Q: A friend just invited me to his home for Thanksgiving dinner — and asked me to pay $50 upfront. I understand that hosting can be expensive and I wouldn’t mind being asked to bring a dish, but asking guests for cash seems incredibly rude. Am I crazy to be a bit miffed? Has anyone else experienced this? If so, how do you handle it?
It’s the first Sunday of November and ah, it’s been quite the week. So long, Lou Reed. So long, evening sun. So long, (this is for real now) tomatoes and eggplant. So long, clever and scary Halloween costumes. Goodbye Día de los Muertos sugar skulls and flickering, candlelit street altars. Hello bare branches and leaf-clogged gutters and cold foggy mornings. Hello roots and squash and garlic. Hello old sweaters and thick, wooly socks. Welcome, ‘these dark days of autumn rain … as beautiful as days can be.’ Welcome, November, and the comforts you inspire.
Happy weekend! Can you believe it’s already November? If you’re enjoying a leisurely Saturday this morning, take a little time to catch up on all the best from The Kitchn this week, including pets dressed up as food (!), side dish recipes for five favorite meals, reusable alternatives to cheesecloth, and a tour of Chef Barton Seaver’s rental kitchen. Enjoy!
15. Halloween Recipe: Candy-Coated Marshmallow Spiders
14. Still Need a Halloween Costume? 6 Easy Celebrity Chef Costumes
13. Recipe: Spiced Lentils with Egg
12. Back to Basics: 8 Warm and Cozy Recipes with Cinnamon
11. Kitchen Before & After: A New & Improved Kitchen for Under $400
10. Weekend Meditation: When One Thing Leads to the Other
Happy weekend, fellow cooks and food-lovers. How’s the candy situation in your house this weekend? I’m thinking about making a batch of homemade peanut butter cups, since we weren’t around for Halloween. Or a big pot of chili with pumpkin and beans. What about you? What’s cooking in your kitchen this weekend? (Don’t forget: the clocks turn back an hour on Sunday, so that gives you some extra time for the kitchen.)
It’s just about time to start thinking about Thanksgiving, and we have some good things coming your way next week on that front. Until then, tell us: What’s cooking this weekend in your kitchen?
Looking at the big pile of dishes in my sink, you might wonder why there are so many chopsticks in there. Did I recently have a dinner party for eight and serve stir-fry? Nope. I was simply cooking for myself day-to-day, using one of my favorite go-to utensils for anything from stirring the French press to eating pasta.
Halloween might have been yesterday, but I’m guessing that many of you still have a party or two in your weekend plans. This means another chance to gross out your friends with a tray of “blood”-rimmed Manhattan cocktails, bowls of frog egg pudding, and even a crunchy marshmallow spider or two! When you’re ready to take off the costume, come home to a warm bowl of spiced lentils topped with a baked egg and a leftover peanut butter cup of your very own.
There might be something to be said for reinventing the wheel. After all, when it comes to…say…chicken pot pie, is the way we’ve always made it really the best? Or is there a way to make that pie crust crispier, that filling even more savory, that chicken more tender? In Maximum Flavor, Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot make no assumptions about the foods we cook every day. Some of their findings might take you by surprise, some might stretch your whole concept of “home cooking,” but they will always result in a tasty meal.
I started yesterday morning by devouring a few thick slices of Pan de Muerto with my morning coffee. If you haven’t had this treat, imagine an airy Portuguese bread topped with an orange powdered sugar. It’s a thing of beauty. But as I stuffed it into my mouth I paused and realized, “D’oh! It’s already Halloween.”
If the hallowed day caught you by surprise yesterday too, maybe you can make up for it today with a impromptu Dia de Los Muertos celebration. Fridays are better for parties anyway. Here are some tips and recipes to help you celebrate tonight.
We all have one. You know, a recipe that you’re probably a little ashamed of, either because it is unglamorous or unhealthy (or both). Candied Apple Dip is one of those recipes I wish I didn’t know existed. Because, quite simply, it is absolutely delicious, even if it is just plain wrong.
