Ode to Pound Cake
The best place to find a tasty slice of pound cake is in the basement of a Black church after Sunday services.
On a typical...
Mourning in the Time of COVID-19
Tuesday, April 21st: “Mom’s in the ER. Dr. recommends hospice,” reads a text from my sister.
My mother's dementia is not new but this message...
How to Eat Chinese Food
There is nothing quite like the din of a large Chinese restaurant and the cacophony in the vast dining hall of The New Fortune...
Crumbs
I’m prone to guilt, coming as it does in crumbs and great big slices. Or sometimes as the entire pie. I feel it right...
Losing Taste Amid Coronavirus
In my big Italian family, cooking together is a chaotic, noisy, raucous production. We bump into each other, fight over the accompanying playlist, and...
Molasses Meanderings
A few weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic, I was craving molasses. Like many others, I sure had time to bake.
Author Ta-Nehisi Coates started it....
Appetite
My husband Will told me that he once stood at the kitchen sink to eat a pig’s foot. He had followed a recipe from...
Appliances
On Tuesday the latch knob hurtles off the toaster,
startles me, small silver bullet of the morning.
On Wednesday, pressing down the lever,
I flinch and take...
Pandemics and Pasta: Sustenance in the Viral Age
Tonight, I am roasting ripe Heirloom tomatoes with onions, garlic, and olive oil in a 400-degree-oven while a blend of mushrooms, garlic, and white...
Baking for the Masses
“Bakers, welcome back to another round of Baking for the Masses!” The host beamed at the contestants, gaze sliding just above the level of...
Butter
Long ago, when I was a child, when my grandmother was a good deal younger than I am now, I loved watching her make...
Kinship
On the evening of Valentine's Day, 2019, Marisa, Arianna and I gathered at Kinship where Marisa worked as a hostess. She had just left...