Nora Maynard is a longstanding contributor to The Kitchn: first with her column on food and film, The Celluloid Pantry, and now with her weekly column on the art of the cocktail: Straight Up.
Here are her hand-picked favorites from the past year at The Kitchn.
I'm constantly inspired, entertained - and just plain wow-ed - by the posts my colleagues at The Kitchn come up with. I picked one from each writer - I wish I could pick more!
• How to Open a Durian Fruit -- I loved how Kathryn rolled up her sleeves and did a full pictorial investigation of this amazing (and stinky) fruit. Her step-by-step instructions for tackling this beast make it all look so easy.
• The Cheesemonger's Top Ten Rules for Ultimate Cheese Sanity -- This is a truly useful and down-to-earth guide for the care and handling of one of the world's greatest foods.
• Farmer's Market Report: Mysterious Cauliflower -- Vegetables have personalities - who knew? Dana's description of this unusual-looking cauliflower really brought it to life - and was food for a lot of fun discussion on The Kitchn too.
• Party Recipe: Spicy Oven-Roasted Chickpeas -- These sounded great when Faith first posted them last February, I didn't get around to making them until just this weekend. I was looking around for something to snack on while watching a movie at home and I was happy to realize I had all the ingredients on hand (the weather was terrible and I was really glad not to have to run out to the store). So easy and so good!
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Cheap Wines for Tough Times -- A really handy - and timely - guide to some hidden gems out there.
• Quince Report: The Good News and the Bad News -- Oh, the humanity! It was sad to see all these promising-looking quinces go to compost, but the silver lining was that Emma's story made a great springboard for sharing our tales of cooking disasters.
• Recipe: Easy, Foolproof Cobbler (for Any Fruit) -- Elizabeth's written account of an (until then) unwritten family recipe was a real treat. I love recipes that are handed down through generations and memorized by each one.
Ginkgo Organic Gardens in Chicago -- Joanna's report on her personal experience working in this community garden is quite inspiring. A little glimpse through the gates of a green world.
• What's the Difference? Paprika -- Emily's primer on paprika is super-handy. It set a lot of things straight about the spice I was a little unsure about before.
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Straight Up: DIY Simple Syrup -- Simple syrup's a true bar staple - and so easy to make. I find myself linking back to this in new cocktail posts again and again.
• Recipe: Big Pancake -- The photo for this post is mouthwateringly delicious. In fact, I think I'm going to go make a big pancake right now....
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I very much agree with the choice of the fruit cobbler post! I made this over the summer and it was a huge hit!
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The movie column was pretty feeble-- I think she didn't know much about movies, and was relying on Google. But the cobbler post was excellent.
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