Thanksgiving is the biggest eating holiday of the year, pored over exhaustively by every media outlet that covers food. Rather than pile on yet another recipe for turkey or sides, we wanted to offer a couple of easy recipes to bookend the main meal. All three can be made with supermarket ingredients, and each relies on… Continue reading Roasted Squash Soup, Favorite Thanksgiving Salad and Maple-Pumpkin Flan
In our adult lives, we’ve never experienced a more anxiety-producing Presidential election season than the one finally drawing to an end this week. Whatever side you’re on, it’s been nearly impossible to avoid feeling some level of panic over the outcome. It’s hard to imagine there will be many Election Night parties this year, as… Continue reading Best Blondies
Many cultures have at least one holiday geared towards our inner pyromaniac, when we get to blow things up and burn things down. In the U.S.A., it’s July 4th; in France, Bastille Day (which Zanthe once spent in the Place de la Bastille itself, an experience not unlike being under heavy mortar fire); and New… Continue reading Baked Sausages with Apples, Onions & Cider and Mashed Potatoes
It’s easy to get caught up in the creepy parts of Halloween while forgetting that the holiday originated as a way to honor and remember the dead, rather than fearing them. The Day of the Dead, or Día de Muertos, may be the best-known of the many global festivals that revolve around remembrances of dead… Continue reading Mexican Chicken and Roasted Squash with Pumpkin Seed Mole, and Tortilla Soup
The fall season is chock-a-block with harvest festivals, all over the world. Just as new life in springtime is celebrated the world over, so too is the gathering of the summer’s bounty in autumn. For those of us separated from an agrarian life by generations and miles, harvest festivals are all that remain of this… Continue reading Stuffed Peppers, Eggplant with Lamb & Pine Nuts, and Spiced Apple Cake
Although Easter is Greece’s most important religious holiday, second place without a doubt goes to Assumption Day, celebrated during the season most tourists associate with this sun-kissed land. On August 15th, Catholics, Anglicans and Orthodox Christians celebrate the assumption of Mary into heaven, although the different branches differ in their interpretations of what exactly preceded the… Continue reading Greek Tuna Salad, Chard Dolmades and Watermelon Granita
We’ve reached the high-summer holiday of July 4th, the quintessential get-out-there-and-enjoy-the-heat American rite of passage. Americans associate July 4th with grilling, beer, fireworks, parades, flags, and celebrating freedom–in more or less that order. It’s a super patriotic day that occasions fireworks even in remote American outposts. If you do a quick poll of friends and… Continue reading Grilled Vietnamese Pork with Salad & Rice Noodles and Summer Berry Bundt Cake
Shavuot is one of the big three non-High Holy Days, a moveable Jewish celebration that falls in late May or early June, commemorating the anniversary of the day God handed down the Torah to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. Along with Passover in the spring and Sukkot in the fall, it is one of the… Continue reading Mushroom & Cheese Bourekas and Mango-Lime Cheesecake
Memorial Day is one of those mixed-up American holidays that began as something solemn and metamorphosized into a celebration. While it honors the American men and women who gave their lives in the U.S. military, it has also become the de facto kickoff to summer and grilling season. Originally known as Decoration Day, after the practice of decorating fallen soldiers’… Continue reading Grilled Baby Back Ribs, Quick Pickles and Potato Salad with Ramp Dressing
Corpus Christi, also known as Corpus Domini, is a Christian festival honoring the body and blood of Christ and its presence in the Holy Eucharist. We have Juliana of Liège, a 13th century Belgian canoness, to thank for its institution: Juliana was part of a group of women who dedicated themselves to Eucharist worship and… Continue reading Honey Madeleines and Honey-Lavender Ice Cream
Festive Food Project 