Monday Night Dinner

I have a love/hate relationship with America’s Test Kitchen.  On the one hand any recipe you get from America’s Test Kitchen will be absolutely reliable.  It will work as advertised, and it will result in the quintessential version of whatever it is that you’re making.  If you’re looking for the archetypical beef stew, or apple pie, or blueberry slump, you cannot do better than referring to America’s Test Kitchen for a recipe.

On the other hand, in their quest for perfectly replicable results and classic recipes they often end up adding about seventeen more steps than I think are necessary, or am willing to contemplate doing.  I’m sure that their garlic bread with two kinds of garlic – slowly cooked in a little butter until sweet and nutty, and also sprinkled on raw at the last minute for punch – and eight steps is the best garlic bread in the world and if garlic bread had aspirations, this is what it would aspire to be.  But, I also think that’s a lot of work for garlic bread. Read the rest of this entry ?

If I see one more Dunkin’ Donuts ad for iced coffee to “cool you off during those hot summer days”, or get another email from Anthropologie suggesting “sultry colors for spicy days”, or have to watch another episode of Barefoot Contessa where she picnics outside in the sunshine I may snap and do something drastic. Like move to England in search of the sun, it looks lovely and sunny at Wimbledon.

Read the rest of this entry ?