From the monthly archives:

December 2009

The Shuk

December 30, 2009

The central attraction of the downtown area is, without a doubt, the shuk, or the open-air market. Occupying two long square blocks, it has everything you could possibly want, from fresh fruit and vegetables to prepared foods to hundreds of kinds of cheese to fresh-squeezed juice to full-service cafes and restaurants…and more. It’s [...]

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Home Sweet Home

December 25, 2009

I don’t know what it is about this place that gets me every time.

Partially, it’s the food. There’s hot, sweet challah in the oven right now, some really beautiful fruit on the counter, and onions and garlic browning on the stove.

It’s also the scenery. It’s 65 degrees, there’s not a cloud [...]

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Brussels Sprouts with Sriracha, Honey, and Lime

December 21, 2009

When the New Yorker lands in my mailbox each Tuesday, the first thing I read is the weekly restaurant write-up, Tables for Two. It’s short and sweet, and usually contains a brief description of one or two stand-out dishes. Every once in a while, I hear one of the descriptions and think, that [...]

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Goat Cheese Caramel Cheesecake

December 17, 2009

The last several times I saw cheesecake on a restaurant menu, it always listed some cheese other than cream cheese as its defining ingredient: ricotta, farmers cheese, and goat cheese seem to make regular appearances.
This is with good reason: traditional cheesecake is overly sweet and very dense. It feels to me like a 1980’s-era dessert, [...]

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Chocolate-Dipped Hazelnut Shortbread

December 12, 2009

If it wasn’t obvious from my cookie page, I’ve got something of a permanent craving for bite-sized crunchy/chewy treats. Hanukkah isn’t really a cookie-focused holiday — it’s more a celebration of your deep fryer. But Christmas is just around the corner, and every year, I get swept up in the holiday spirit. This [...]

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My Hanukkah Wishlist

December 8, 2009

Christmas season is upon us, and the obsessing about presents is underway. I’ve seen about 15 gift guides, some food-specific, some not, with ideas for the food lover, the wannabe foodie, the horrible cook, the cool-chef-dad, the apron-clad mom, and everyone in between.
This isn’t really a gift guide — it’s really just a [...]

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Brussels Sprouts with “Bacon” and Pears

December 6, 2009

Yet another installment of my Weekday Lunch series, where I share recipes suited for home or the office.
Last Wednesday night, a colleague of mine had a pre-Thanksgiving Thanksgiving party. The idea is brilliant. Since most of us spend Tday with anyone from parents and siblings to in-laws and cousins twice removed, might as well [...]

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Cauliflower with Brown Butter

December 3, 2009

Part of the fun of food blogging is that my kitchen rarely sees the exact same dish twice. Driven by the need for new content, I’m always in search of the next great recipe. I abide some serious duds along the way, but they’re a necessary evil in this business, and well worth [...]

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