The change of seasons has been gentle this year, but with Thanksgiving ahead my mind roams to cold weather meals. And especially to ones that overcome loneliness as much as […]
MATERIAL WORLD
Where to Borrow a Mixer, a Ukelele, and a Sewing Machine
Libraries grow a culture of lending that extends beyond books
I hesitated as I stood face to face with an electric sander in the West Roxbury Home Depot. I knew that if I bought it I would probably use it […]
GRENOBLE DISPATCH
Chicken Forestière Brings Home the Pleasure of a Plat du Jour
Booze, cream, and mushrooms sauce a fall supper
Is there a single person on the Outer Cape who doesn’t pine all summer long for September? Friends and neighbors talk about it all year long — it’s mythic. Why […]
D.I.Y.
Sculptures That Sparkle in the Late-Season Garden
Getting creative in good company brightens a gardener’s mood, too
Lucy LaFleche is one of the people who helped get me through the pandemic. And it wasn’t just the big-girl-size Cosmos she was known to pour moments after five o’clock. […]
THE STROLL
Wellfleet, Late August
Seen and heard on the weekly gallery walk
Frying Pan Gallery 250 Commercial St. Friends Heather MacBride of Mashpee and Debbie Ward of Sandwich are dressed up for a night on the town. Having just enjoyed oyster happy […]
FROM THE LARDER
You Say Tomato, I Say Tonnato
An Italian tuna mayo made for late summer lunches
Vitello tonnato is one of my summer specialties. But when I told Teresa about it, she turned me down cold. “That’s such a weird dish,” she said. The version I […]
FROM THE LARDER
Stalking the Elusive Red Currant
A once-forbidden fruit becomes a sparkling jelly
I got this text in mid-July: “Dani says to tell you that she has ripe currants if you’re interested.” Currant cultivation was, I had thought, forbidden in Massachusetts. But legal […]
THAT’S ITALIAN
Connecting the Dots From Sicily to SpaghettiOs
Ian MacAllen savors the role of red sauce in the making of Italian-Americanism
I want to get this out of the way at the get-go: I was raised on SpaghettiOs, and I loved them. Surely you remember Chef Boyardee with his jaunty toque, […]
ACCOMMODATION
Shouldn’t We Be More Alarmed?
Overall, Americans do not seem to be shocked by recent shifts in politics and society
I lie awake at night more often than I’d like to admit wondering if this is how it felt in 1933 at the end of Germany’s Weimar Republic. Did people […]
FROM THE LARDER
A Couple’s Flavorful Connections Between the Cape and Kalamata
Fresh Greek olive oil is the secret to a silky gazpacho
Olive oil may have always been ubiquitous in some lucky American subcultures, but it wasn’t in mine. I remember the first time my mother ran across olive oil on an […]
FROM THE LARDER
Neighborly Recipes for Midsummer Parties and Family Visits
Cold carrot soup and pound cake as a palette for berries from a community cookbook
Almost everything seemed to go quiet as those early days of the pandemic unfolded. But messages kept coming from Wellfleet Preservation Hall. Word from there was a comfort, reminding me […]
BOOK REVIEW
A Place of Quiet Beauty Reveals Its Lively Past
Sharon Dunn combines poetry and history in writing about Bound Brook Island
In the same week that we came to live in a cottage halfway between Lombard and Paradise hollows, on the Wellfleet-Truro line, Christopher and I took a walk on Bound […]
NOLA DISPATCH
At Casamento’s, the Next Best Thing to My Mother’s Oyster Loaf
Layered, butter-crisped oysters that make more than a mere sandwich
NEW ORLEANS — As I step in from the bright-hot sun that is beating down on the sidewalk here and settle into the cool dimness of Casamento’s, I am reminded […]
FROM THE LARDER
Moqueca, With a Side of Optimism
Brazil’s lime-and-coconut-creamy, spicy fish stew
“Don’t worry,” said Nete Balbino the first time we met. I was frazzled, trying to organize the move that would settle Christopher and me in a new cottage as Truro […]
MAZATLÁN DISPATCH
Aguachiles With Mexican Shrimp — or Cape Cod Sea Scallops
Spring break defined by a plate of fresh seafood, seasoned with lime and chiles
Apparently, shrimp is Mazatlán’s superpower. I have been hearing about the glories of the seafood of Sinaloa, particularly its shrimp, for months from Wellfleet neighbors who spend time on Mexico’s […]