Compounding the problem: A bounty of herbs in butter
It’s early September. That tiny, cute sage plant you stuck in your garden three summers ago is now the size of a small ottoman, and gosh you feel like an asshole if you don’t use all those luscious, fresh herbs. Right? But one can only do so many summery dishes with sage, which you’re now […]
Berry picking: A summer tradition
This article originally appeared in the July 2016 “Foodie 40” issue of Buffalo Spree Magazine. indigo clusters. The distinctive, earthy-sweet fragrance of real strawberries that’s nearly impossible to imitate in a candle, try as manufacturers may. Thorny tangles of raspberry bramble studded with fragile, intricate jewels of fleeting sweetness. For many, summer in Western New […]
Pay someone else to cook for you (gasp!)
This article originally appeared in the July 2016 “Foodie 40” issue of Buffalo Spree Magazine. Anyone who has tried to eat fresh, homecooked meals can vouch for the amount of time it takes to plan, poke through recipes, shop for ingredients, then chop, stir, and cook up a week’s worth of breakfast, lunches, snacks, and […]
What’s old is new again: Fermenting in Buffalo
This article originally appeared in the July 2016 “Foodie 40” issue of Buffalo Spree Magazine. For more of that issue, go here. Many Buffalonians may remember ceramic crocks full of shredded cabbage or garlicky green cucumbers parked in dark corners of their Oma or Babcia’s kitchens. What our grandmothers knew—and a new generation of health […]
I HAD to go eat burgers.
These write-ups originally appeared in the April 2016 “Burger” issue of Spree Magazine. If reading about burgers is your thing, find more at the magazine’s website posting, which highlights a few more pieces from this print feature. The Classic Cheeseburger Location: Grover’s Bar & Grill, 9160 Transit Road, East Amherst, 636-1803 (follow them on Facebook) Category: Traditional This beefy, no-frills behemoth […]
Switchel: Farmer’s Gatorade
The summer heat and I are not friends. I’m the sort of person who’s more comfortable in the sub-zero darkness of January than the oppressive sauna of July. The air gets thick, sweat drips tickle, slow motion kicks in, and you stick to everything including your clothes, your seat, and your own nerves. But, since […]
Sprouts: Little green things
Right around St. Patrick’s Day, when it’s too early to plant seedlings and the thought of eating another root vegetable sends me looking for a reason to hunger strike, I crave fresh, green things like a jailbird craves freedom. I know scientists say that the body doesn’t really yearn for the nutrients it needs – […]
Fermented turmeric: Pop for pain relief
Some things are a bit hippie, even for even me. This is one of them. But when ibuprofen becomes known as “vitamin I” in your house, it’s time to look at other ways to calm the joints and muscles we’ve been habitually riling up 3-5 times per week through our various athletic pursuits. ‘Cause old-ish […]
DIY fruit on the bottom
I’m the kind of woman who becomes a whirling dervish of organization on January 1. Christmas is over, it’s time to undecorate, my energy is restored from some good ass-sitting at Christmas, and damn – there’s usually a lot of extraneous shit and mung all over this house from our busiest work months of the […]
Kale crack
One time I bought a garbage bag full of kale. Why would someone do that? Well, it was a good deal. And I thought we’d be having more guests at Thanksgiving dinner. And it was being sold by an old farmer my grandpa worked with at the Clinton Bailey Market. And I like kale. But […]
A beer-inspired harvest meal
Sometimes people give me a reason to play with food. And because I write for magazines with open-minded editors, those reasons become my job. I love my job. This is a piece I put together for WNY Craft Beer Magazine’s fall issue, about pairing local beers with quintessentially fall foods grown around here. Kevin and […]
Homemade yogurt & butter
About six years ago we started getting a raw milk share from a local farm in Vermont, a half-gallon a week, a habit we continued when we came back to Buffalo in 2012. It’s legal for dairy farmers to sell a certain quantity of raw milk directly from their farms in Vermont, but it’s illegal […]
