Category Archives: Love

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: The Season for Cholent (Crockpot Stew, vegan/GF)

Posted on by

This weekend I made our first cholent of the season for Sukkot, the fall harvest festival. We ate it inside our beautiful sukkah, built mostly by my husband, but this year with the help —for the first time — of our very young grandchildren. Cholent warms you from the inside out in chilly weather, and then, just little while later, it is gone.

I have made cholent (a crockpot stew traditionally served on holidays and Shabbat) a thousand times or more in my life, and no two versions have ever come out exactly the same. But, like riding a bike, there is a rhythm to the recipe, and once you get the rhythm, it belongs to you for the rest of your life. Continue reading →

YOUR HEALTHY PLATE: Red Soup for the Holidays

Posted on by

In the days when my house was full of school-age children, I used to make crockpots full of soup every weekend, and hope that it would last into the beginning of the following week to provide warm lunches or dinners until it was gone. I don’t make weekly crockpots anymore, but I still love using my crockpot to make soup in the fall, around the holidays, and in the early spring, before the weather begins to warm up.

This time of year, with the nights cooling and plenty of holidays on the calendar, it’s always a great feeling to fill the crockpot and see what develops. And it doesn’t have to be chicken thighs. You can also fill your crockpot with beans! An overnight crockpot fills the house with a sublime perfume, the stomach with a delicious and satisfying meal, and the hearts of those you feed with all kinds of warm and cozy feelings. Continue reading →

Gifts from my Family

Posted on by

We receive many different kinds of gifts from our grandparents, whether the ability to identify all the trees in the backyard, or a beribboned stack of letters dating from the early 1900s, or a love of card games, baseball, or building castles on the beach. My family loved to cook and eat. This is certainly my inheritance, and a large part of the reason my family ate little or no ultraprocessed food. To use a product like “Shake ‘n’ Bake” bordered on heresy. I come by my love and celebration of good, real food in the most honest way possible.  Continue reading →

Fire Food & Drink – A Memory from 2013

Posted on by

This post is a reprise of a delicious memory from many years ago, when my husband and I were celebrating the 36th anniversary of our meeting, and Fire Food & Drink in Shaker Heights, Ohio, my favorite restaurant, was still open. You might think of this entry as a tribute: To a man, a marriage, and a memory. 

I met my husband-to-be on a snowy, romantic February 18th many, many years ago. And it may sound corny, but it was, in fact, love at first sight. Or at least first weekend. So when I heard that Doug Katz was making a “Meatless Monday vegan dinner” the same week as our “meet-iversary,” my sweet husband cleared his schedule and I made a reservation right away!

You may or may not know that I am not a vegan. I’m not even a vegetarian. But I love real food, and I love creative cooking, so that’s why I wanted to spend an evening at Fire food & drink. It was going to be a special night. Continue reading →

Korean Barbecue Love

Posted on by

Korean Barbecue Love
from Joe Gardewin

Over the past months, as you probably know, our family has been the recipient of an extraordinary amount of generosity and support of all kinds. Today, I am sharing the gift of a post from a friend, Joe, sent to me two weeks ago in hopes that it might lighten my load. It has achieved its intended purpose and for that, and more, I am very grateful. Thank you very, very much, Joe, for your kindness. Continue reading →