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cat-sized watermelons and other indignities

My last post overstated things. Prosciutto and butter and bread are excellent, yes. But that was then (May), and this is now (July), and the city has an ineffable stickiness that makes you root, root, root for the kids wasting water with the open hydrants (you know it’s wrong, but man is it fun to bike through the spray).

So I’ve been eating my share of squash and blueberries, favas and corn like the rest of the local food crazies. This being my first year in a CSA, I’m gonna crack open the cat-sized watermelon* I just got and turn it into the glorious watermelon-feta salad featured in the August InStyle (the one with Jessica Biel on the cover). It’s a Hugh Acheson recipe, and part of an article on summery Southern cooking by yours truly. All of his recipes are lovely and light, and I’ve been dreaming up riffs on his Pimm’s Cup all summer. Pictured above (right) is Acheson’s fava bean, prosciutto and mint appetizer. It is wonderful.

In less melony news, a bunch of my copy for Bon Appétit is live; I worked on this “Dress for Dinner” project (scroll down) and wrote all the little restaurant reviews. I’ve also been working on guides to various cities in collaboration with Restaurant and Drinks Editor Andrew Knowlton. I’m particularly pleased with the Boston and San Francisco writeups, so please clickety click.

A couple of parting notes: If you are biking, please wear your helmet: I got doored by a car that was illegally parked in a bike lane a couple of months ago, went flying, and was bruised for weeks. I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this if I hadn’t been properly kitted out.

Fellow stone fruit aficionados, don’t miss this article by Mark Bittman. Each approach is so easy: Cherries are simmered in a touch of water and sugar, then maybe topped with mint and crème fraîche (above, left): I am an ice cream fanatic, and I temporarily forgot about ice cream’s existence when I ate these cherries.

Hope you’re having a rad summer.

* We have a large cat. This was a very large melon. It dwarfed her. She seemed indignant. Post title explained.

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picnic like you mean it

It’s been a while. And now it’s hot outside. I’m not one of these people who covets salads, tiny berries and buckets of water when it’s hot. I covet ice cream and barbecue, lobster rolls and chicken liver mousse. Weird but true.

To that effect, here’s my favorite picnic sandwich. A twist on the super-simple French classic of meat, butter and baguette, it combines prosciutto di parma, unsalted European butter, and a ramp dressing (minced ramps, olive oil, salt and pepper). Take a whole baguette, lace it with folds of prosciutto, and slather one side with butter and a scallion-or-ramp olive oil mixture (stick to butter if you don’t feel like puréeing scallions). Wrap the whole beastie in wax paper, then foil. Hand out mini wrapped sandwiches at a picnic. Wait for people to ask where you bought it. Laugh.

It’s expensive, sure, for the good prosciutto. But there’s nothing better than this and the Times on a lazy Sunday… unless it’s this, the Times, and a big glass of bourbon mint lemonade.

I’ve been writing for a few great clients lately. I did a piece for InStyle about which I can say nothing until it hits newsstands, wrote some fun marketing copy for Tasting Table (to which everyone should subscribe), and have started working with the lovely folks at Bon Appétit, where I’m a contributing writer. A few of my articles will be popping up there over the coming months.

Oh! And there’s this: Anthony Bourdain, whose life I find so fascinating, was kind enough to chat with me for an epic Grub Street piece—an effort to understand why people who love AB love him So Much.

Happy almost-summer, folks. Eat some salad. Just put cheese on it in case I’m in the vicinity.

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here we go, then.

Hi! I’m a Rhode Island–based writer, editor and content strategist specializing in food, drink, travel, culture and parenting. My portfolio, which contains my professional email address, is here. 

My work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Gourmet, New York Magazine, The Daily Beast, InStyle, Bon Appétit, Salon, Food & Wine, Real Simple, Men’s Health,  Grub Street, Martha Stewart Living, MyRecipes, and Everyday Food, among other publications. I write and edit cookbooks (Phaidon; Melville House) and advise on content strategy for companies such as Panna, Pylon AI and Food Republic. I’ve been a staff editor at Yahoo Food, a senior research editor for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, the staff food writer for Time Out New York, and an editor at Da Capo Press.

The videos I hosted, wrote and produced for CHOW, which aired 12 times weekly on NY1, were nominated for an International Association of Culinary Professionals award for best Televised Culinary Series in 2012. In 2009 I spent six months as Blog Editor of Slashfood, and co-authored the original edition of Clean Plates NYC, a restaurant guide. I’ve also done some copywriting for companies including Gilt Taste and American Express Custom Publishing. Most recently, I’ve learned that my essay for The New York Times about the language we use to describe and food and babies will be in the 2020 BEST AMERICAN FOOD WRITING anthology.

I’m on Instagram and Twitter. Here are a few favorite clips:

The New York Times: I was interested in why people talk about babies and fetuses as though they’re edible, so I interviewed a ton of smart academics and wrote “I Just Want to Eat Her Up!”

The Washington Post:  A feature on topics close to my heart: cooking, feminism, and personal freedom. (It’s also a profile of the talented writer Tamar Adler.)

The New York Times: I apologized to new parents on behalf of food writers.

Gourmet: Some weekends you catch a film or make a nice bowl of soup, and other weekends you walk 32 miles under the I-5 freeway with a dinner table strapped to your back. (Click here.)

The Washington Post: I was curious as to whether the madly hyped Instant Pot could triumph over my Dutch oven in a side-by-side taste test, so I wrote a lengthy cover feature story for the Food section of this great publication.

The Daily Beast: An Irish family, Long Island, and a one-legged Thanksgiving turkey caper.

CHOW/ NY1: The New York CHOW Report, an (award-nominated!) weekly segment I wrote, hosted and produced for CHOW.com, aired 12 times weekly on NY1 from 2010 through 2011. Check it out!

MyRecipes: I wrote a thrice-weekly home cooking column for this site all through 2017, and had so much fun with it.

The Kitchn: A 2,000-word reported essay on the state of our protein obsession.

Bon Appétit: My many BonAppétit.com pieces include 10 Weekender travel guides to cities including Boston and Seattle.

Salon: How Gourmet was for the young and the scrappy, too.

Yahoo Food: Why we need to cook for the sick and heartbroken.

Grub Street: Easter egg hunting gone wild, the Anthony Bourdain brand, and some thoughts on crack pie.

Time Out: I interview former New York Times food critic Ruth Reichl and ask whether her hobbies include the WWF. Sort of. A primer on Gotham’s wonderful ramen, and how to use cocktails to salve holiday woes.

InStyle: My features about Hugh Acheson, Katie Lee Joel, Giada De Laurentiis, Chace Crawford and Blair Underwood are available as PDFs upon request.

Metromix: Oenophile Ron Ciavolino knows more about wine—and life—than you do, and here elaborates.

Contact: If you want to discuss an assignment or full-time opportunity, or simply wish to say hello, please leave a comment (or email grublover AT gee mail dot com). Comments are vetted before posting. (NB: I don’t accept free meals in exchange for coverage, nor do I take press trips.) Thanks!