Technically, you can turn anything into pizza. That’s what I used to believe, anyway. When I was in middle school, I used to pride myself on being able to make pizza out of any starch we had around the house. I don’t know exactly how this began, but when I…
Reading a New York Times article on the USDA’s mixed signals about cheese made me think about my own conflicting cheese emotions. The USDA, like a person with the two hemispheres of his brain separated, tells us “Eat less fat—don’t have so much cheese!” and at the same time encouraged…
“Vegetarian French onion soup? How do you do that?” everyone wanted to know. I wasn’t exactly sure, but I had a plan: use Julia Child’s method for the onion part of the soup and for the “French” part, that is, the browned, melted cheese suspended on toasted bread, which then…
My husband, Wayne, and I disagree on broth. He claims that the key to excellent broth is long simmered chicken bones and parts. Or those of beef or pork. I’ll admit that plenty of world culinary history backs up his contention. Still, because I don’t eat chicken, beef or pork,…
My dear and accommodating friends and family always check before I visit, “Do you still eat fish?” They want to serve me food I can eat and not just side dishes, which is very kind of them. They want to make a meal everyone will enjoy, something special, and if…
Step 1: Inspiration. You are restacking rice noodles, dried mushrooms, and rice crackers, trying to find room in your kitchen cabinet for soba noodles you just bought at the Asian market. Sorting through all the strata, eventually you get all the way down to the shelf, where you unearth the…
I recently realized that my stance on no candy in the classroom is in the minority, the vast minority. I want to be a nice teacher, but I can’t stand having kids eat candy during class. If they’re hungry and need a snack, I feel like they should have actual…
I saw a commercial last night for a Healthy Choice meal that represents just about everything that is wrong with American culture. The ad begins with Julia Louis-Dreyfus telling her agent with a note of surprise that the Fresh Mixers, Rotini & Zesty Marinara Sauce “tastes fresh.” Her amazement is…
