Food

Turkey chili with zucchini and corn

16 May 2013 Food
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I may have finally convinced my mom that I can cook. This year we’re sharing her kitchen, as I’ve temporarily invaded her house with my family of six. Here she cooks far more than I do, and I’m respectful of her domain. Despite being an admirably easygoing personality, my mom is very particular about her [...]

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The future of restaurant food: Silicon Valley cafeterias?

9 May 2013 Brain food
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What would restaurant food look like if chefs actually cared about your long-term health? The restaurant standard of today, in which chefs don’t think twice about melting a stick of butter over your steak, worked in a time when dining out was reserved for special occasions. But in today’s world, where many eat out daily, [...]

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New potato and asparagus salad with lemon-dijon dressing

3 May 2013 Food
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We’re having a heat wave in northern California, and it’s got me thinking about summer food. This potato salad, which I love warm or cold, is a dish you will want to remember for summertime entertaining. No mayonnaise or dairy involved, it’s a fresher take on potato salad that can endure the heat. And when [...]

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Stovetop asparagus

25 April 2013 Food
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It must be the inner grandma in me that has a thing for unfancy food. I love people’s enthusiasm for ingredient discoveries – smoked paprika! za’atar! pomegranate molasses! – but at heart I’m more of a basics girl than an accessories girl. Fresh ingredients don’t need a lot of dressing up, and my favorite preparations [...]

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Unplugging for a week (and roasted butternut squash)

6 April 2013 Food
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Heaven help me, I’m about to get on a Disney cruise. It’s about the last vacation I would have chosen – I’m deathly motion sensitive and the whole idea of being on a boat for a week makes me feel trapped. When I travel, I want to chart my path, explore new places, eat different [...]

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Maple vanilla Greek yogurt

2 April 2013 Breakfast
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Winter’s apples and oranges are languishing in my fruit bowl now that strawberries are back. We’ve been celebrating early-season berries with strawberry oatmeal shortcakes with maple vanilla sour cream. But lately I’m using Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, which has broadened the concept from a dessert topping to an anytime indulgence. Even when the [...]

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Hurricane popcorn

18 March 2013 Asian
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I’d forgotten about hurricane popcorn, a ridiculously addictive Asian-fusion snack from Hawaii, until I saw the words “nori popcorn” online recently. And then it all came back – hot buttery popcorn, toasted sesame seeds, crisp bits of roasted seaweed and a bit of sugar – and I had to make it immediately. In college, I [...]

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Kung pao (gong bao) shrimp

1 March 2013 Asian
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I love my mom. After a week away from the house, she does not for one second contemplate toast for dinner. She washes rice for the rice cooker, throws some frozen shrimp in a bowl of cold water, scavenges bits of onion, carrot and cabbage from the near-empty refrigerator. After a fragrant stir fry with [...]

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Ritzy chicken fingers

20 February 2013 Chicken/poultry
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There’s no avoiding snack food with four kids in the house (I don’t want to be the strict health-nut mom whose kids go to college and eat Froot Loops three times a day), but snack foods never crossed into my cooking until my friend Jenny got my kids hooked on her chicken strips rolled in [...]

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Remembering bread

15 February 2013 Diet
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I have a beef with Starbucks, and it’s not about coffee – I’m a tea drinker – it’s about bread. My favorite bread, an old-school, Poilane-like whole wheat levain called pain Pascal at Trader Joe’s, has disappeared, and it turns out Starbucks is responsible for taking away one of the few breads I feel entirely [...]

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