Harvest of the Month: Dry beans
Every year I challenge myself to grow enough potatoes, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash to eat all winter until the spring garden begins to grow. It’s a game that is fun when I get...
A family favorite
After my daughter and I both made George Brennan’s delicious One-Pot Spinach Beef Soup recipe from a few weeks ago (check out bit.ly/GreatSoup), Sarah in Connecticut and I here in Oak Bluffs, I wanted...
Cooking without rules
No Rules Aubergine Spread is a dish I named after a game I invented, called No Rules Scrabble. No Rules Scrabble is very easy and simple. The game is played like regular Scrabble for...
All you need is lasagna
When I came home from college this winter, I was excited to eat all my usual holiday favorites: Italian gumdrop cookies, lasagna, roast beef, and creamy mashed potatoes. Much to my surprise, my sister...
Thanksgiving in February
As with many people’s Thanksgivings, ours was small. Just my daughter, who’s been with me throughout the pandemic; my son, who as a graduate student doing school remotely has essentially been quarantined in his...
One tradition to keep alive
While any interest in visiting the U.S. Senate waned after the invasion on Jan. 6, interest in the Senate Bean Soup served in the Senate dining room every day since the early 20th century...
This year’s soup-er bowl
With my team, the New England Patriots, out of the playoffs and no prospect of a Super Bowl appearance for one of the first times in two decades, I’m drowning my sorrows — not...
Harvest of the Month: Whole Grains
On a cold, gray day, what is better than waking up to a warm bowl of oatmeal, or baking fresh, warm bread for dinner? As we ring in the new year, we celebrate whole...
Something savory on the menu
Christmas dinner was a bit smaller this year, but that doesn’t mean you cannot go all out with helping prepare a fantastic side for dinner.
This year I contributed to the people within my bubble...
Who says you can’t popover?
My wife and I used to have a naughty routine. (Get your minds out of the gutter.) We’d toss our diets aside on Friday mornings for a popover at Pie in the Sky in...
Harvest of the Month: Winter Squash
This December, we celebrate winter squash. Butternut squash sit stacked neatly in my kitchen on a three-foot-long metal shelf. They wait there, precariously balanced, for me to pluck them off one by one through...
A toast for the holidays
In preparation for going back to visiting Island bars, I have been going through many different mixed drinks to try out during quarantine. I discovered this drink by accident, mixing a small nip of...
Let them eat pumpkin cake!
When quarantine started, I occupied my time cooking more meals for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. This year's Thanksgiving has many firsts, and I decided to contribute by making a dessert with a nutty twist.
I...
Little house, big flavor
Brook Katzen is a man with a mission to make sure an Island staple keeps on going. Little House Café, founded 10 years ago, continues to be an asset to year-rounders when many other...
Broccoli-palooza
My obsession with finding the best broccoli salad began shortly after I discovered Cronig’s had closed down its salad bar due to COVID-19 some months ago. Remember their broccoli salad, teaming with bacon, blue...
Turkey and sides and pies, oh my!
Imagine: Thanksgiving Day, 2020. You've just woken up to the coziest of autumn mornings — a crisp breeze in the air, a hot mug of coffee in the works. You'll spend the day surrounded...
Caesar pleaser
Who doesn’t love a Caesar salad? It’s one of my favorite things to order when we eat out, and then I can pretend like I “forgot” to tell the server to hold the croutons,...
Every day is a salad day
Beautiful red cabbage (which is actually purple) will brighten any dish. This recipe is a version of a salad that I used to make at the Roadhouse. It’s important to use a great blue...
Groovy smoothie
Remember the days when smoothies were a whole lot like a milkshake with a little fruit thrown in? Apparently those days are long gone. I’ve tried green smoothies, brown smoothies, pink smoothies, white smoothies,...
Tackling meatloaf sandwiches
Whenever we go to an old-time diner, the first thing I look for on the menu is a meatloaf sandwich. To me, it’s better than a burger because of the peppers and onions cooked...