I've been addicted to kombucha from first sip. It wasn't really the probiotics or other health promises that did it for me — although I'll take those, too! It was the way it tasted: like tart green apple mixed with sour stone fruits, but with an underlying sweetness that keeps it all together. And fizzy! I couldn't believe that something this could actually be made from tea, of all things. Or that I could make it at home with a few very basic ingredients.
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Last spring, I attended a party at which the dessert was an enormous tray of ripe, local strawberries. The berries were artfully arranged around a jar of honey from nearby hives. And though the berries were plenty sweet all on their own, our host encouraged us to dip the strawberries in the honey before taking a bite. The combination of strawberries and honey was a revelation.
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Around this time last year I started to write an entertaining cookbook — a book for the days and evenings when we gather to eat together.

Many people in the publishing world believe that entertaining is a tired topic, but I think we just need to re-think the term. Writing this book was a great opportunity to do just that. Not only was it an exhaustingly fun way to collect some of my favorite dishes for having people over, but it forced me to think about what it truly means to entertain. More