Sticking with the theme of last month’s column, party preparation, let’s bring our attention to the main event: dinner and drinks. As a relatively social person, I’ve hosted groups of friends and family at my house for dinner, drinks and dessert numerous times over the years. Sometimes I get overly ambitious and attempt to make something I’ve never tried before with the world’s longest recipe in hopes of making our dinner a meal to remember. […]
I’m going to take a guess here: You probably haven’t ever made your own cheese before. It’s ok, you’re not alone. Up until a few weeks ago, I had never even considered venturing into the unknown territory of amateur cheesemaking. But then, over happy hour drinks, a friend mentioned her interest in trying her hand at it, and my ears perked up. Later that night, as I flipped through the pages of my latest Bon Appetit, I serendipitously happened to see a recipe for ricotta—the editors vowed it was a breez… […]
While nobody is keeling over dead at the Iowa House Hotel’s continental breakfast or fainting of malnourishment in workshop, the 34 fall writers in the… […]
If we are what we eat, we have almost no choice but to be corn. It’s an ingredient in so much of what we consume, knowingly or not, but here in Iowa City, it’s a constant summer reminder of who […]
Here’s the conundrum: I’ve found myself at an unpleasant crossroads. I’m in my 30s, have high blood pressure and need to lose weight; but I am, by nature, an epicure. Until a little while ago, this joie de vivre served […]
Post-holidays can be a tricky time and it seems like every year I eat a little more, drink a little longer and exercise a little less.
Having noticed my expanding waistline, my health-centric-physically-fit-yogi-fiancé decided to take drastic measures and put us on a three-week health kick called the “Crazy Sexy Diet.” […]
In these chilly mid-winter months, all it takes is a good spirit to ease the shivers and warm the soul. In the search for winter cheer, Melissa Sinclair, general manager of the Motley Cow Café, and Katy Meyer, owner and […]
When I was a kid, you got your ice cream at a Baskin Robbins franchise in a strip mall next to a Fayva, where you got your plastic jelly shoes. I had heard of “drugstores” where you could sit at […]
Arnold Lobel’s storybook characters Frog and Toad are two of the literary giants from my childhood that have enjoyed second, third and (currently) fourth revivals for me as I’ve shared their stories with each of my children. Although I still […]
I am supposed to meet him (I don’t know his name) at the corner gas station where I expect he will be standing outside of a beat-up farm truck with Muscatine county plates. Last time I was here to buy from […]
How does a middle-class working mother splurge? Retail therapy? No, not shoes—if I can’t wear them to work or at home then why bother? Not handbags—they will just get Gatorade spilled on them. Concert tickets—nah, too tired to leave the […]
