David Leite's Blog, page 10
November 10, 2017
Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese
This pumpkin macaroni and cheese is creamy and rich (yet surprisingly light). What else would you expect from a skillet full of cavatappi, bacon, Cheddar, pumpkin, and sage? Oh, did we say bacon?
Each autumn, it goes something like this in our house:
“Hey, The One. What do you want for dinner?”
“Something pumpkin.”
“What about lunch?
“Something pumpkin.”
“A snack.”
“Something...
...
October 20, 2017
Trick or Treat for the Childless
This article has been updated. Originally published on October 31, 2011.
Every Halloween, in the elevator of my apartment building, there’s a sign-up sheet for residents willing to welcome treat-or-treaters. It’s never a long list, mostly just a smattering of names of people pressured into opening their apartments so desperate parents have a few places their kids can beg for candy. See, in the city, it’s considered poor etiquette to...
October 4, 2017
My Mystery Date With The One
Twenty-four years ago tonight, October 4, 1993, at precisely 9:45 PM, I met a man who would forever change my life and revive my heart. That was the night The One and I had our first date–a blind date–as a result of a personal ad I had placed. But as you’ll learn in this excerpt from my memoir, Notes on a Banana , the night was almost a non-starter.
And if you’ll indulge me for a moment, I’d like to say to The...
September 25, 2017
Tomato and Goat Cheese Cobbler
Baker and author Zoe Nathan says that this cherry tomato and goat cheese cobbler recipe is one of her favorite summer breakfasts. I get that. I do. Tomato, thyme, goat cheese—all warm-weather flavors. And though neither The One nor I are big fans of tomatoes for breakfast, we’ve already found plenty of non-morning ways to serve this spectacular gem of a recipe.
One such occasion was last night, when we whipped this up to usher in our...
September 21, 2017
Barcelona Restaurants
For his 50th (gulp!) birthday, David visited some of the best Barcelona restaurants, including Comerç 24, Fishhh!, Taktika Berri, Els Pescadors, Restaurant Moo, and Fragata.
This article has been updated. Originally posted August 11, 2010.
As the The One and I touched down in Barcelona after that inhumane flight on Lufthansa, the worst airline I’ve ever flown, we were indeed ready to shrug off the cramped seats, terse personnel, and...
...
August 18, 2017
A Blackout Cake to Celebrate the Solar Eclipse
A blackout cake to celebrate the solar eclipse is the perfect excuse to indulge in cake. Chocolate cake. Really, really crazy deliciously dark chocolate cake. So delicious it'll overshadow everything else in your existence.
Blackout Cake adapted from Elinor Klivans | Chocolate Cakes | Chronicle, 2010
The last time it happened, I was nineteen years old. I have vague memories of squinting through a red cellophane candy wrapper at the noon...
June 1, 2017
Trash Can Alley
During the process of writing a book, so much material inevitably gets written, cut, added back to the book, and then cut again. It’s sorta maddening. This gem of a story was edited out of the final version of my memoir, Notes on a Banana , for space reasons. But I thought the innocence and playfulness of my childhood friend Gail Martin and I pretending to grocery shop deserved to be shared with others. We were all of six years old...
April 11, 2017
Notes on a Banana: An Excerpt
Today,
Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression publishes. It’s taken nearly a quarter of a century for me to write this book. I first sat down to share my story with the world on the very first laptop Apple ever made. That was in 1992. I didn’t get beyond several paragraphs, which are in the book, because, frankly, I didn’t have the writing skills yet. Also, I was still living my story. I...
...
devour more »[image error]
March 12, 2017
Back in the Recording Studio for the Audiobook
A few days ago, I returned to John Marshall Media to record some pick ups (corrections of flubbed lines). I have to say having only eight or so pick ups after spending thirty-something hours in a tiny booth is pretty damn good. Of course, I had an excellent director--Paula Parker--who caught most of the flubs, and there were a million of them, in the initial recording session. These last few were caught by the folks who do first and second pass at quality control (QC). They sit and listen to the audio while making sure it matches perfectly with the text. This is especially important for those who like WhisperSync for Kindle from Amazon. The audiobook will be available everything on pub date April 11. My favorite? Audible. 
February 23, 2017
Notes on a Banana: Chandelier
[Editor’s Note: If, dear reader, you come to Leite’s Culinaria exclusively for our spectacularly foolproof recipes, we have a surprise for you. And it’s called Notes on a Banana: A Memoir of Food, Love, and Manic Depression. See, at Leite’s Culinaria, we’re not just about recipes. We’re about all the countless and crazy ways food intersects our lives. As such, you’ll find a lot of thoughts and...
...
