The Crabby Cook - by Jessica Harper

Because of its color, it took years for me to get my kids to eat pasta with pesto sauce. Pasta was one of their favorite foods, but only if it came in white. The girls even found red sauce undesirable for a long time, but green was completely out of the question. It was way too suggestive of the odious world of vegetables. Read More

I think it was the cartoon character, Daffy Duck, who used to exclaim, “Suffering succotash!” whenever he was highly excited. He had a lisp, so it came out, “Thuffering thuccotash!” Since I was not introduced to succotash until adulthood, I spent my childhood unsure of what the heck Daffy meant by thuccotash.

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I went to the farmers’ market the other day and went basil crazy. I bought so much basil, the smell of it lingered in my car for two days (which was preferable to the smell of wet dog that usually dominates).

I often overbuy at the market, seduced by abundance. Then I go home and realize that I have set myself up for a lot of cooking, and irritation kicks in. But with the basil, this simply did not happen. I think it’s the way basil smells. It’s aromatherapy for crabby cooks; the perfume makes you actually willing to prepare food. Read More