Do you have your Thanksgiving menu worked out? Hopefully you do. But if you don’t, here’s help! We’ve done a lot of Thanksgiving meals over the years here in the Yankee kitchen, and I’ve collected some recipes that happen to by my personal favorites. So if you’re looking for that great turkey or side dish […]
Amy Traverso
How To
Five-Minute Shadow Box
Our new house was built in 1920 and is the oldest house I’ve ever owned. I feel like I should turn in my Yankee credentials to admit that fact, but there it is. My childhood homes near Hartford, CT were built in the 1940s and 1980s, respectively. When my husband and I bought our first […]
Food
A Weekend Food Tour
It was so wonderful to be back at Cider Days in western Massachusetts this past weekend. This festival of apples and apple cider (hard and sweet) has become a touchstone. I only wish I could’ve stayed longer! Here’s a shot of me demonstrating how to make cornbread dressing with sausage and apples, courtesy of my […]
In honor of the great hard cider producers in our region, here’s a recipe for cheddar-cider fondue that I came up with last week, and which I have now added to my “I wish I’d put this in the book” file. It’s a reinterpretation of the classic fondue recipe found in The Joy of Cooking, […]
Now that we’ve finished renovating a house and are in the process of decorating it, I’m finding that, like many New Englanders, my favorite finds are those that come from off-the-beaten-track sources: flea markets, Etsy, and Craigslist. This piece wins for being both unexpected and incredibly useful: It’s a 1970s mail sorter from the Natick, […]
Massachusetts
Cider Days, and a Cheddar-Cider Fondue Recipe
In two weeks, one of my favorite New England festivals is taking place in Western Massachusetts. Cider Days is a celebration of all things apple, with orchard tours, apple tastings, cidermaking, a grand “cider salon” with samples from around the world (that’s hard cider, not juice), workshops, kids’ activities, and more. Events take place all […]
Exciting times this week! I was in New York yesterday making apple dumplings and apple butter with none other than Martha Stewart for her Martha Show. The episodes will air this Thursday, October 20, at 10 a.m. on the Hallmark Channel. Anyone who has paid attention to food or home design or crafts or magazines […]
New England’s craft fairs make holiday shopping fun while supporting the region’s richly talented artisans.
When acclaimed chef Frank McClelland hosts a Thanksgiving dinner at home, his food is rooted in a love of fresh, local ingredients.
I realize my posts of late have been entirely apple-centric, but such is the focus of my life these days as I get out to promote my book. I promise that once November rolls around, I’ll turn my eyes to the wider world of food. For now, I want to take you to a very […]
Side Dishes
Quick Bread-and-Butter Apple Pickles
This relish is actually a bit different from the bread-and-butter pickles you may know from childhood. It’s also much simpler. It does have a similar flavor profile, though: sweet and bright, with warm spices. It’s a quick pickle in every sense—just a thirty-minute bath in the vinegar before it’s ready to serve, and I simply […]
Food
A Maine Farm Tour
I just spent a weekend touring some of coastal Maine’s most beautiful farms on a press tour with the Maine Farmland Trust. The purpose of the trip was to not only give a group of writers a taste of Maine’s best food, but to educate them on some of the challenges to building a thriving […]