Nancy Harmon Jenkins: Writer, Speaker, Traveler, Story Teller
RECENTLY POSTED

Spicy Ginger Cookies for a Rainy Day
Back in the old days there came a time late in January when the weather might warm, the sun come out, the temperature rise, and there would be a brief period we called a January thaw before winter settled in again to stay for the duration. It felt like a ...
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Maine Lobster Stew
Lobster stew, in all its simplicity, is a total celebration, a glamor dish reserved for Christmas Eve or for special guests arriving from away who want their first taste of Maine lobster to be as elegant and restorative as possible. It really doesn’t deserve a recipe, just a list of ...
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An Ounce (or More) of Sauce
“An ounce of sauce covers a multitude of sins.” Anthony Bourdain Never underestimate the power of fine olive oil to sauce almost any food. Salad, of course, and cheeses, fish, meat, vegetables whether raw or cooked--the oil, on its own or sparked with a spritz of lemon or good aged ...
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FALLING INTO FALL
This old earth is gently slipping into autumn, just as she does with admirable precision every year at this time. And just as precisely and predictably, in the northern hemisphere at least, autumn vegetables shine in markets and gardens and supermarket produce bins: squashes, of course, in dozens of shapes, ...
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CAPONATA SEASON
It’s that rarest time of summer, late August to early September, when for just a few short weeks it feels as if Maine has taken off for the Mediterranean. The sun is at its strongest and farmers’ markets are full of ripe tomatoes and fat, dark eggplants, sweet red peppers ...
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Maine Smoky Lobster & Sweet Corn Chowder
Lobstermen have their own esoteric vocabulary. “Bugs” are what they call lobsters and “shedders” are bugs at their tenderest and, many argue, their most delicious. When a bug sheds its hard carapace and starts to grow a soft new shell that’s easy to break open, the meat is sweet and ...
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Pickles? It’s that time again!
“Vinegar? Anyone know where I can find white vinegar?” The plea was on a local Facebook message board. “Especially Heinz.” It’s pickling season here on the coast of Maine and, like sour dough bread-making, like banana bread baking, like the steady flow of bean soups since March 15, pickling has ...
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Finest Kind: Lobster Chowder
Not everyone in Maine celebrates the year-end holidays with lobster, but in my family, my mother considered a bright red lobster a proper commemoration of the feast, whether Christmas or New Year’s. Truth to tell, it’s a whole lot easier to serve up steamed lobsters with melted butter--with a side ...
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Lentils for la Cenone
It’s a tradition in Italy, one I honor and respect each time a new year rolls around: lentils for Capo d’Anno, the top of the year, almost always served with either sumptuous zampone, a delectably rich and sticky sausage made in a stuffed pig’s trotter, or with cotechino, similar but ...
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It’s All About the Excess
It strikes me that Americans, though we profess an ideal of simplicity, are seldom content with the actual concept—especially at the table where we talk about how something is better when it tastes of what it is, unadorned with dressings and spicy sauces and extra ingredients. But do we embrace ...
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Cocido: Spain’s national dish
On a recent visit to Las Casas de Hualdo, a magnificent olive oil estate in the rolling plains of La Mancha between Toledo and Talavera in central Spain, I was served at lunch a substantial cocido madrileño, a noble dish to restore flagging bodies and spirits during the hard work ...
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Thanksgiving? Problems? Not me!!!
Now we’re about to crash full on into Thanksgiving and as usual every newspaper food page and cooking blog and social-foodie media post is full of advice for nervous cooks, with shopping lists, chore lists, countdowns, schedules, et infinite cetera. I keep going back to the brilliant San Francisco cooking ...
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