David Leite's Blog, page 12
February 13, 2016
Forever and Completely
This Hershey’s chocolate cake recipe is an old-fashioned classic that will never, ever disappoint.
A long-term relationship has a lot in common with cleaning out a closet. Over the years, you learn what’s worth keeping and what can be tossed. In my nearly two decades with The One, we’ve often cleared the emotional andinterpersonalclosets of our lives, each timereshapingthe sum of us. For example, I’ve...
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January 31, 2016
Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese Sauce Recipe
Marcella Hazan’s Bolognese sauce recipe is the only Bolognese sauce recipe you ever need.It’s classic, authentic, Italian, easy, and delicious.
Editor’s Note: It is with great fondness that we recall the late Marcella Hazan. May she rest in peace, and may her family and loved ones take great comfort in their memories of her. She was an inspiration and a godsend to us all.
I come from stirring stock. That is to say, my...
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November 23, 2015
Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese
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 pumpkin.”
“Dessert? Let me guess: Something pumpkin.”
“No, chocolate.”
I can’t win with this man. But I have gotten good at serving him all kinds of pumpkin dishes:...
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November 21, 2015
Procrastinator’s Thanksgiving Guide
You haveabout 144 hours until the big day. The Super Bowl of holidays. The highest of High Holy Food Days. And we’ve been slamming you with recipes both brand-new and beloved for the past several weeks. But have you been listening? If you’re like me, the answer is a resounding “NO!” I’m only now starting to figure out what the hell I’m going to make next week. (We’re lucky because we have it easy...
November 8, 2015
Bow Tie Cheese Straws
I have an odd habit when it comes to food. Certain recipesremind me of certain people. I’m surethere’s some scientific explanation for this, but I prefer myTheory of the Heart. It’s as if I’m conjuring these people in thekitchen when I cook.My white chocolate cake with pistachio buttercream frosting brings to mind my friend Carlotta, as does my lemon curd cake, American’s Test Kitchen’s Beef in......
October 7, 2015
Cherry Tomato Tart
An odd and unusual thing happened to us this summer in our garden. Something almost out of science fiction. [Cue other-worldly music.]
Let me back up. Before this year, The One’s and my vegetable garden took up all of a 10-foot circle around an old tree stump. We would dutifully divide it into quarters and fill it with herbs, tomatoes, kale, and a few nasturtiums. That was it. Nothing to write home about. And, since Papa Leite is a......
September 28, 2015
Mary Karr on The Art of Memoir
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve begun concocting a real, honest-to-God bucket list.
When I was younger, I had a different kind of list: a checklist. I ran around like I was on some crazed Easter egg hunt, cramming in as many experiences as possible, all for the pleasure of checking those suckers off the list. It was about acquisitionand accomplishment, not meaning. (Welcome to the manic phase of manic depression: All peak...
September 12, 2015
Cara Nicoletti: Books and Food
Recently,I had the pleasure of sitting across the table talking about two of my favorite subjects—books and food—with the vivacious Kara Nicoletti. Kara is the prodigious blogger at Yummy Books, a site devotes to the intersection food and fiction, where she shares recipes inspired by her favorite books.
Last month, Kara published Voracious: A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way through Great Books, in which she catalogs the books...
August 28, 2015
My Problem With Balls
I have a problem with balls. I can’t catch them, I can’t hold on to them, and I certainly can’t throw them. But apparently, balls don’t have a problem with me. They seem drawn to me. I could be walking by a playing field, a tennis court, even a neighbor’s yard, and balls of all sorts would inevitably seek me out.
This unusual Law of Attraction started the summer when I was 11 years old and played right field in the Swansea Little......
August 21, 2015
Avocado Sorbet
Dear vegans, I owe you a long-overdue apology.
Back in my youth, as I hunched over meat-filled plates grunting away with my brutish friends, whowere likewise hunched over their own meat-filled plates, I would clear my throat as if I were going to make a proclamation and say, “You know, if you put two fire-and-brimstone vegans on a deserted island with no kind of life, only one avowed carnivore would be rescued.” Everyone knew...
