Appetizers

My neighbor Karen watched me hauling grocery bags out of my car one Tuesday afternoon, and she didn’t say anything at first. Then she just … Read more

I had refused to make anything with sweet potatoes for years. A solid decade, maybe more. I blamed it on the texture — that weird, … Read more

My niece asked why I couldn’t just throw some cranberry sauce into the deviled egg filling instead of going through the whole “topping situation” I … Read more

There used to be a little dive bar on the corner of 7th and Main in my old neighborhood that made the most insane jalapeño … Read more

There used to be a tiny, dimly lit bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans called Le Masque. It wasn’t on any tourist map. … Read more

I was standing in the frozen food aisle at the grocery store last October, my hand hovering over a bag of frozen spinach, when a … Read more

My neighbor across the hall, a woman named Rosa who grew up in Oaxaca, watched me haul a bag of green tomatoes out of my … Read more

There used to be a little sports bar on the corner of Elm and 4th, a place called The Dugout, that made a buffalo chicken … Read more

I was digging through the back of my pantry last Tuesday, looking for a can of black beans I swore was there, when my fingers … Read more

The Halloween party was in five hours and I’d completely forgotten. Everyone else would be bringing those elaborate themed dishes—you know, the ones that look … Read more