Food

Food

Pavlova: A Dessert That Dances

Well, maybe not. But the pavlova—an airy meringue concoction invented either in New Zealand or Australia, sometime between 1926 and 1935, as a tribute to the ballerina Anna Pavlova who toured both countries several times during that period (believe it or not, the debate goes on)— is so light

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Food

Succulent & Secular: Lamb for Easter or Passover

Though I love the comfort foods of winter, spring is welcome in my kitchen, and not just because it means less cursing as I carry in boxes of groceries. If my first-favorite food holiday is Thanksgiving,  Easter and Passover are close runners-up (though I observe neither, I enjoy celebrating both)

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Food

Railroad Street Youth Project: A Cause for Rebels

Last week Matt Rubiner of Rubiner's Cheesemongers in Great Barrington attended a fundraiser in New York City for Railroad Street Youth Project.  He writes: "Railroad Street Youth Project is a Great Barrington-based organization that provides a safe haven for the at-risk youth of southern Berkshire County (and

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Food

Carole Murko Cooks Up a TV Pilot in Stockbridge

Like many people who once had big jobs in the big city and traded them in for country life, Carole Murko has been on the reinvention tour. Since arriving in the Berkshires from Boston where she had a successful career in finance, she has worked in real estate and as

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Food

Rice and Beans: Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

One of the most frequent—and most confounding—requests I've received since writing for Rural Intelligence is to serve up a plan for an entire week's worth of dinners. I am not, however, a Monday-meatloaf, Tuesday-turkey kind of cook. Even if I wanted to limit my

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Food

Jeff Loshinsky's Soupe au Pistou

Caterer Jeff Loshinsky's most recent cooking class this season, held on February 19 at the Vince Mulford Gallery in Hudson, focused on Hearty Soups and Chowders.  Below is a recipe for one of the soups he featured that night, a vegetable soup with pistou, which is a pesto-like

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Food

Wild Hive Farm: Living the Locavore Life

Don Lewis has raised the bar for anyone who wants to run a community-oriented small-town cafe serving locally grown food.  A baker who uses only Hudson Valley grains that he mills himself, Lewis has made his Wild Hive Farm Cafe and Bakery, which he opened last November in Clinton Corners,

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Food

Let Them Eat Pie

Late winter and early spring means birthday season for my family: beginning on Valentine's Day with my husband, our little clan's birthdays then follow in succession through the end of March (save my son, whose outlier August birthday is the source of much consternation, at least

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Food

Foodies-and-Farmers Mix it Up at "Carhartts and Cocktails"

Ever wonder about all those farms referred to on menus? Who is the farm girl behind Farm Girl Farm?  Now's your chance to find out. This Sunday, March 1,  Mezze Bistro + Bar in Williamstown and Allium in Great Barrington will host simultaneous afternoon farm-to-table mixers.  The public is

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Food

Food Shopping: In Praise of Otto's of Germantown

Designer Carey Maloney of M (Group) normally writes our Rural Restoration Blog in the Style Section, but this week he delivers a paean to his local grocer instead. 215 Main Street in Germantown was the home of the Central Market from 1927 until two years ago when the doors closed.

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Food

Winter Dinner Party 101

Though the cold is lifting, neither true spring weather nor the new harvest will arrive for a bit, so to make it through these next few muddy and cold weeks, why not give a dinner party? The shtick in my house (i.e., my husband's shtick) is that

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Food

Allium and the Mahaiwe: Their Funny Valentine Special

Local restaurateurs and chefs are letting their imaginations run wild for Valentine's Day.  Take, for example, Halle Heyman, manager at Allium in Great Barrington.  As if free chocolate petit fours at the end of the meal aren't enough to seal the deal, she has created a

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