The Traveler's Lunchbox

The Italian Farmer's Table

melissa — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:19:09 +0000

Ah, March. Without a doubt, the month that most makes me wish I had a remote control that could fast-forward to the end of all this winter unpleasantness, these last few weeks when the season digs in its heels and stubbornly refuses to leave. I know there are many places on earth where March isn't that bad, where spring is already knocking at the door (or, even further south, where summer is still lingering), but from my vantage point it couldn't get much worse. At last count there is at least another month of winter to endure, possibly two if we get really unlucky. And I'm not putting my money on luck after the winter we've had, in Europe the coldest for 50 years. 50 years, can you imagine? Here in Germany snow fell almost uninterruptedly from mid-December until about a week ago (and is falling again as of about five minutes ago! grrrr...). Poor Lily must think she's been exiled to Siberia, out of the frying pan and into the freezer. Not long ago I stepped outside and realized I had forgotten what it felt like to walk on surfaces not covered with ice.

For the One You Tart

melissa — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:29:00 +0000

I'm embarrassingly ambivalent about a lot of holidays, and big ones at that. I can't remember the last time I did anything for Easter (maybe an egg hunt when I was a kid?), and most years I consider it a miracle if we end up having something fancier than pasta for Thanksgiving dinner. Valentine's Day should be the same story - I mean, I detest all kinds of kitsch and forced sentiment - but try as I might I never seem to be able to ignore it. Nearly every year, despite my better judgment and my insistence that this year we're definitely not buying into the holiday hype, some kind of celebratory treat materializes in my kitchen. Obviously I'm either an incurable romantic, or I just can't pass up an opportunity to eat chocolate. I suspect it's the latter.

Blog Aid for Haiti: The Cookbook

melissa — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 13:19:24 +0000

I hardly even know where to begin on this one. I'm so thrilled to have been invited to contribute to this project, and so happy that I can finally share it with you. Nobody needs an introduction to the earthquake that happened last month in Haiti, but unlike most of us who sat in front of the pictures feeling helpless, one woman pulled on her combat boots and came up with a plan.

Happy New Decade, Now Pass the Pâté

melissa — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 13:37:47 +0000

Well hello, and happy new year. Or happy new decade, actually. Has it sunk in for you yet? It hasn't for me, that's for sure. I just can't figure out where the last one escaped to. I remember my stepdad telling me when I was young that the older I got, the quicker time would seem to pass. Isn't that the truth! Every time I think about that it kind of scares me, since I'm not that old, yet the years already seem to be flying by faster than I can keep track of them. But ready or not, here we are in the tens, or teens, or whatever they're going to end up being called, and despite the fact that I don't know where the past decade went, there is something undeniably exciting about facing the totally clean slate of a new one and contemplating its endless possibilities.

Merry Christmas, Frohe Weihnachten

melissa — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:07:02 +0000

How does this happen every year? One minute I'm looking at the calendar and it's the beginning of December, and the next minute Christmas is barely a day away. Actually here in Germany it's Christmas already, since the main part of the celebrating is done the night of the 24th. While that's a little hard to get used to for someone raised on the Christmas-morning adrenaline rush (and really, what's Christmas without the too-excited-to-sleep night before Christmas?), I've decided that the best thing is to embrace both traditions, which is exactly what we'll be doing. After all, that means twice the Christmas fun!

Menu for Hope 6

melissa — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:36:13 +0000

Complete the following: if it's December, it must be time for...

Did you say Menu for Hope? Of course you did!

What We're Thankful For

melissa — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:55:00 +0000

Being abroad is hard on Thanksgiving, probably harder than on any other holiday. After all, here in Germany it's just another Thursday full of work and errands and all the usual mid-week hassles. Years ago in Edinburgh I tried to make Thanksgiving Thursday something special, to celebrate the holiday no matter how many logistical hurdles I had to battle. But feasting just wasn't the same when there were only two of us eating, there were only a couple of frantic hours to cook, and I knew I couldn't overdo it since I'd have to drag myself out of bed the next morning and go to work. Trying to celebrate that way only made me miss Thanksgiving even more.

Q&A: The Silk Road Gourmet

melissa — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:24:00 +0000

I think it would be somewhat of an understatement to say I have fondness for books about food, travel and culture. So when Laura Kelley asked if I would like to see a copy of her new cookbook The Silk Road Gourmet - the first of a self-published three volume series exploring the cuisines of thirty countries along the ancient Silk Road - I couldn't hit the reply button fast enough to say yes.

Friends, Beets, Enemies

melissa — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:12:27 +0000

I've never understood beet-haters. I can fully sympathize with brussels-sprout-haters, for instance, since I even used to be one myself before realizing that a splash of olive oil and a turn in a hot oven make all the difference in the world. Also things like kale (so vegetal! so chewy!) and eggplant (slimy and bitter in the wrong hands) occasionally turn even my stomach, so I can fully comprehend why some people swear them off completely.

Home is Where the Cake is

melissa — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 11:17:00 +0000

It's funny, the things moving teaches you about yourself. Particularly big, trans-global moves - like the two we've done in the last year - are as much about the journey of self-discovery as they are about the journey of things. I now know, for example, exactly which of my material possessions are important to me, since paying by the cubic millimeter to retain possession of them - twice - forces you to figure that out fast. I also have a heightened appreciation of the shades of gray between what I can and cannot live without. Like, I now know that I can live without a microwave but I cannot live without a set of handheld beaters, and that I prefer not to live without a salad spinner but that's it's considerably more preferable than living without a dishwasher. And as for those dwarf-sized fridges without an inbuilt freezer that I happily waved goodbye to when we left Europe, it seems I'll force my husband to drive two hours to pick up a fridge I bought on ebay rather than live with one of those again, even if it was provided free with our apartment. But that's not being unreasonable, is it?

Hello, Deutschland

melissa — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:45:22 +0000

Satays, Staff of Life

melissa — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 01:20:27 +0000

Some days, I think I could live off satays. It's not everyday I think this, and in fact most days I don't think about satays at all, but on those days when I do (which coincidentally happen to be the days when I eat them too), I find myself so besotted by them that I think I could really, truly eat nothing else - okay, maybe aside from a little bit of ice cream now and then - and still be happy.

Culture Shock

melissa — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:31:16 +0000

I seem to be the Northwest's new homemade-dairy evangelist. First it was ricotta, and now I'm encouraging the good people of Seattle to make butter - cultured butter, no less. Watch out, next thing you know I'll be telling you to adopt your own cow.

10 Great Things to Do (and Eat) on PEI

melissa — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 20:06:05 +0000

Okay, okay, so nothing will stump you guys. I don't know why I try. :) I was, of course, on Prince Edward Island, best known for being the smallest Canadian province and the home of Lucy Maud Montgomery, who published the enduringly popular Anne of Green Gables in 1908. In fact, Anne is a huge draw here - on some parts of the island it's impossible to take two steps without bumping into some Anne-themed establishment or memorabilia, or a Japanese tour group looking for the same. Nevertheless, as fascinating as Anne is, for the last few years the island has been pushing hard to break out of its literary pigeonhole and establish a new identity - a culinary one.

On the Road

melissa — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 11:32:07 +0000

There are so many things I've been meaning to tell you about, but life right now is just crazy. This week, for example, I'm on assignment in a (rather surprising) culinary paradise. It's a place I've dreamed of coming ever since I was a little girl and fell in love with a certain red-haired literary heroine, but it turns out they have some pretty amazing food too. Do you have any idea where it might be?