The Other Woman Cooks

This week our garden has exploded and I am required to be a cooking, canning, crazy woman to keep up with the harvest. Thirty-eight pints of tomatoes and 6 quarts of cinnamon apples so far. Not to mention eight small jars of hot pepper jelly, four jars of applesauce and six pints of farm stand peaches I brandied. And there's more out there waiting for my attention. If you don't have a garden, you can buy fresh local grown at farmers markets or roadside stands a short drive from home. Even city dwellers can manage to find local fruits and veggies. Admittedly, I'm not so nuts about canning when it's hot outside and I'm boiling a batch of jars inside. Thank goodness for my A/C. But canning is not hard work, easy to follow instructions are readily available. When winter comes, the bubbling pot on the stovetop will be the result of home or local grown bounty. Then I'll be happy. It's important to keep in mind that hot water bath canning is only safe for high aci...

Sheila Lukins rise to foodie fame is documented in this morning's New York Times obituary . She was my food goddess -- unlike so many who were enamored of Julia Child, I loved Sheila Lukins and happily visited her store nearly thirty years ago on a trip to NYC. Those chutneys were amazing. A graduate from the Cordon Bleu School in London, she moved back to New York and her first commercial venture into The Big Apple's cookery scene was The Other Woman Catering Company . Her motto, "So discreet, so delicious and I deliver." was pretty risque but also very successful in attracting her target demographic -- New York bachelors who needed a little help navigating the waters of the at home dinner party. I bought my first Silver Palate cookbook in 1982 because I was bored with the basics. Page 127 - Pot Roast, "A perfect Sunday supper." Page 331 - Mimosa, "A splendid way to begin the day." From straight talk about asparagus to the pasta glossary, I l...