Jude's Culinary Journey

Making do

For 40 years, I lived in a studio apartment, roughly 100 square feet, in Manhattan. The kitchen was lined up against one wall. There was a small four-burner stove and oven and a sink, next to which …

Alice at Tiffany

Before moving full-time to Callicoon, my sister, Janet, and I drove back and forth from Manhattan each weekend to spend the weekend at our little country house. Many years ago, driving back to the …

Homestyle cooking on the road

In November of 2004, my sister, Janet, and I were making the long trek from our house in the Catskills to visit family in a suburb of Philadelphia. Anticipating the long drive ahead, we wanted to …

Forty-two over easy

We began driving up to our house in the country every weekend in 1996. On Route 17B, we passed Blanche’s Diner, a simple building—nothing like the immense, sleek and shiny diners you see …

A season of soup

Avgolemono, billy bi, bird’s nest, borscht, bourride, caldo verde, callaloo, chlodnik, cock-a-leekie, dashi, gazpacho, menudo, minestra, mulligatawny and pepper pot. Recognize any of these? Do …

Babysitting blues

When my brother, Buzz, was 10 years old and I was 3, he presented my parents with this concise, hand-written diatribe as to why he had been punished. “Why I Was Punished,” by Buzzy …