dessert

Panna Cotta for a Crowd

April 10, 2013

I cooked for a bunch of people last weekend. And a bunch of people cooked for me. On Saturday afternoon I dropped off dinner for 12 at my friend Jill’s house. For the last few years, Jill and her husband, Rudy, and several other couples have been the winning bidders on a series of Big [...]

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Dicembre Dolce: Panna Cotta alle Spezie

December 12, 2012

Raise your hand if… * yours is always the last house on the cul de sac to put up holiday lights. * you have yet to buy ~ let alone decorate ~ a tree. * the only batch of Christmas cookies you baked is long gone and you have yet to bake more. * haven’t [...]

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Dicembre Dolce: Cherry Republic Biscotti

December 2, 2012

There is more than one way to slice biscotti. There are at least sixty. Or there will be when I’m through with them. Which is a roundabout way of saying I’ve just started work on a new book project. Subject: Biscotti. It won’t be an exhaustive project ~ just a fun little homage to one [...]

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Strawberry-Apricot Pie

June 20, 2012

I hope they have health food in Dublin and strawberry apricot pie If they don’t have those things in Dublin we’ll probably die For years—decades—I have wanted to make this pie. Strawberry-apricot pie. Ever since I first heard those three words strung together in the song “The Troubles” by The Roches. This was back in 1979 or [...]

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Strawberry Granita: The Sweet Taste of Summer

May 28, 2012

There was a small gelateria around the corner from my aunts’ apartment in Rome. It was nothing fancy, no gilt mirrors or polished marble bar top. If it had a name, I never knew it. It was not the kind of place that would have made any Best Gelaterias in Rome list. The chairs were [...]

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Baked Farro Pudding: Sweet & Slow

February 17, 2012

Patience is not a virtue of mine. From the moment I injured my finger I have pestered my doctor, and now my hand therapist, about when I can start cooking (with two hands) again, and writing (with two hands) again* and playing tennis (I have a two-handed backhand) again. And so on. While the answer [...]

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A Mishap, a Cake, and a Midwinter Break

January 30, 2012

You may be familiar with that famous poem titled “Cut” by Sylvia Plath, the one that begins What a thrill — My thumb instead of an onion. Well, my dears, that was me a few days ago, except it was my index finger instead of my thumb. And winter squash puree instead of an onion. [...]

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A Favorite Cake to Welcome the New Year

January 3, 2012

Buon Anno a tutti! Happy New Year. As I sit here writing and thinking about the year ahead, I am (literally) surrounded by the past. During the Christmas break, my husband and I decided to start a long-overdue project to clean and reorganize our basement. So far, we have said farewell to five huge bins [...]

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Stendhal Syndrome, Farmers’ Market Fever, and a Rustic Fruit Crostata

July 21, 2011

Years ago when I was a newspaper reporter, I came across a wire story that described a rare, peculiar illness. It seemed that certain sensitive souls, upon being exposed to the glorious art of the High Renaissance, were so overcome by the beauty before them that they literally went mad and had to be carted [...]

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When Is a Pie Not a Pie?

July 5, 2011

When it’s made by me. In fact, much like its creator, the dessert you see above hovers between two heritages, Italian and American. It began life as a typical Italian jam crostata—a rustic tart of sorts, made with tender, buttery pasta frolla (pastry) and filled with good blueberry jam.

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