Raising Hands

Yesterday I left you with a bit of homework. Did you do it? I spent last night going through my stack of Barefoot Contessa books and focusing on finding a new root vegetable dish to try, and I have one tomato dish that is just as delicious as it is beautiful. Here's the thing about Ina Garten. Most people associate her style of cooking with memes like this one. It's hilarious because it feels true but when you spend some time reading her books you'll quickly learn that she is all about comfortable and effortless entertaining. Martha Stewart writes in the foreword of the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook, "There is a liveliness in Ina's cooking, a total lack of finickiness, a reliance on the freshest and best, and a casualness that I know will be appealing to everyone who uses her book". I don't just read her cookbooks for the recipes and gorgeous photography. Ms. Garten is a really good writer to boot! In the opening pages of Barefoot in Paris  she tells ...

It's that time of year again. The time when many mugs of tea and coffee are consumed whilst pouring over trusty cookbooks. For some of you, Thanksgiving menus are set in stone. There are certain dishes that are expected to be on the table. That's another post entirely. Today is all about finding ways to incorporate new dishes into your menu and feeling good about it. In my early teens, our family traditions became more fluid. That is, it became our tradition to be untraditional. This wasn't intentional, it was life. What it instilled in me though was that the people around us on a special day are what matter, and while serving the perfect meal and sitting down to the perfectly set table is wonderful. It's not requisite to showing gratitude. Let me explain. One year my high school marching band had the opportunity to participate in the big holiday parade in Chicago, Illinois. My family and I took the train in early to take in some sights and assumed that we would hav...