Welcome to heatheranneatwood.com, where I keep track of my projects. Ask me questions! haatwood@gmail.com
The diet game is all about deprivation and denial. So learn to outsmart the game. Learn to play it in reverse. Make the game be about, “what delicious thing CAN I make for myself today?”
In late October three men from the BBC and one Cornwall fisherman checked into the rooms above the Crow’s Nest; they returned to England with a new Gloucester export: Community Shared Fisheries.
Maybe all this is happening in some lab?
Under one lamp by day
and billions by night?
A cornmeal pound cake, graced with pears poached in a rosemary syrup, sugared rosemary sprigs on the side, this dessert is winter fondly remembering September.
I belong to the “Always Eat Lentils On New Year’s Day” religion. Some may call it superstition; I call it religion, because I believe eating lentils - any recipe, any shape, any temperature, any course - will make the following year a lucky one.
This recipe is guacamole all grown up. Four avocados pureed with cream cheese, shallot, garlic and chili powder, the pate becomes a suave version of one’s favorite Southwest flavors.
There are two very nice things about making Larsen’s Fish Stew. The first is that you get to think about sunsets in Menemsha while you're chopping vegetables. The second is that it's delicious and interesting, a Japanese and Baltimore twist on chowder.
I was in Lula’s Pantry recently and couldn’t resist the handmade Ligurian Pastas, “Sapori di Liguria.”
This sweet bread recipe is what Joan Mansfield of Rockport, Massachusetts, has been making as long as she can remember; Simple but redolent, it’s a traditional treasure, probably what’s been coming out of country ovens in Sweden since the Vikings returned with the first cardamon pods.
My family is kind of traditional and kind of not. Since I’ve been a child my mother and I have made our own wreaths and garland for Christmas, only we don’t do it every year. Some years someone’s too busy, or not around, or we can’t find the clippers. My family is also members of that mocked tribe of humanity who eat fruitcake. My grandmother - not a warm, round gramma type but a bony, mascara-ed, glamorous Daaahling of a grandmother, made a moist, black glistening loaf every year.
Paris is, of course, the land of gilded meals, meals meant to be shared and celebrated with others, but I learned that the city is also brilliant at serving the lone diner, making them feel nourished spiritually and otherwise.
Everyone should visit the Vanves Flea Market and the Montmartre Cemetery in Paris. They’re both outside, a good thing to try to do even on the dreariest of Paris days. They don’t have to cost anything, but in the case of the market, if they cost something it’s a deal. And they both make you think about past French lives.
It’s like coming home for the Stein Collection to show at the Grand Palais, so many of these artists were associated with the Salons here. And yet this show is clearly one person’s personal taste extracted from - or imposed upon - now gigantic artistic characters.
The Gertrude and Leo Stein Collection at the Grand Palais will be traveling to the U.S. this winter, but Gertrude Stein said, “America is my country and Paris is my hometown.” I want to see her collection of paintings - some of the greatest Modernist and Cubist work in the world, collected by a genius - in her hometown. I'll include recipes by Stein's companion, Alice B. Toklas, and hopefully some Paris Christmas.
Marzipankartoffeln - or Marzipan Potatoes - are a German tradition, often passed out to friends in small bags at Christmas time. I’m not German, but long ago adopted these sweet little tubers for the adorable joke of them. As marzipan shapes go, I think these are the funniest and the easiest.
To say Pier Gustafson, calligrapher, illustrator, designer and drawer of wonderful things, is a calligrapher is like saying Mozart writes songs.
In Europe this time of year one can buy a pound of fresh marzipan to take home and shape into little mushrooms as easily as one can buy Brie. As far as I know there is one, and only one, source for Christmas old world staples like fresh marzipan and fresh citron by the pound in the Northeast: Polcari’s Coffee in Boston’s North End.
Paris may have Poilane, but if they were really lucky they would have Alexandra’s. I’m not exaggerating. Alexandra’s Bread in Gloucester, MA , a tiny, tin-ceilinged store front owned and operated by Alexandra Rhinelander and Jonathan Hardy, bakes bread that would crack a smile on the iciest Parisian fashion model.
Recently, lead by Jason Grow, a bunch of us spent an afternoon putting together tamales. It was so much fun, it made me think there really is no reason why New England shouldn’t abandon the gingerbread-house making business and start embracing tamales as a Christmas tradition. Which project would you rather choose, one at which eggnog is traditionally served, or tequila?
Cilantro and ginger root get in the blender with margarita elements - lime, tequila and sugar - to create a lively emerald cocktail. Herbaceous and citrusy, with that sweet, vegetal tequila note, it’s the exact sip while assembling the Christmas tamales.