The Crabby Cook - by Jessica Harper

On football (i.e. TV dinner) nights, my husband is so engrossed in the sport, his hair could be on fire and he would not notice. I take the opportunity to sneak  some foods into the evening menu that he (being the pickiest eater on the planet) would otherwise reject. Read More

My new favorite things in life are these Pylones rolling salt cellars. Cleverly disguised as mutant robo-chickens, they are shakers with a difference. When a fellow diner asks you to pass the salt, these will save you a lot of unnecessary exercise. Read More

Vegetable soup always reminds me of my mother-in-law. This is because she used to feed her family “Saturday Soup,” so named because she made it on Saturdays, using Campbell’s vegetable soup as a base and adding leftovers from the week’s meals. Bette’s kids ate the soup happily, oblivious to the fact that it contained finely chopped brisket from Tuesday’s dinner, or the spaghetti  from Thursday’s. Read More

Last weekend, a rare thing happened. I was grateful it was football season. This is because my daughter, who usually reserves most of her weekend time for her boyfriend, Lee, got ditched by the guy in favor of the Ravens or the Packers or whoever it was roughhousing on TV that afternoon. Lee announced his intention to occupy the couch for at least seven hours, which meant that Elizabeth (who tolerates football but only for about fifteen minutes at a time) was free to go shoe shopping with me. Read More