From Bannock to Boston Brown Bread:Deep within my secret high-tech lair and fully-equipped kitchen, I begin my investigation of the cuisine of Canada. I must first admit I know nothing about Canadian cuisine. My only slight advantage is that I’ve covered significant stretches of Canadian. Back in the 1990s, a work assignment had me traveling by car through all of the Prairie Provinces. It was
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Pasta Therapy
How does one shed the residual effects of a tedious and fairly annoying work week? Immersion in a weekend cooking project could be the solution. That level of control that I completely failed to exert over errant employees during the week might be far more constructively and successfully applied in the kitchen. A touch of pasta therapy is in order. The tagliatelle will bend to my will, assuming
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The Canadian Culinary Challenge Arrives: With my American Culinary Challenge in hand, Jill has been cooking up a response in Canada. I learn the full details when this correspondence arrives. Jill writes: Dear T.W.,When you first suggested this culinary challenge, I began searching for recipes quite casually, leisurely flipping through a few cookbooks and wandering around the web. I found
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A Luncheon for President's Day 2007
Pass the patriotism, and have another helping of history. I’ve long wondered how best to mark President’s Day, the annual celebration of George Washington’s Birthday in the United States. The idea of a three-day department store sale seemed so insufficient to acknowledge a multifaceted man who was patriot, military strategist, spymaster, gentleman farmer, public servant, statesman and diplomat.
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5 Things About Me: My intrepid and inquisitive virtual friend, Veronica has tagged me from her Test Kitchen to answer the "5 Things About Me" meme that is making the rounds in the food blogosphere. Okay, ready, set, go: I learned to cook at an early age. I was one of four brothers and my mom raised us to be self-sufficient, so we always participated in preparing dinner and made some tasty dishes
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Sing for Your Supper:Lincoln Center is a cultural crossroads in New York City – ballet, theater, symphony, dance, and of course some of the greatest opera stages and singers in the world.I meet up with my friend Lee Sloan – a Grande Dame of the New York food and wine scene – at the Barnes and Noble on Broadway and 66th. The neighborhood is covered in a blanket of snow, and Lee is wrapped from
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A Cook’s Tour of Regional American Dishes:Jill in Ottawa and I have been debating what defines a classic Canadian or American dish, and now it’s time to start cooking. Jill will research and prepare American cuisine, while I’ll tackle Canadian gastronomy. Jill has read my ruminations on the quintessential American dish and she responds immediately. The following line gets her attention: "America
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The Herdsman's Chapel
It is numbingly cold in Helsinki -- the kind of cold where all your joints feel distressingly fragile. Yes, I do manage to get around -- one man, one carry-on suitcase, a suped-up laptop and a Ziploc bag full of toiletries. One day I can be eating homemade ice cream in suburban Long Island, and the next day I’m freezing my buns off in Nordic country. Fortunately for me, it is “Blini Season” in
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Desperately Seeking the Quintessential American Recipe:Me and my big, hungry mouth. I’m the one who suggested that Jill in Ottawa and I each research and cook a dish authentic to the homeland of the other. Now, I’ve got to come up with a uniquely American dish -- at least something appetizing enough that Jill will want to eat it. Take-out, while pervasively American, doesn’t count since there’s
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The Corner Ice Cream Parlor
I’m feeling a bit nostalgic for those neighborhood institutions and establishments that, one-by-one, seem to be slipping away. In most communities the family-owned, corner ice cream parlor is an anachronism, having long been replaced by drive-through or national chain restaurants.The idea of an old fashioned ice cream parlor conjures up images of Archie Comics and “Happy Days.” Believe it or not,
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