taste

It's always interesting to read the onslaught of food trend reports as each new year begins. According to the Hartman Group's annual "Looking Ahead: Food Culture" report, we can expect...

For days, I've been making trips into the chilly garage to replenish the bowl of clementines that has been decorating my dining table. Before Christmas, I decided a small mesh-covered...

It's clear the time for resolutions is here. As I lay on the couch recovering from the stomach flu just a couple of days after Christmas, I saw advertising for...

I found myself giggling as I stood at my stove. I was using the end of my candy thermometer to stir a mixture of milk and cream in my heavy,...

Years ago, at a holiday gathering I attended, I overheard the hostess in conversation with one of her guests. As the Christmas-sweater-clad woman ladled thick, frothy homemade eggnog from a...

What was the absolute favorite thing you ate in 2011? When Amy Ephron, publisher of an online food magazine called "One for the Table," asked me that question, I didn't...

Some of the best times during the holiday season come when friends gather together to share food, play games, sing carols, nibble sweet Christmas treats and sip on special beverages...

How easy can holiday entertaining be? Extremely easy when someone else plans the menu, provides tried and true recipes complete with tips for success, and offers suggestions for wine and...

The day after Thanksgiving, when many people have shopping in mind, I enjoy a relaxing day of holiday baking. I sleep in that morning. As I sip my first mug...

When I was growing up in a suburban neighborhood of St. Paul, Minn., we had neighbors who didn't eat meat. The couple had a black-haired little girl with dark brown...

One sunshiny day last summer during a car ride with a few of my grandchildren, we all got a little silly. We'd just made a stop at the local chocolate...

The sweet smells of fresh-pressed apple cider and warm cinnamon-spiced apple doughnuts are fall pleasures that I must experience every year. My favorite season of the year would not be...

Fall is slowly settling in. As I write, the sky is charcoal gray with ribbons of white bleeding into the darkness. The sun poked through a break in the clouds...

Every time I pull my slow cooker out of the hall closet, I lament my decision to give up my old crock pot. When I got married, the Rival Crockpot,...

Hard-skinned winter squash is at its best right now. I enjoy browsing through the farmers markets and picking my way through bins at the grocery stores, admiring the unique shapes...