Note to Self
ShareI used to envy people whose mothers taught them to cook, who learned ancestral ravioli recipes brought over from Italy by their wise old great grandmothers. But this was not to be. First of all,...
View ArticleThe Legend of Mujadara
ShareGrowing up, my two sisters and I chanted loudly for foods most kids would grimace at. Lima beans in a stew of tomato paste and water, crushed garbanzo beans, chopped parsley. And the sounds that...
View ArticleWedding Cows
ShareUsually, when I go to a wedding I bring a check as my gift. But one Saturday morning in November, I found myself trying to explain in my neatest small penmanship inside a sparkly wedding card that...
View ArticleAdventures in Cheesemaking
ShareIt was Friday, one o’clock in the morning, four hours into my supposedly two-hour homemade mozzarella recipe, and I found myself standing before a pile of cheese more akin to a ball of warm...
View ArticleCoffee, Tea, or Me?
Share“I’d go with the Ewephoria. It’s under the ‘stoic’ category.” I scanned the menu for a description of “stoic.” It read “big, hard cheeses.” I peered over my glass of red wine from the Douro Valley...
View ArticleIt’s all Fenugreek to Me
Share“First you add the crushed fenugreek seeds,” I crinkled my eyebrows and frowned, clueless. “What?” I asked. My mother pointed at a small tin cup filled with the seeds. She pinched a few and I...
View ArticleJumping Ship
ShareSelf: “Hello, my name is Erica.” (Insert handshake). Prospective Employer: “Erica, nice to meet you. Tell me about yourself.” Self: “I just finished working on a cruise ship in Hawaii.”...
View ArticleA Balkan Welcome
ShareI tried not to grimace as I took a second swig of rakija from the tall plastic water bottle. I winced slightly, but then smiled and was met with chuckles and applause. I don’t usually drink...
View ArticleThe Little Red Devils
Share“Peppers are not spicy,” my dad declared at dinner one night. I had mentioned that the vegetables we were eating were spicier than usual. However, they had been cooked with bright red Cayenne...
View ArticleUp South
Share“Do y’all have good food up there?” That is the question I most often get asked when I go back to my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee. They don’t know how I survive in the North without barbeque,...
View ArticleIn A Pinch
ShareSome grandmothers send you home with handmade pies after each visit. If you’re lucky, you have a grandmother who slips you a $20 on your way out the door. Not mine. Instead of baked goods or...
View ArticleTrue ’Q
ShareEvery morning at 4:30 AM, riding or walking past Tar-Heel-Q off of Old Highway 64 in Lexington, North Carolina, the smell and crackle of fired-up hickory chips and logs fill the air for about a...
View ArticleOn The Line
ShareI was just about to roll out my homemade pie crust when I encountered my first problem. As I reached for a rolling pin from my cabinet, I realized I didn’t own one. Normally, I’d just grab my...
View ArticleThe King of Mangoes
ShareThere was a plate of sliced mangoes on our table. Yet again. For probably the twentieth day in a row. This was the tradition for as long as I can remember; mangoes were daily essentials during the...
View ArticleSweet Words
ShareThe Turkish delight was, in retrospect, a pretty big mistake. We were browsing a Middle Eastern market near our home in upstate New York, a festive, mom-and-pop place where I tend to buy way more...
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