I love shopping for food, filling my grocery cart with fresh seasonal produce. But cooking these days is another matter. With so many activities beckoning, I find myself reluctant to cook. My jittery brain starts up with a game: How can I use up all that produce before it spoils? Pesto is such a useful…
Lemony Marinated Shrimp – I Spy a Winner
I didn’t babysit often as a youngster, but when I did, I totally enjoyed it. Usually my charges were fast asleep by the time their parents were sneaking out to dinner. That left me plenty of time to raid the pantry for snacks I couldn’t get at home and watch Get Smart, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and Mission…
Spaghettini Vongole – à la di Stasio
I’m generally happy as a clam, unlikely to clam up, prefer clamato to tomato with vodka, almost never clammy, and love clams in soup or pasta. You? The fishmonger (or maybe he’s a clammonger, too?) at the Metro Store gave me tips on which clams to buy and how to steam open the shelled ones in white wine….
Lobster Wrap – Fearsome Good
I was 5 when I first saw the ocean. It was in Gloucester, Massachusetts, where our good friends, the Marie family, rented a vacation home. If memory serves me right, just before dinner the lobsters escaped their briney pail and went for a short excursion in the kitchen—a typical Marie family escapade. The talented Mom,…
OMG Shrimp Cocktail at Its Very Best!
A 6 ‘7″ chef with a flair for home cooking has stolen my food heart. My first attempt to address him at an Appetite for Books appearance led to shy stuttering and a rescue by Montreal journalist Susan Schwartz, who recognized my distress and pitched in with my intended message. He’s very famous, for a Canadian, so I’m sure you…
Jumbo Shrimp with Shrimp Spice – Dinner for Two
On a yoga retreat at El Encanto, on the Riviera Nayarit in sunny Mexico, the discussion meandered towards body types. Not yoga body types, Ayurvedic body types. Apparently the key to health is in understanding our own personal body type. There are three basic ones: Vata, “air”, Pitta, “fire” and Kapha, the “water” type. Each…