A few nights ago, we ate dinner at our favorite neighborhood Italian bistro; after the meal, the bartender gave us a generous slice of airy, cocoa-covered tiramisu, on the house. I watched as my fiancé polished it off; I didn’t take a single bite. Last night, at a different restaurant, our check was accompanied by homemade cookies; again, I ignored the sweets. You may wonder why I would be silly enough to turn down a good dessert, and a free one at that, but it’s part of an experiment; what I’m calling my sugar-free summer. A more precise...

Corn is a classic American summer food; along with potato salad, corn is an essential side dish at warm weather meals. Now, here’s a delicious and easy way to make your corn stand up and take center stage. On one of the many days this summer when I was happily preparing corn for dinner, it occurred to me that the classic method of boiling could dilute corn’s sweet flavor. I wanted to find a way to concentrate the flavor, and seal it in. I decided to husk the corn and cook it whole in a sauté pan, with...

Last weekend, I did something I’ve had a hankering to do for years; I went to an old-fashioned country fair, the kind we used to drive out to in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, in search of quilt-makers, blacksmiths, homemade ice cream, and birch beer. I put the call out on Twitter that I was looking for a good country fair near New York City, and someone suggested the Mercer County 4-H Fair in the quaint town of Lambertville, New Jersey, just an hour and a half’s drive from Brooklyn. My sweetheart and I rented a car and drove...

Last week, I needed a low-key break from New York City, and boy, did I get one. I headed up to the beautiful town of Lenox, in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts, to visit friends and do an in-store book signing. After two days surrounded by trees and grass, friendly smiles, and fresh air, I felt like a new person. Lenox is just one town in a string of pretty, tourist-friendly towns in the Berkshires, but it happened to be where my friends live and where my book signing took place, so I spent most of my time...

I’m a big fan of egg salad, especially during the summertime, when egg salad sandwiches make a great protein-rich hiking snack, and there are plenty of fresh vegetables in season that you can add to it that lend interesting flavors and lots of crunch. However, I’m not a big fan of mayonnaise, so I set out to make a rich, delicious egg salad without the help of that go-to sandwich standby. Instead, I found my egg salad paradise South-of-the-border, by turning to avocados, smokey grilled corn, and the refreshing bite of Mexican ingredients. Instead of a mayonnaise base,...

To celebrate July 4th, I visited Governor’s Island for the very first time. This tiny, picturesque island, just 172 acres wide, is situated in New York harbor just a seven-minute ferry ride from lower Manhattan. For almost 200 years, the island was used exclusively as a military outpost, but in 2003, it became the property of New York, and is now a much-loved public park. The park is a wonderful new refuge for nature-deprived New Yorkers. Over the weekend, I lined up with thousands of other people to board the free ferry to the island. Once there, it...

This past week, I went to the New York Fancy Food Show, held at the Javits Center in Manhattan. Whether you’re an old hand at these conventions, or a total newbie, the sensory overload is enough to blow your mind. Imagine walking into a convention center at 10 am, and facing an array of food samples ranging in diversity from baklava to barbecue, cheese to chocolate, punch to pâté. It’s all there at the Fancy Food Show, a food industry tradeshow where first-timers hopeful for a winning kitchen concoction and long-standing major brands vie for the attention of...

Last Saturday, one block of Brooklyn felt a lot like Austin, Texas. The smell of barbecue filled the air, and live music was performed indoors and out to crowds of cheering concertgoers. This honky-tonk switcheroo, experienced by a few thousand lucky New Yorkers, was Rachael’s way of bringing her annual Feedback showcase at Austin’s South by Southwest music festival (SXSW) to the town she calls home. To top it all off, the tickets and everything inside were free. Some partygoers came for the day’s great music line-up, others for the unlimited Ommegang beer and 44 North Vodka mixed...

This morning I looked outside my window and what I saw made me catch my breath: My little cherry tomato plant on the fire escape was beginning to fruit. There were 2 tiny, green tomatoes that I’m certain weren’t there yesterday, hanging off of a branch. What’s the big deal, you might wonder. Well, so did I. There is something of a miracle in seeing a plant grow. We kind of understand the process of how the combination of soil, sun, water, and nutrients makes a healthy plant go from a seed to a blooming, burgeoning entity, but...