Save Me the Plums: My Gourmet Memoir

by Ruth Reichl

SPICY CHINESE NOODLES ••• ½ pound Chinese noodles, dried egg noodles, or spaghetti Peanut oil ½-inch-long piece of fresh ginger 2 scallions 1 teaspoon sugar 2 tablespoons Chinese black bean paste with garlic 1 tablespoon Chinese bean paste with chili ½ pound ground pork Sesame oil Cook the noodles in boiling water until al dente (the time will vary with the type of noodle). Drain, toss with a half tablespoon of peanut oil, and set aside. Peel and mince the ginger (you should have about two tablespoons). Chop the white parts and slice the green parts of the scallions. Mix the sugar and the two kinds of hot bean paste, and set aside. Heat a wok until a drop of water skitters across the surface. Add a tablespoon of peanut oil, toss in the ginger, and stir-fry for about half a minute, until the fragrance is hovering over the wok. Add the pork and white scallions and stir-fry until all traces of pink have disappeared. Add the bean sauce mixture and cook and stir for about 2 minutes. Stir in the green scallions and noodles and quickly toss. Add a drop of sesame oil and turn into two small bowls. This makes a perfect snack for two.

“Who’s going to look after Nick while you’re away?” Rage had overwhelmed me: While I was away? What about him? The feeling was as familiar as a toothache. Things may be better now—although I have my doubts—but in 1999 when a child got sick at school, the nurse never called the father. Working men did what was convenient; working women did everything else. And felt constantly guilty: No matter where you were, it always felt like the wrong place.

Nothing feels as good as building a team and empowering people, watching them grow and thrive.

And that, I thought, was the difference between the Times and Condé Nast. To the Times I was just a food writer who didn’t really count. Despite my prominent position there, I’d never felt like more than a cog in a vast machine, someone who could be easily replaced. It was different at Condé Nast; they took what I was doing seriously.

GINA MARIE’S CHEDDAR SCALLION BISCUITS (Adapted from Gourmet magazine) ••• 6 ounces cheddar cheese 3 tablespoons Parmesan (finely grated) 3 scallions ¾ stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter 1¾ cups all-purpose flour ¾ cup stone-ground cornmeal (not coarse) 4 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon sugar 1 teaspoon baking soda ½ teaspoon salt 1 cup buttermilk (well shaken) Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Butter a large baking sheet. Coarsely grate the cheddar; you should have about a cup and a half. Mix in the grated Parmesan. Chop the scallions—both the white and the green parts. Cut the cold butter into ½-inch cubes. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, then cut in the butter with two knives until it’s about the size of peas. Stir in the cheese and the scallions and then gently mix in the buttermilk, just until the dough comes together. Drop the dough onto the baking sheet in twelve mounds, leaving space between them. Bake until fragrant and golden, about 15 minutes.