The Kitchn Archive: Aug 2013

This year, the two-day holiday of Rosh Hashanah begins the evening of September 4, kicking off the Jewish High Holiday season. Often called The Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah is considered the spiritual head of the year and is a time of both great joy and introspection. It is sister holidays with Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, which follows ten days later.

There’s really no end to the yummy goodness you can make-ahead and freeze. Doing so can save you time and money, as well as guarantee a home-cooked favorite any night of the week. Over the years, I have experimented with freezing a lot of different items. Here are my top five items to keep on hand in my freezer: While I grew up eating canned soup, that’s not been the case for my kids. The canned variety is generally oversalted, oversweetened, and overpriced.

Who: Joy Wilson, otherwise known as Joy the Baker Where: Venice Beach, California Today on The Kitchn we are joined by a special guest, Joy the Baker! After years of following her blog, laughing at her podcast (co-hosted with Tracy Benjamin), and devouring her last cookbook, I had the privilege of touring her approachable and exceedingly organized kitchen in Venice Beach, California. Guys, this is where all that butter, sugar, flour, magic and alchemy happens!

What the crow dropped.I leaned over to peer at the exploded mess. It was a walnut, broken out of its green case to reveal the newly-formed nut within. Glancing up again, I confirmed that the caw belonged to a member of a flock of crows (a murder of crows!) that had recently descended on the enormous walnut tree that occupies a corner of our property.

Who: Julia Stotz and Brian Guido, both photographersWhere: Wicker Park, ChicagoThe first time I met Julia and Brian I was a friend’s guest at a brunch of over 20 people. The two kept everyone’s glass full, while all the guests got to work in every corner of the spacious kitchen preparing their own entrees to share.

Yesterday I ate a tomato, just a tomato, for lunch. It was a gorgeous Black Cherokee about the size of my fist, perfectly ripe and a deep, red-purple color. I cut it into thick slices, put it on a plate and added just a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of crunchy salt and a flicker of black pepper. I sat outside in the partial shade of my apartment’s courtyard and ate it with a knife and fork as if it were a steak.

Take two avid cooks from California and put them in a craftsman cottage in Seattle and what do you get? A kitchen full of personality and color, designed to combat the long grey Northwestern winters. Mari and Adam have renovation plans, but in the meantime they’re created a cheerful and cozy spot for themselves and the three dogs that make up their family.

There was a time when having people over meant a lot of advanced planning on my part. I cleaned, I shopped, I cooked, I added special decorating touches to the bathroom. Everything needed to be planned, polished, and perfected. From the light over the dining room table down to my toenails, it needed to shine. (I blame Martha Stewart but that’s another post.) These days, I can still launch a fancy fete now and again, but more often than not, my entertaining is much simpler. And sloppier.

Yesterday we announced our 10 semi-finalists in Small Cool Kitchens 2013First up: Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs of Food52 and the just-launched Provisions. They recently moved in to a new office, where they installed a beautiful new kitchen for testing recipes and taking photos. Here are their thoughts on their shared kitchen space. 1. What’s your favorite feature in the kitchen?