Today is my first Mother’s Day, but since my two-month-old didn’t make me breakfast in bed, I baked myself some scones and thought back on the showers that my friends threw me when he was just a baby bump. A shower, I found, is kind of like a wedding: You’re the star. Or rather, your […]

When you’re in no condition to cook and a food-centric holiday comes around, it’s great to have friends who do. (Big ups to Dan, designer of this blog, who picked us up when we locked ourselves out of our apartment without even our car keys.) We went to Matias and Jenny’s baby-friendly pad for a […]

Several years ago, I dimly recall, I decided to make gift boxes of cookies for all my friends for Christmas. I pulled out an assortment of recipes, including rugelach and chocolate truffles, and proceeded to raise hell in my kitchen for two or three days. At the end, I was exhausted. I threw a party, […]

This recipe from L.A.’s Rustic Canyon restaurant caught my eye. Requested by an L.A. Times reader, it’s not part of the paper’s Thanksgiving coverage… and yet, how perfect? Few foods say Thanksgiving like cranberries, and corn is quintessentially American. Unlike the typical holiday desserts, this austere alternative is sweetened just enough to highlight the natural […]

I don’t want to dwell on my awful afternoon tea at Clementine, which had required a reservation with credit card number. Let me just sum up: slightly stale sandwiches, underbaked scones, and I think even the clotted cream was a bit off. I was shocked, since this place is consistently so good — it’s my […]