I rediscovered black walnuts this summer while on a trip to Colonial Williamsburg, of all places. After a walk around, we stopped at the Shields Tavern for coffee and a little live music from period-clad minstrels. On the menu was black walnut ice cream. I was skeptical, thinking they would probably be English walnuts. But [...]

It wasn’t like I didn’t have enough to do yesterday, leaving most everything to the last four  hours before my Thanksgiving guests arrived. I started early, about 8 a.m., and cooked right up to dinner time at 2 p.m.
But somewhere in the middle, between scrubbing the Yukon golds and chopping herbs for the stuffing, I decided [...]

In these days leading up to Thanksgiving, most of us can use a refresher course in how to cook this American feast’s traditional centerpiece, the turkey. Few of us buy and roast a whole 12- to 20-pound bird at any other time of the year, and it’s easy to get rusty.
Last year after I ruined another big bird [...]

Most days at the newspaper office where I work, we all sit behind our computers or at the staff table and read, write or field calls in between bites of fast-food or something brought from home and reheated. Election days have always been different, however.
That’s when the editors send out for pizza or sandwiches or [...]