An anniversary served with fried chicken
Sixty years ago, my dear grandparents were married. A few days before the wedding, my grandfather’s mother wrote a letter to my grandmother’s mother. In her correspondence with her future…
Author: Lisa Fain
Lisa Fain is a James Beard award-winning writer who loves to cook. A seventh-generation Texan, she was indeed homesick during the two decades she lived in New York City, but the call of home recently brought her back to the Lone Star State. Her work has been featured in many publications, and she is the author of several cookbooks. Follow her at: Instagram / Twitter / Facebook/ Pinterest
Cafe de olla ice cream with Mom’s hot fudge sauce
Summer holidays as a kid meant hot-fudge sundaes. Sure, at my parents’ annual Fourth of July bash we had other things to eat, most notably my dad’s smoked brisket, which…
The good, the bad and the puffy tacos
New York City is shaping up to be a terrific taco town. There are taco trucks scattered throughout the five boroughs, with one even parked just a few blocks from…
Uncle Albert, Juneteenth and lima beans
On June 18, 1878, my great-great-great-uncle Albert was sitting on the front porch of his lovely Austin home, Las Ventanas, surveying the bounty of his garden. In a letter to…
Jalapeño coleslaw
The room was silent. Barbecue expert and writer Lolis Eric Elie, author of Smokestack Lightening, had just been asked what he thought about New York City barbecue. He paused for…
Texas sheet cake for a birthday
Anytime is a fantastic time for a birthday, but I’m particularly partial to those birthdays that fall in the month of June. In my family, I have my dear cousin…
An asparagus sandwich and a new attitude
The small Texas town where I went to college had a surprising bounty of good restaurants despite its size. While I ate the majority of my meals either in Slater’s…
Ramping up some gnudi
I don’t have Italian blood flowing through my veins and I have to admit when I was little, my knowledge of that country’s vast cuisine ended (and began) with pizza,…
Mom’s ginger scones for Mother’s Day
Dear Mom, It’s Mother’s Day and unfortunately I couldn’t spend the day with you. But that doesn’t mean you’re not in my thoughts! Of course, as always, I’m a bit…
Chess pie recipe
Baking has never been my strength. Perhaps it’s because I’m impatient or perhaps it’s because I have a hard time following directions, but when it comes to pastries, where precision…
