I remember the first time I went to the grocery store in Yemen. I was surprised by a number of things: That there was no cheese section, that there was a separate place to pay for bread and produce, and that I was followed around by a gaggle of curious boys. But I was most […]
Tag: cooking
When Creating the Perfect Dish Gets in the Way of Having Fun
Last week was a crushing one, food wise. After a few fancy food fails, I’m feeling like I need to take a break, stop pretending I’m a secret vegetarian chef, and serve up PB&Js and bags of chips for a while. I can be a really competitive person. At least over things I feel that […]
Five Things I’ve Learned About Writing a Novel
I just reached a major milestone that I set for myself: I’ve written 100 pages of my novel. Allow me a moment to have another sip of wine in celebration and give a little “Hooty Hoot!” My time in New York is seriously winding down and while I sort of wanted to have written more […]
The Fall Dinner Party of the Season
I’ve been consumed by food thoughts as of late on account of a big dinner party I’m cooking for on Saturday. Through Mr.YemenEm’s job, I met this glamorous lady who has written for Vogue for years and years. She is hosting a dinner party for 25 of Mr.YemenEm’s colleagues in her Park Avenue apartment on […]
What I Cooked on My Summer Vacation
It made me feel creative to figure out ways to cook in our kitchen-less hotel room in Yemen (steaming eggs with our espresso maker and sauteing veggies in an electric fondue pot, for instance). But it’s a whole lot better having a real kitchen. And this sick loft we’re renting for the summer has an […]
The Summer of Spanish
Hola amigos! Mr.YemenEm and I arrived back in one of my favorite places, Washington DC, to spend the summer in government training. The U.S. government is generous enough (ie, you taxpayers are) to provide spouses of Foreign Service Officers language training for upcoming posts. So that means I have spent the last seven weeks immersed […]