When this anise-flavored bulb is raw, I'm "not that crazy about it," but when it's cooked, it might be my favorite veggie.
Fennel
One of my signature recipes, I liked to make one of these on Friday nights when Jeffrey would come home after a week away at work.
Roast chicken
While I love to have it on hand for lamb or a mojito, I prefers to grow this herb in a pot or else it would take over the whole garden. Yikes!
Mint
Like I always say, "everyone has their obsession. For some women, it's diamonds. For me, it's saving chicken carcasses" to make this.
Chicken stock
Onions, thyme, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, chicken stock, breadcrumbs, and eggs serve as the flavor base and binder for this dish I just love to teach beginners.
Meatloaf
I make cakes, bread, cookies, and even smoked salmon dip in my stand mixer--and I use this brand!
KitchenAid
EAST HAMPTON
Ghostly cuppas. Yikes!
PHANTOM TEAS
This one will wake you up! In addition to good vanilla, I often add this ingredient to chocolate desserts to enhance the chocolatey flavor.
Coffee
I met Jeffrey when he was a student at this New Hampshire Ivy
Dartmouth
Not only do their full blooms make an easy floral centerpiece, but I also use the broad, flat leaves of this flowering bush as a base for a cheese board.
Hydrangea
I tell people this technique of tying a chicken so its legs stay close to its body and cook evenly doesn't have to be complicated. I've seen some birds that look like they're in bondage!
Trussing
My rack of lamb persillade includes a crust for the lamb made from garlic, fresh breadcrumbs, and this, from which the crust gets its name
Parsley
I love to grind parmesan cheese, chop vegetables, slice and grate cheeses, and even make salad dressing in my Cuisinart brand of this.
Food processor
GOOD VANILLA
A shallow body of water separated from an ocean, but made of ibuprofen?
ADVIL LAGOON
Before adding it to my fresh corn salad, I chiffonade the leaves of this delicate herb by stacking them, rolling them up "like a tight cigar," and slicing them into thin ribbons.
Basil
Jeffrey served as dean of the business school at this Ivy League university
Yale
This perennial woody herb, delicious with chicken or pork, produces edible flowers every year that make a fabulous garnish.
Thyme
I think that this dessert of coffee-infused savoiardi layered in a mascarpone cream is to the 90s what pasta pesto was the 80s: Done, done, and overdone!
Tiramisu
Surprise! The flavorings in my coconut cupcake batter don't include coconut at all, but rather vanilla extract and this other extract, often made from peach or cherry pits.
Almond extract
Forget a cheese grater, I prefer this woodworking tool for zesting a lemon.
Rasp
ONE STICK OF BUTTER
A long shirt a medieval German guy might wear to an autumn beer event?
OKTOBERFEST TUNIC
Don't cancel her me saying it, but this thick, dark, intensely flavored sauce often served with moo shu pork is the ingredient that gives my signature barbecue sauce its "Chinesey" flavor.
Hoisin sauce
When we were apart during college, I used to mail Jeffrey a shoebox full of these treats. How thoughtful is that?!
Brownies
These leafy, shade-tolerant perennial plants flower in late summer.
Hostas
My parents always served us dry, overcooked pork in my younger years due to fears about this parasitic disease. Yuck! I cook mine to 138 degrees exactly.
Trichinosis
My raspberry sauce gets its flavor from fresh raspberries, raspberry jam, and this liqueur (the French word for raspberry!)
Framboise
I prefer processing certain soups and mashes with this manual tool consisting of a blade, hand crank, and perforated bottom disk, because it keeps them chunkier than a mechanical blender. The texture's just fabulous!
Food mill
HOW EASY IS THAT?
Mario's dinosaur companions chowed down on THAT?!
YOSHIS ATE WHAT?
When I make tabbouleh for my Mediterranean feast, I don't cook this grain, I just add boiling water and let it sit for an hour. How easy is that?!
Bulgur wheat
Jeffrey served as the Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade under this U.S. President. I'm so proud of him!
Bill Clinton
My good friend Edwina Von Gal bought one of these flowering bushes for my purple and orange garden as a thank-you gift for cooking her a cozy fireside dinner. What a doll!
Lespedeza, or bush clover
The late restaurant critic Mimi Sheraton once said the correct proportion of these to curried chicken salad is zero. I disagree--I like the sweetness!
Raisins
When I make the sauce for my chicken or vegetable pot pie or chicken stew with biscuits, I cook flour in butter until just blonde, then add chicken stock--making this French "mother sauce," according to Escoffier.
Velouté. How fussy is that!
When blanching vegetables or cooking pasta, I often use this type of strainer to remove it from the boiling water instead of dumping the whole pot in a colander.
Spider
WILLIAMS SONOMA
One-man performances in your South Florida front yard?