Looking for a way to bring home the French Olympic spirit? Consider playing boules or pétanque this season. The simple game, a staple in southern France, gives us an excuse to hang out with friends and enjoy good food. It’s a constant in our lives and we have a boules family that means a great deal to us. We feel very fortunate to have this fun games and our friends in our lives. Background on

Home for the holidays. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Hot chocolate spiked with rum. And now Figgy Pudding Spam. Ho ho ho. A friend sent me a Washington Post article about the Hormel Corporation’s limited edition Spam flavor. (“A hot dog fruitcake”) I was mildly intrigued. An odd choice, figgy pudding. We eat it, British-style fruit cake flambéed with brandy at Christmas but how many in the US do? And what’s that got to

Have you been tempted to tell your food story?  Has your pandemic reading included a deep dive into contemporary cookbooks? Do you follow the food news as closely as some watch MSNBC or CNN? Addicted to The Great British Bake Off? Active in the food justice movement? If any of these describe your interest in food, consider joining me at Gateway Community College this semester. Our 2022 Food Writing Class at Gateway in New Haven

One of life’s great pleasures is meeting inspired and inspiring people.  Among them in my life is Dorie Greenspan, Connecticut neighbor, friend, baker, cook and writer extraordinaire.  This is why I was so pleased to be invited to interview Dorie for a Baking with Dorie Book Talk at the Essex, Connecticut Public Library in November of 2021. Although we met Dorie and Michael Greenspan decades ago, its only been in the past 7 or 8

You’ve nibbled a pignoli and perhaps tasted a zeppole at an Italian street fair. And I know you’ve ordered cannoli at least once. (I have.) But have you really experienced the array of sweets that fill a typical Italian bakery in a city where many have been in business for more than 100 years? What keeps generation after generation of customers coming back? To help you find out, I created a map of some of