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Doorstep Dishes

Celebrating the age-old tradition of making and sharing food

Winter is Here!

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Shoveling

Snow Days are the Best

This weekend we got hammered by winter storm Jonas (why must they be named?) and woke up to an absolutely absurd amount of snow on Sunday. It looked waist deep and the kids couldn’t wait to get out in it. After gulping down a piece of toast, they ran out, still in pj’s under their snow pants. More kids came over and they built a snow fort and sledded down the crazy huge drift that had blown up the side of the house. They crushed massive snowballs on each other’s heads. It was cold and bright and they were all having a blast….

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Healing Chicken Soup

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Chicken Soup BowlMy Best Friend’s Chicken Soup

Every once in a while I get an email asking me to cook for someone who’s going through a really tough time, maybe a death in the family or a long illness. I usually do cook, even if it’s for someone I don’t know well or that I’ve never met. I do it because it’s the right thing to do and because it makes me feel connected. When things get rough, keyboards click, sign-up lists are formed and everyone comes together to do what needs to get done. It’s powerful and wonderful. It’s good to be part of a solution….

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Roasted Beet Salad with Oranges, Walnuts & Goat Cheese

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Take Care of the Teachers

Whenever there’s a chance to cook for my kids’ teachers, I do. My mom was an English teacher – the one who my friends always named as their favorite. I saw how much effort she put into her craft. She’d stay up late reading the journals she made her students keep, pushing them to find their voice and grow their writing skills. There were always papers to correct and new ideas to share. At the dinner table, her eyes lit up and we all felt her excitement as she told us about the quiet kid she got to speak up that day. She loved her job. The good ones always do.

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Easy Christmas Card Gift Tags

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20151217_155501Keep the Christmas Cards Coming

I love Christmas cards. I love shopping for them, mailing them, seeing them stacked in my mailbox – real letters! At the end of the season, I just can’t throw them away, so I stash them with the lights and ornaments and save them for next year. The next time I see them, I’ll remember the people who put pen to paper, a special moment in our busy electronic worlds.

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Beef Empanadas with Olives & Raisins

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Learning How to Eat with One Hand

If you’re like us, you probably have a lot of new moms and dads in your life. And having been there ourselves, we know all too well what that adorable new bundle’s arrival really brings – and what the baby shower doesn’t cover. Those sleepless nights (if you haven’t been there you just can’t comprehend the delirium), days now broken up with a new pattern of routines, feeding, sleeping, changing, feeding, sleeping, changing, repeating until tomorrow and foreseeable tomorrow, coupled with doing everything you used to do with only one free arm takes some getting used to.

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Gimlet Love – A Drink to Remember

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Gimlet hero light with jewels profile

Here’s to You Aunt Ruth

My Great-Aunt Ruth lived to be 93. She was a dynamic woman and one of my all-time favorite people. When I was 4, Aunt Ruth gave me my first teddy bear, the old fashioned kind with movable legs. In my teens, she became my costume jewelry sensei, teaching me which were bakelite, cut glass, vintage crystals and which were just plain fun. And most importantly, (when I was older still) she taught me how to enjoy gin.

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DIY Gift Wrap for a Jar of Jam

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Paper, Flowers, Twine & Jam

Jam might just be the perfect food gift. It’s sweet and something that doesn’t always make it into the cart so it feels like a splurge. And because it’s self-contained and shelf stable, you don’t need a gift box and it’s easy to keep some on hand for whenever (less work – yay). So when I needed a little something to thank a friend who’d done me a favor, jam was the obvious choice.

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Raw Zucchini Salad with Toasted Almonds & Mint

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Keeping Up with the Joneses

We always want to party with the Joneses. He’s a jazz drummer, she’s from Denmark and a CEO, and they have a bunch of kids in a range of ages. They throw big bashes and everyone invites everyone drawing a rainbow of people together. There’s always a fabulous spread but people bring a plate to share anyway. And maybe an instrument to play. His drum kit waits next to the piano until the time feels right to get things going. The music heats up and friends fold in and out bringing new sparkle and sound. Anyone who wants to jumps in for the jam. The furniture gets pushed back and people get up and dance. Kids run around in packs. The young ones drip popsicles, the older ones hang out in the basement blasting a different kind of music. Everyone stays up way too late eating, laughing, commiserating – living.

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Orange Ginger Gin & Tonics

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Drink imageCheers!

This recipe is a fancy cocktail because we are celebrating the launch of our site and because well why not? We drink gin and tonics all summer, but when the sun starts to set a little earlier and the heat gives way to a crisp breeze, we start craving the spicy warmth of fall. Garnished with a cinnamon stick, this G&T is the perfect loop into the season of sweaters, fireplaces and falling leaves. And it’s something fun to bring to the potlucks that happen so much more once the cold weather hits. So here’s to you, and here’s to us and to enjoying the season of great eating with family and friends. Cheers!

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Ham & Cheese Scones

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Why Money Is & Isn’t the Object of a Bake Sale

Rush, rush, rush, bake sale, what? Yep, another great cause asking for donations. It’s tempting to tear open a box and just add egg and oil, but – ew. Don’t cave to convenience. Give yourself the time and space to bake from scratch and get this right. Add the love, that invisible ingredient that makes everything taste really, really good. Walk by the box and reach for a bag of flour instead and make these fluffy (definitely not diet) ham and cheese scones. They taste a million times better and everyone will thank you for them later.

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