The Traveler's Lunchbox

The Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School

2012-04-24T10:01:19Z

So, Sicily.

As much as I loved Palermo, I have to say it paled in comparison to the the five days I spent with the most incredible group of bloggers at the Anna Tasca Lanza Cooking School.

Springtime in Sicily

2012-03-31T10:13:34Z

Let me offer you a piece of advice.

Should you ever find yourself, on a particularly dark winter day, opening your inbox to find an email inviting you to spend a week in Sicily in early spring, here's a few things you shouldn't do. Don't stop to think about your schedule, or how any number of things might come up in your life between now and then to prevent you from going. Don't start looking at your travel options yet, which on first glance always appear to be more convoluted and/or expensive than they will actually turn out to be. Don't start wondering if your family will ever speak to you again when you announce you're abandoning them to their frigid northern fates while you jet off for a romp in the Mediterranean sun. Don't hesitate even for a minute, just hit the reply button and type the biggest 'YES!' your sense of propriety and font options will allow, and hit send.

Born-Again Vegetable Boiling

2012-03-14T14:14:36Z

I suspect today's recipe is going to be a hard sell.

It offers no exotic ingredients, unusual spices or trendy cooking methods à la sous vide. It contains no pasta, cheese or chocolate, and hasn't been culled from the pages of the latest celebrity food tome. It's not even very visually appealing, essentially consisting of various shades of beige. And it that weren't bad enough, the things it does feature are firmly entrenched at the top of many people's 'most-detested' lists: anchovies, mayonnaise, cauliflower, and a pot of boiling water as the main cooking medium.

An Inspiring Book

2012-02-29T18:07:50Z

I have a really fantastic new book to tell you about today. In fact, it's one of the most beautiful books I've seen in a long time. Just look at it. Don't you just want to grab a mug of something hot and curl up with it on the sofa?

Cold Comfort

2012-02-12T13:37:00Z

Europe, as you've no doubt heard, has been pretty cold lately. After a far-warmer-than-average November, December and January, February donned its icy gloves and sent an entire continent reeling with a left hook that nobody saw coming.

The Pizza Project

2012-01-27T11:28:57Z

A few weeks ago I was sitting in what I sometimes describe (depending on my mood) as my favorite restaurant in the world: Ken's Artisan Pizza in Portland, Oregon. It's a tradition my dad, stepmom and I have every time I spend a few days in town; we go to Ken's on my first night, or my last night, or sometimes both. Sometimes I secretly wish we could eat there all the nights in between too. I love the place that much.

Happy 2012, Long Time No See

2012-01-19T10:20:49Z

Dear Friends,

Hi! How are you? Staying warm, I hope, or cool if you're reading this from the southern half of the globe. Things around here are fine—and so am I, despite what the long silence around here may have led you to believe. I know, I'm sorry—I feel terrible for vanishing without a trace like that. And as delicious as that butter chicken was, well, six months (oops, actually almost seven) is an awfully long time to be staring at it.

How to Cook Indian

2011-06-24T12:12:33Z

You've heard of Sanjeev Kapoor, right? You know, the author of more than three dozen cookbooks, host of Asia's longest-running cooking show (actually, television program of any kind!), owner of multiple restaurants and brains behind the eponymous website that registers 25 million hits per month?

The Holy Grail of Cookies

2011-05-24T12:12:36Z

My dear husband celebrated a birthday recently, and like every year, I started steeling myself for the inevitable conversation several days in advance. Normally it goes something like this:

It's an Honor...

2011-05-03T10:28:03Z

...just to be nominated, in this case for the second time as one of Saveur Magazine's six best food and travel blogs on the web. If you haven't visited their 2011 blog awards yet, don't doddle; like last year, it's a smorgasbord of talent, and I'm sure you'll find several fabulous new sites to add to your daily reads.

A Super, Natural Spread

2011-04-22T13:49:00Z

The weather gods have finally decided to smile on northern Europe. While the rest of the hemisphere gradually stumbles into spring, we've been blessed with too many magnificently warm, fine days to count. And this week seems to be their culmination: the skies are an endless expanse of sapphire, the sun is golden and intense, and everything is flowering and blossoming like mad. All I want to do is sit in the garden next to the crazy-fragrant lilac bush and bask in this crazy-unexpected heat. The only time I even think about opening my laptop is to check the weather forecast of places like Athens and Madrid (ha ha, suckers!) and delight in this rare and wonderful feeling of climatic schadenfreude.

Kitchen Classics

2011-04-05T12:15:58Z

Here's a question for all you cookbook-hoarders out there: if you were forced to reduce the number of books in your possession, and you were allowed to keep either your books that are at least twenty years old or those that are less than ten, which ones would you keep — the old or the new?

Pkhali, Unearthed

2011-03-20T10:07:36Z

I recently decided to re-organize my bookshelves. Actually it was a new cookbook that prompted this decision, since when I tried to find a spot for it on the right shelf, I realized I couldn't; not only was the shelf full, the entire bookcase was too. Luckily the one across the room still had some space I could hijack, so I set to work redistributing and rearranging, and in the process, rediscovered a number of books I had completely forgotten I owned.

Out of Africa, Into the Bowl

2011-03-03T10:13:54Z

In fourth grade there was a girl named Karen who I envied something fierce. Karen was cool and pretty, she beat the boys at every sport in PE, and everyone—regardless of gender—wanted to be her friend. The main reason I envied her, though, was for her lunches. In stark contrast to my tuna or egg salad on whole wheat and fruit-juice-sweetened granola bars, Karen's lunchbags were a cornucopia of forbidden delights: Ritz crackers topped with canned Velveeta, snack-pack pudding cups, tall stacks of Oreo cookies and the coup de grâce, fluffernutter sandwiches on squishy white bread*.

Celebrating Love (Cake)

2011-02-15T13:29:00Z

Mid-February always presents me with a dilemma: to post about Valentine's Day or not? On one hand it's usually the first opportunity to talk about an indulgent dessert after six long weeks of steamed-broccoli-and-whole-grain-everything living. And usually a chocolate dessert is called for, which is a great opportunity to remedy the paltry amount of chocolate recipes I have on this site. On the other hand, the older I get the less I feel like celebrating the day. It was all fine and good back in my early 20s to embrace the kitsch and syrupy canned sentiment; now, though, it feels forced and awkward, and somehow trivializes the real business of loving in a long-term partnership. Add to that how commercial it all is with the cards and flowers and chocolates and jewelry (none of which can be skimped on, lest it be a reflection of your commitment to the relationship!), not to mention competitive (heaven forbid your friends are serenading/being serenaded better than you!), and it's enough to just want to make me stick my head in a hole until it's over.