 5 pm most nights and by the time we sit down for a meal, the light is gone. Since I havent set up an indoor studio, I accept...
Very early in our marriage, Andrew was working late one night so I made myself stuffed peppers for dinner. No big deal, right? At the time, he was disappointed he was to have missed out on something ...
I like cooking again. Thank goodness. It took a couple of months to adjust to having Emma around, but I think were starting to understand each other. Ive discussed this before, but after bringing her...
I recently undertook the enormous challenge of cleaning out my pantry. I found dried cranberries from 2009, hazelnuts likely from the same year and a box of Sprinkles red velvet cupcake mix so...
If you were hanging around the food blogosphere or Twitter universe anytime in October, you may have noticed fellow bloggers committing to eat unprocessed for 31 days. While I didnt participate in th...
Im starting to lose the light, literally. And each year when this happens, I dont always get the shots I want for all the good things Im making. The sun sets and the moment has passed, but that doesn...
I used to be one of those people that was adamant about my dislike for dill. It just wasnt my herb. Ina Garten had a phase where she added it to just about everything and I always omitted it because ...
My evenings have changed a bit. Ever since welcoming an almost three-month-old puppy into our home, dinner has become less of a special event and more of a chore to fit in between taking Emma outside...
Before I introduce the true purpose of this post, I wanted to share a few things that have been on my mind lately. Recently Ive been thinking about appetite. Not only in the sense of hunger and the p...
The November issue of Food & Wine stopped me in my tracks last week. First, there was a turkey on the cover, reminding me that Thanksgiving (and all the good food that goes along with it) is fast...
I imagine we all have moments where our cooking acumen is tested, when we are forced to rely on instinct and practice instead of recipes from trusty blogs or cookbooks. This is where I stood one Sund...
More figs! I knew this appetizer would elicit some excitement, but I didnt expect five bees to fly straight into my kitchen as I simmered the honey on the stove. They entered through the laundry room...
I realized it had been too long since I baked anything and was itching to pull a warm cake out of the oven. My only obstacle was trying to determine just what exactly it was I needed to make. There a...
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