The state of Vermont, known for its thriving food and farm culture, is near and dear to me. Right now, my fiance lives there, and in about a month I will too. Irene hit Vermont hard. In fact, the storm was the worst natural disaster to hit the state in almost 100 years. Vermonters watched as roads crumbled and bridges […]
Recent Posts By Emily McKenna
Pantry Puttanesca
The worst of Hurricane Irene seems to be behind us—at least in the New York area. Last weekend, the city was captivated, as New Yorkers (people not normally accustomed to floods) contemplated evacuating their apartments and stock piled candles, water and other essential non-perishables. I decamped to New Jersey to wait out the storm with my family. For the most […]
The Lengths We Go to for Great Food
On my way to work this morning, I heard an interview with Mark Bello, who teaches folks with regular home ovens, to make pizza at his Little Italy-workshop, Pizza a Casa. He was describing his obsessive method for bringing pizza from New York home to Chicago: “I had this system of transporting frozen slices, which involved wrapping each slice tightly […]
Michigans (Hot Dogs) in New York
I’ve been spending a lot of time this summer at my fiance’s father’s house in far-upstate New York, in the small, quiet, mostly farming community called Chazy. Chazy hugs the western edge of Lake Champlain and moves at the kind of slow, friendly pace that immediately curbs my rush-rush-New York City tendencies. You wouldn’t know the place unless you’d grown […]
Old Cookbooks, New Inspiration
Like most people I know who like to cook, I love cookbooks. And like most people who love cookbooks, I cherish old, out-of-print volumes that capture one place or period in time. I spent a recent Saturday browsing through a used book store and came across two fantastic finds: A decades-old edition of the classic The Virginia Housewife, first published […]
Hometown-Proud Foods
I moved from my home state of New Jersey to suburban St. Louis as a high school freshman, and I was in shock—food shock. I was used to eating all of my favorite New Jersey foods and resented having to change my routine. Remember, I was a stubborn 15-year old. I missed Texas wieners (or, hot dogs covered with spicy […]
My Essential Kitchen Tools
On a recent trip to the kitchenware store, I was amazed by the variety of gadgets available to cooks today. It seems as if there is a tool for every culinary task—miniature, inch-high box graters for single cloves of garlic, flexible silicone bowls that float in water for poaching eggs, serrated plastic knives for chopping lettuce, slicers specifically for hard-boiled […]
A July 4th Celebration
My fiancé and I have adopted a new July 4th tradition—as soon as work ends on Friday we decamp with friends to the Catskills for a weekend of eating and country dancing. The tradition itself is not new (in fact, it’s several decades old), but our participation is, and we have already started counting down the days. The highlight of […]
Tricks of the Trade from a Food Stylist
As a professional cook who works with other cooks, food photographers and stylists every day, I have picked up tons of handy tips and tricks, things like shocking the life and crisp back into wan carrots and celery by plunging them in an ice water bath, cooking bacon in the oven on a rimmed baking sheet to avoid oily splashes […]
