Columns

What’s Going on Today: Sunday at home; time to grill!

Tonight’s Menu: Super Duper Guacamole Burgers, sweet corn, grilled Parmesan asparagus, white wine

Naptime Goals: Prepare burgers, shuck corn.

Every year my husband and I like to come up with a new burger recipe or two. A juicy grilled burger is our personal version of summer comfort food. Last weekend we were enjoying a little downtime and decided to start thinking of a new variation for summer 2012. After all, it is just around the corner and we would hate to start Memorial Day without at least one new burger recipe in hand! This year we drew inspiration from a Cinco de Mayo celebrate we’d attended and decided to try deconstructing our favorite guacamole dip and presenting it as a burger topping instead.

I am so excited for my book signing in Georgetown tonight! While I get ready I thought I’d stop in with a favorite recipe from Thailand. As you’ll see in my posts on The Seafood Spot, my friend Nicole and I instantly fell in love with Tom Yam Goong, the national dish of Thailand, upon first sip. We were so infatuated by the spicy, sweet, citrus flavors that we made up our own version of soup wars for the bulk of our trip. We ordered it nearly every where we went comparing recipes from restaurant to restaurant!

Just a reminder I have two exciting book events coming up next week! On Tuesday, May 1st I’ll be at the JMcLaughlin store in Georgetown, DC from 6 – 8pm. On Thursday, May 3rd I’ll be at JMcLaughlin in Wellesley, MA from 3 – 5pm. I hope everyone will come out to say Hi and get their books signed!

May 1st in Georgetown, DC from 6 – 8pm!

This is the latest installment of my Powernap column. The series where I share quick, easy food that can be made for all kinds of situations. Powernaps are short and sweet, and so are these recipes. These are the things I make in a jiffy when I need a quick snack, am in the mood for a recipe experiment, or simply need to clean out the pantry.

I have been a longtime fan of Elizabeth Bard’s romantic foodoir, Lunch in Paris. Elizabeth’s friendly voice is so enjoyable and her Paris adventures, both foodie and romantic, make for a delightful read. Naturally, I gravitate toward any book containing recipes, especially contemporary French ones, which is why I’ve cooked my way through half the book over the past year. One of the recipes I’ve been turning to again and again is the simple french yogurt cake. I know the yogurt cake is ubiquitous in many french cookbooks, but this particular recipe is especially moist and I like it better than all the other ones I’ve tried.

What’s Going on Today: Grilling Season kick-off!

You know you live in the Northeast when the first day of grilling is a family event. My husband and I are grilling fanatics and although we technically could grill all year long (frostbite is no biggy, right?), we save our tried and true grilling days for summer. This year our first grilling feast happened to coincide with the beginning of asparagus season so we decided to combine two of our favorite spring food events for a little grilled experiment.

During my travels over the past three weeks I’ve been catching up on some of my favorite websites and discovering a few new ones as well. I’ve even (finally!) been able to start some new books, including The Hunger Games and Spoon Fed. Both have been on my list for at least a year and I am excited to be able to crack their spines.  I thought I’d take a break from recipes today and share a few of these new favorites with you. Who knows, maybe you’ll have some unexpected downtime soon too, here are some things you might enjoy!

I am so excited to share the first of many blog posts from my trip to Thailand with Sea Cuisine. I hope you all enjoy reading about my seafood eating adventures as much as I enjoyed the trip!

We first glimpsed Bangkok at night as our car inched through thick late night traffic to the hotel. The streets were alive with locals doing their daily shopping at the dozens of night markets for food and clothes, endlessly bargaining for a better deal on this or that. Despite the steamy night heat the atmosphere was vibrant, intense, and cheerful. Down narrow streets people stood next to stalls eating small healthy meals: steaming bowls of noodles with shrimp, skewers of fish balls with chili sauce, and bags of fresh chilled pineapple. They spoke with each other as they ate, presumably catching up on the day. If we hadn’t been so totally exhausted from the plane ride we might have jumped out for a quick snack ourselves. With all bowls of fresh noodles and freshly roasted fish staring us in the face we could hardly wait for our Thai seafood quest to begin. Read Full Post on The Seafood Spot…

I am thrilled to report that next week I have TWO book events in the fabulous city of San Francisco. Please see the dates and times for both events below. Feel free to come along and bring friends – the more the merrier! I am so excited to visit one of my favorite cities for a week of fun and food. I can’t wait to see what new and exciting food adventures await and, of course, to meet all of you. If you have any questions about the events, or tips on what I should see, please leave comments below! I will be in the city for the the entire week (even doing a live TV appearance on Friday!)

1) Sunday, April 15th, from 3 – 4pm
Omnivore Books
3885 Cesar Chavez Street
(415) 282-4712
Book signing & Light fare

2) Thursday, April 19th at 7pm
Books, Inc.
2251 Chestnut Street
(415) 931-3633
Talk & Book Signing

I just can’t get enough of Charleston, South Carolina. Last week we made our fourth annual trip to see my parents and had a total blast. We visited a lot of our favorite spots from 2009,  ate with our friends from 2010 and hit some of the must-sees from 2011. Be sure to check them out if you are in the area sometime. This year our vacation was not all just playing and eating, this time there were some awesome book events too. Here are some of the highlights from my trip last week:

Since we are all gearing up for Easter this weekend I thought I’d stop in with some festive naptime cooking recipes that are perfect for your holiday meal. These can all be made in advance and are totally family-friendly. I hope you have a wonderful celebration planned wherever you are!

Every so often I get a cookbook in the mail that stops me in my tracks. My infatuation with it could be for many different reasons, in the case of The Book Club Cookbook it is because I love reading. As you know, I am never at a loss for reading recommendations. Need some new great novels, memoirs, or cookbooks to read? I could suggest thousands. The Book Club Cookbook, as the name insinuates, celebrates novels of all kinds through food. The authors worked with popular novelists to decide which recipes would pair well with their work. The result is this clever book that is fun to cook from and would even to be a blast to use for adding food themes to book club meetings.