David Leite's Blog, page 4
December 24, 2020
The Goose of Christmas Past
Originally published December 24, 2003.
I’ve been a haunted man for 13 years, and I place the blame squarely on Tiny Tim’s crooked little shoulders. It was December 1990, and I had just finished rereading A Christmas Carol. Inspired by Tiny’s exultant prayer, “God bless us every one,” I decided that I, too, would have a proper Christmas dinner. The next day I marched into my...
December 22, 2020
Homemade Maple-Espresso Bacon
This homemade bacon is made from scratch with pork belly and cured with maple syrup, espresso, brown sugar, and black pepper. It’s then smoked to perfection. Here’s how to make it.
Honestly, I’m at a loss for words–hard for me, the kid who was nicknamed “Chatty Cathy” through all 12 years of school. How can I begin to tell you how phenomenally easy it is to make your own homemade bacon? Or how incalculably...
December 12, 2020
Why The Great British Bake Off is the Best Show on TV
David explains how The Great British Bake Off inspired him to dive back into marvelously complicated and challenging bakes and changed him in some small but profound ways.
: Let me make myself perfectly clear: Ive never been a trendsetter, early adopter, bandwagon-jumper, or a sheeple (sheeperson?). And Im certainly not someone whos fashionable. (Proof below.) I was the budding writer who, in 1976...
November 23, 2020
How to Have a Satisfying Thanksgiving on Zoom (Honest)
How to Have a Satisfying Thanksgiving on Zoom (Honest) is advice from David Leite on how to enjoy your holiday dinner this year and not endanger yourself or others. Tradition with a high-tech twist.
November 13, 2020
We’re Having a Small Thanksgiving, and I’m Okay With That
: Oh, the good old days. That photo was taken Thanksgiving dinner two years ago. Our niece, Megan, made those T-shirts for us. All eight of us. The day was a happy jumble of parade watching, cooking, dancing, dancing while cooking, some football (well, we had our nephews with us, what were we to do?), and eating. Lots and lots of eating.
This year’s different, for oh-so-many reasons. Coronavirus, obviously. But, even...
November 12, 2020
Thanksgiving Cranberries: The Table’s Sweet-Tart Must-Have
Thanksgiving Cranberries explains more than you already know about the harvesting of those sweetly tart berries that must make an appearance on the holiday table. David Leite shares all.
: It’s time we lay our cards on the Thanksgiving table: many of us, truthfully, aren’t exactly in love with cranberries.
Every year Americans pass platters of turkey, bowls of vegetables, and boats of gravy, while gelatinous...
October 30, 2020
Halloween 2020: Not Six Feet Under but Six Feet Apart
David mourns the loss of Halloween this year and discovers that age, therapy, and the pandemic have changed his mind about his nemesis–rugrats, er, kids.
: October. The forty-seventh month of the pandemic. Or is it the sixty-third? I lost count somewhere around my birthday. Unlike a lot of people, I’ve been weathering lockdown pretty well. I’m an isolator by nature and find my own company rather entertaining, if I...
October 17, 2020
The Jesus Rule
Most people are familiar with the Five-Second Rule: If you accidentally drop a piece of food on the floor while cooking and pick it up within five seconds, you and your immune system are no worse for the wear.
Some particularly anxious and OCDish folks opt for the ambitious Three-Second Rule.
Then there’s the Chef-In-Need-of-Anger-Management Rule, which doesn’t involve an accident at all. This happens when you send...
October 3, 2020
A Friend in Knead
Alas, bread has been less forgiving of me than even my high school girlfriend. During the last few sun-dappled months of senior year, she came to realize that I was genetically predisposed to want to go to the prom with her brother rather than with her. Understandably steamed, she gave me an astonishingly icy shoulder for weeks. She eventually softened, in no short thanks to my inimitable charm and fashion tips, and we...
September 19, 2020
Because I Can: Homemade Ketchup
Featured in The journey that culminated in my realization of the wonder that is homemade ketchup was long and circuitous, and, as sometimes happens, littered with the body of a friend.
One autumn night in 2000, our friend Geoffrey slunk back in through our kitchen door, a waft of cigarette smoke trailing behind him, as he hoped to avoid his wife, Sarah, who was helping The One clear the dishes from the dining table so we could play cards....
