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Penne alla Cognac
I remember standing before the huge glass windows of Restaurant Taormina at a time when Mulberry Street in Manhattan’s Little Italy bustled and breathed. Our favorite waiter always sat us by those floor-to-ceiling windows, sometimes even squeezing a table into the space for our party, so we had the best seats in the room. From my perfect perch, I’d watch pedestrians peer into the brightly-lit dining room where patrons sipped red wine and dirty martinis and feasted on veal topped with eggplant and prosciutto, clams oreganata and pasta fagiole. Taormina existed for its regular customers. I felt badly when prospective patrons, expecting to be seated at the half-full restaurant, were…
Apple Crisp
The trees in the Northeast hung onto their colorful leaves far longer than usual courtesy of a very rainy summer. Finally, pops of red, orange and yellow dance to the ground as the leaves are released from their branches. Now…
San Diego Salsa
It’s funny how the twist and turns of life can take you to places you may never have gone. If you frequent these destinations often, the familiarity breeds a sense of belonging. I spent so many summers at my parents’…
The Pembrooke’s Greek Burgers
If you want to take a detour from the traditional cheeseburgers served on the Fourth of July, these Greek burgers may be worth a try. They’re simple to prepare, and the flavor from the briny feta and creamy freshness of…
The Easter Table
Easter decor may indeed be the most uplifting of all the holidays. The first flowers of the season—tulips, daffodils, and hyacinths—are the harbinger of warmer days ahead while bunnies, soft fluffy chicks and a basket of soft pastel eggs mean…
Peppers and Eggs
As a child, Fridays in Lent meant Stations of the Cross after a tuna sandwich lunch in the church basement. I can still cite the fourteen stations as well as become nauseated when recalling the incense that permeated the air…
Baked by Emma
Would it surprise you to know the most amazing custom cookies are produced in my hometown of Chatham, New Jersey, by a high school senior? Eighteen-year-old Emma Hartnett launched Baked by Emma in August 2021, after her cousin gave her…
Time for Tapers
When Hurricane Sandy pummeled the northeast in October of 2012, candles became a necessity. We no longer regarded them as a decorative or mood-altering element of a space. With many hours spent in the dark after the storm, we depended…
The Pembrooke Tangerine Martini
This cocktail represents my favorite flavors of the season-orange, thyme and rosemary. It also pairs beautifully with sparkles, noise makers and Ould Lang Sine. Here’s to 2023. The Pembrooke Tangerine Martini 1/4 cup orange vodka 1/4 cup tangerine juice. (Tangerine…
The Case for Santa Claus
I doubt eight-year-old Virginia understood the New York Sun’s answer to her query about the authenticity of Santa Claus. I read the famous article countless times as a little girl trying to grasp the editor’s justification that Santa Claus did…
Herbed Potato Chips
Chips or nuts have always paired perfectly with cocktail hour. It doesn’t take long to elevate them either. This simple recipe utilizes all the wonderful herbs of the season. Using ridged potato chips ensures the flavorful herbs adhere to the…
Stilton and Prosciutto
We’ve all fallen for the charcuterie board. The basic smoked meat and cheese appetizer has been elevated to masterful presentations boasting an array of cheese, fruit, breads, olives and slices of meat twisted and turned into flower-like petals. However, if…
Sparkling Thanksgiving Sangria
If the holidays were a track and field event, then Thanksgiving is the gunshot that starts the race. How better to begin the season than the way we will conclude it on New Year’s Eve….with bubbles. This sangria, with notes…
Dover Sole with Heirloom Tomatoes and Crispy Zucchini
For me, September marks the transitional month of the calendar. After all, the school year essentially symbolizes “a year in the life” from our childhood through our children’s youth until they graduate from college. Summer meant blissful freedom from the…
The Pembrooke’s Focaccia
Flashback 1997. For the past two weeks, upon my arrival at work, I am greeted by a tower of styrofoam containers set on the receptionist’s desk and the heavenly smell from the bacon that they hold inside. One of the…
A Taste of Asia Salad
I remember my mother bemoaning she “didn’t know what make for dinner this week” on many occasions. My sister, father and I offered ideas that were often dismissed by terse comments such as “I made that last week” or “We’re…
Have a Heart
The anatomy of the human heart bears no resemblance to the red and pink hearts so prevalent on Valentine’s Day. Curious? Galen, known as the father of medicine in the second century, described the heart as a “three-chambered organ shaped like…
Christian’s Room
The design concept for a room begins with a simple idea. It may be a paint color, a light fixture, a rug or a piece of furniture. Here in my son Christian’s room, the idea was always literally staring me…
Sandwich Night at the U
Thank God for the sandwich. Think of the possibilities. From tuna melts to pastrami on rye to Italian subs to bacon, egg and cheese on a bagel to peanut butter and jelly on soft white bread, this meal can be…
Blue Devil Soft Tacos
You can’t get any easier than this one kids. My son made this dish when he was a student at Duke. The packaged pulled chicken or pork is already cooked, so you simply have to heat everything up. It’s the…
Stag Orecchiette
I consider the four years I spent at Fairfield University, one of the best times of my life. Those carefree days spent with friends who I still hold dear often included sharing meals. We ordered in, dined out and cooked…
Holy Cross Tortellini Soup
For the Students at the College of the Holy Cross, the winter months bring bitter cold weather to beautiful Mount St. James. Nothing warms the body like a hot bowl of soup. This super simple tortellini soup recipe is as…
Blue Hen Roast Chicken
I’ve often wondered how a simplistic thing like roasting chicken can be so utterly satisfying. This recipe for the students at University of Delaware uses chicken breast with the bone in. You can also use thighs or drumsticks, but the…
Arthur Avenue Panzanella Salad
My housemates and I ate dinner together almost every weeknight at our townhouse at Fairfield University. We each took turns cooking, and the meals we prepared provided more than nourishment; they were a window into our childhood and a nod…
The Pembrooke Nachos
Nachos are the ultimate ice breaker. One cannot be polite as your hands try to contain the triangular chips bathed in a myriad of messy toppings from chili to melted cheese to Pico de gallo. Immediately we notice who prefers…
Hot Peppers
Heat. It warms us on cold days, pours from our bodies in the form of sweat when we tax them, and embraces us when we walk from a cool air conditioned space into the sultry summer air. The feeling of…
The Ginger Jar
The ginger jar hails from the Ming Dynasty of China. These beautiful vessels transported salt, oil and eventually spices thus earning their moniker from the wonderful fragrant ginger that often filled them. A testament to the craftsmanship and pottery-making skills…
Lemon Fettuccine
March marks my official adieu to winter. Fur pillows are packed up, stored in the attic and replaced by their pastel linen counterparts. Tulips fill vases around the house and the aroma of gardenia- and peony-scented candles permeates the air.…
The Pembrooke’s Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese
I find the purest love in comfort food. I remember tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches on meatless Friday nights in the winter when I was a girl. It’s a perfect pairing—the creamy smooth soup and the crunchy toasted bread…
Pear Salad with Truffle Oil
Perhaps one of the most romantic, precious gifts in the world is a pear. I think of the scene in The Godfather II when a dashing, but poor Robert DeNiro gives his wife a pear that she takes gently into…
The Pembrooke’s Thanksgiving Stuffing
I plant a sage plant in a large pot on my deck each summer. By late July, its soft gentle green leaves grow tall and peak inside my kitchen window reminding me of its presence and offering itself to pair…
Autumn Banana Bread
The utterly unique flavor of banana defies description. One could not call it sweet, nor tart. It’s the fruit devoid of juice with a texture that is only wonderful when eaten perfectly ripe. One of baby’s first foods, the banana’s…
K-ROD’s Jewels
I shall never forget my ninth birthday for on this day, my mother took me to get my ears pierced. A young girl no more than 20 years old marked a little dot with a blue felt pen on my…
The Boys’ Bathroom
I began the renovation of our first home in the master bedroom where the former owner painted over the wallpaper, but as soon as my husband Adam began to scrape away the thick paper, chunks of plaster came crumbling down…
Fast Forward
On a warm October evening about two years ago, a group of friends from Chatham, New Jersey boarded a late afternoon train on route to Manhattan to celebrate the launch of Madeline Niebank’s first book, Fashion Fwd How Today’s Culture…
Candy Sushi
When I finally landed a job as a fashion assistant, my young mind never thought about the uneasiness that would accompany it. Steaming clothes and packing shoe boxes with stilettos that never fit back into the box the same way…
Mussels with Tomato and Wine
My paternal grandmother refused to eat any fish with a shell referring to them as the “scum of the sea.” I could not understand her distain as often these dishes were the most expensive items on a menu. Indeed, shrimp,…
Lou’s Pink Squirrels
In early March, when the thought of being relinquished to our homes seemed incredulous, a group of neighbors gathered outside to chat. We joked that if liquor stores closed, we’d have to dust off the créme de menthe and peach…
Drew’s Bananas Foster
Thoroughbreds restaurant sits on the main drag known as Highway 17 in North Myrtle Beach where traffic perpetually crawls in the summertime because of the vacationers that descend upon this popular South Carolina shore. Our family has frequented this dining…
Maria’s White Gloves
My grandmother arrived in America in December 1930 after a horrific, vomit-inducing voyage on the rough Atlantic sea. She set sail from her homeland in Italy just three weeks before leaving her mother, father and four sisters behind. Barely twenty-years-old…
Pasta with Sausage, Tomato and Cream
Now our families gather around the kitchen table discovering each other again. There is no where to rush off to, and time stands still. The calm preparation of a meal feels foreign, but utterly wonderful. This recipe has been a…
Escarole and Bean Bruschetta
It is not uncommon to see escarole floating in my kitchen sink so the sand that stubbornly clings to its leaves drifts to the bottom. After a couple of hours soaking, the escarole is subjected to a vigorous rinse with…
Super Bowl Sunday Guacamole
Super Bowl Sunday, the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving—the quintessential American celebrations—so perfectly spaced out in the calendar year, represent not only an event, but a season. Football fan or not, who doesn’t embrace an excuse to party on a…
French Vinaigrette
The constant quest to elevate everyday meals cannot overtake the goal of keeping recipes as simple as possible. Flavored oils fill supermarket shelves, and I’ve made many myself over the years. They provide the essential time-saving tool for marinades and…
