I’m mathphobic. Numbers make me completely nuts, especially when I have to scale up or down a recipe. “Who left this long division on the bench,” asked Flour baker Keith Brooks, waving a paper towel with calculations written on it. I ‘fessed up. Sheepishly. “What? I’m impressed. It’s so old school. Everyone else here uses […]
I haven’t lived or gone to school in Rhode Island in 100 35 years, but the sight of a Del’s Lemonade sign or a bottle of Autocrat coffee syrup on a grocery store shelf makes me wistful. I grew up on coffee syrup in my milk, spinach pies and pizza from the bakery, Korb’s rye […]
I ate at Friendly’s yesterday. It’s not that I planned to lunch at the Home of the Fribble , but there was one next door to the Midas Muffler Shop where I deposited by ancient and rather noisy Saab wagon. Besides, it was lunchtime, a steamy 90 degrees and, according to my muffler man, Friendly’s […]
Editors note: The correct pronounciation is “I’ll have the Saa-lod Nee-Swaz, he’ll have the Nyokkee.” Face it, we all have a couple of ethnic foods we can’t pronounce. I’ve butchered “mascarpone” for years by referring to the Italian-style cream cheese as “mar-scapone.” And that seems rich since I hail from the Land of the Dropped […]
It’s unlikely you’re in the mood for a crisp Greek salad today with the Storm of the Century bearing down on us in southern New England. It’s really a day for hot lemony chicken soup. Brrrr. But Kevin Convey, a longtime customer of Christo’s — the Brockton landmark that closed its doors on New Year’s […]
Editor’s Note: Christo’s, a Brockton institution since 1964, is closing its doors on Dec. 31. A proper send-off would need to be written for his landmark restaurant, so I asked one of my favorite Brocktonians, Dave Wedge, a fellow Herald alumni, to lunch with me and write a guest blog post. Sadly, we didn’t eat […]
Anytime I’m invited to wear my chef’s pants, flour-dusted clogs, kerchief and an apron, I’m happy, happy, happy! So yesterday I was thrilled to be back in the kitchen at West on Centre in West Roxbury where I – with some help from the Rose kids – assembled and baked off 25 apple pies for […]
Our waiter couldn’t believe it was my family’s first time at Wright’s Farm. “You’re kidding me,” said Dan as he scanned our table of 11 this afternoon. “You’ve never been here?” Nope. Guess it was about time! Wright’s Farm, located in the village of Harrisville, is a Rhode Island institution that has served up family-style […]
As a history buff and food lover, chef Will Gilson’s Puritan & Company in Cambridge is my new happy place. First off, it’s located in a building that housed the Puritan Cake Company‘s bakery from the 1930s to the 1950s. So, it feeds into my need to honor the past. And Puritan’s eclectic menu pays […]
I’ve judged dozens of contests in my day. Whether it was choosing readers’ best Christmas cookies, the hunkiest bachelor or crowning that year’s “Boston Pride Idol,” it was always serious business for me. Of course, I also got a chance to be on the other side of the judges’ table as a contestant on the […]