Cocktail parties are the most versatile party to give. You can pack together a group of people – as many as you like, and they don’t need to know each other at all (in fact it’s more fun if they don’t). It ‘s a graceful way to make matches for business or romance without the pressure of guests having to spend an entire meal together. When a party gets buzzy and laughter rolls around the room, it’s magical. Guests have […]
Ottolenghi’s Granola Bars Serves 6 Prep time: 45 minutes
Last year we remodeled our kitchen, after 14 years of cupboards that didn’t close, a tile floor that could never be made to look clean, and a daily view of ceramic 3-D cherubs poised in flight on the backsplash. I have nothing against cherubs in general, but cleaning the kitchen gunk out of every nook and cranny of their chubby little bodies got old after a while. The remodel was a big job; it took a long time, but the […]
Here’s a quick how-to for arranging a bouquet of summer flowers. I’ve chosen roses, stock (matthiola incana), viburnum, and lavender because they’re available at most flower shops and the roses and stock come in a variety of colors. I’ve been doing a lot of relaxed, casual flowers this summer, and it seemed time to do something a little more a la White House. In the first photo, you’ll find what you need to get started: a vase, scissors, and floral […]
Today’s post relates to a serious subject: the level of pesticides present in the food we eat. I was shocked to learn what the numbers on the stick-on labels of fresh fruit and vegetables actually mean. I thought they were for scanning the price of the items, but that is only one purpose of the PLU, or price lookup number. Here’s what else it means: -If there are four numbers in the PLU, the produce was grown with the use […]
