Putting the Comfort and Joy Back Into Holiday Meals

Isn’t it amazing how the holidays bring out the worst in us—especially family gatherings? No wonder they make such perfect fodder for movies! In the spirit of happier and saner holiday gatherings, here are some secrets (seven, to be exact) for toning down the stress around one of the biggest stressors of all: holiday meal making.

Cooking Fear? Part 4

Yesterday’s post talked about relaxing our expectations. That can be hard to do on a jam-packed schedule. One thing that can help: Limiting our exposure to things that fan the flames of panic. Seeing a whole pile of recipes clipped from the newspaper, for example, . . .

Cooking Fear? Part 2

There’s good evidence that the food world is spiraling into the stratosphere of perfectionism and complexity: Consider the sheer amount of cooking information we’re exposed to: dozens of food shows and entire food networks, hundreds of internet sites devoted to cooking and recipes, . . .

Cooking Fear? Blame It on the Olympics

Do you have any cooking fears that are keeping you from the pleasures and riches of the kitchen? While lack of knowledge and food costs are some obvious culprits that fuel our cooking fears, this article explores whether the Olympics have given rise to some more fundamental attitudes that are unnerving us in the kitchen.