Hello!
I live in a Boston neighborhood and have a tiny, tiny kitchen. But that doesn’t stop me from making a huge mess as I try out new dishes and return to familiar favorites.
I am constantly trying to convince my friends that you need to cook for yourself. It will make you feel cared for and eventually you’ll start inviting people over and caring for them because, hey, everyone has to eat, right? Cooking and sharing a meal is an act of creativity that everyone should do every single day. (OK, try for once or twice a week at least.) Light some candles, set fresh flowers on the table – this stuff feeds the soul, I swear, even if it is just you and a feline circling around your ankles or sitting on the placemat next to you, gazing into your eyes.
The best inspiration for cooking is to keep a full pantry. Seriously. If you have 3 eggs, tired bagged bread, and a handful of withered baby carrots in your ‘fridge, it ain’t gonna happen. Buying a few fresh ingredients on your walk home from work each day is a simple trick to get you really cooking. And yes, this is a good metaphor for life, too. Keep it fresh and toss what isn’t useful.
So walk away from that microwave and get those pots bubbling and roll out some dough for perfect scones. It will put a spring in your step,a whistle on your lips, and loved ones around your table.
When I am away from my kitchen I am editing and sometimes writing for The Christian Science Monitor. This also means that newly released cookbooks frequently cross my desk, and if they interest me, I’ll post a review. I also review books about food and produce a food blog for CSMonitor.com called Stir It Up! I recently got nominated for a James Beard award for a cover story I wrote for the Monitor about our foodie nation: “America’s new culinary renaissance,” a.k.a., “The Big Stir.”
Most of the recipes on Kitchen Report were inspired or adapted from other recipes I’ve come across (the first hurdle was just to get cooking, let alone create something completely original). I’ve attributed the sources as necessary.
Yours in good taste,
Kendra
p.s. Want to be in touch? Send me an e-mail at kitchenreport@yahoo.com
Short, sweet and to the point!
Very conversational and interesting, Kendra. Your Mom shared the site with me. I’ll have to watch out for corn syrup (no!) and try fiddleheads. Three cheers for you! Best, Lucia
Cats in the kitchen make the food taste so much better…
foodie to foodie! great info, thanks! i will send to Sarah so she can share with her NYC friends,
enjoy!
You’re not Chinese?!?
Glad I found out about your blog… I will definitely give it a read for next time I’m in Boston!
Correction: ok this blog contains recipes, not restaurant reviews! So I’ll pass it along to those who cook 🙂
Nice blog, Kendra, though I haven’t yet explored it well.
Yes, I have a cat in the kitchen and she (Heidi) is allowed in there most of the time since she is polite and never begs (except when I am working with chicken livers). She never jumps on the counter, table or chairs–she is well trained. Sometimes she helps me choose a recipe for dinner.
Kendra, you sound great!
Kendra, thanks for this recipe. I will take it with me when our family gets together for Thanksgiving and will include it in the celebration! Aubrey
I love your blog Kendra.
Love the new look. Good work!
The new format looks great!
Looks Good Kendra! I have to explore it more thoroughly
I love your idea. A couple of more tidbits about you would be fun – music , art –
Jessica sent me the link. I’ll think about what I have on my shelves and have been cooking and share ideas soon.
Kendra, I love it! Ive not gotten to the point where I cook one a day in my tiny kitchen. Sometimes not even once a week, but I hope to! I’m working on it, anyway. Thank you for sharing-perhaps you’ll be part of my inspiration! :).
Love the metaphor for life- keep it fresh and toss what isn’t useful. So true on all counts.
well said…now you have inspired me to do more cooking and sharing of food is just an awesome thing!
Kendra, I love it! Ive not gotten to the point where I cook one a day in my tiny kitchen. Sometimes not even once a week, but I hope to! I’m working on it, anyway. Thank you for sharing-perhaps you’ll be part of my inspiration! .
+1
HEY! I’m trying to make basil garlic pasta and don’t know how long to cook the basil!!!! Help!
Do you know abt. Slow Food?
Hi Kendra, I just saw your name on the FB page for The Mary Baker Eddy Library, and that you are taste testing recipes from MBE’s household. Will we be seeing these recipes on your blog? I hope so.
Kathleen
Hi Kathleen,
Yes! Over the next month I will testing and sharing the recipes for Victorian-era dishes that would be similar to the ones used in the Mary Baker Eddy household.
Hi Kendra! Looks like we are both itinerant food bloggers on WordPress!
Candied Pineapple Sweet Potatoes
4 cooked sweet potatoes (peeled and quartered)
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp. flour
8 oz. pineapple juice
2 Tbsp. butter
Blend sugar and flour well. Add pineapple juice. Boil 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Then add butter. Pour over quartered potatoes. Syrup should come just even with potatoes, not over them. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
(I often double this and put in a casserole dish — very sweet and tasty — an old traditional recipe from my husband’s family.)
I believe you left out the egg in your chocolate banana bread recipe list of ingredients printed in the CS Monitor last week. I did add one based on it being included in the basic banana bread recipe. The chocolate bread was delicious but I thought you’d want to know about the missing egg (or maybe no egg was needed?) and correct it.
Oh thank you! I will check.