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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,...

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The 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...

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Wedding 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...

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Adventures 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...

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Coffee, 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...

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It’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...

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Jumping 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.”...

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A 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...

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The 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...

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Up 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,...

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In 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...

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True ’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...

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On 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...

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The 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...

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Sweet 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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