Jude's Culinary Journey

Food phases

During my lifetime, I have gone through many phases in regard to what I was eating. As someone who regards herself as an individual, I’m still surprised that as a young child growing up with a …

What my mother ate

My mother died when I was 20 years old. Now, 50 years later, I find I have only fleeting memories of her. She had lovely hands and beautiful nails that she (or I) coated with shiny clear polish when …

A Greek in the woods

For 20 years before retiring, Janet and I were weekenders at our house in Callicoon. During the blustery months of January through March, we closed the house and returned to New York City. I almost …

With Enid

When I was growing up, my parents had a group of friends who took turns inviting the rest of the gang to their homes for meals. This was not accomplished willy-nilly, but had a rhythm. If the group …

Who asked you, anyway?

On March 23, 1990, like a petulant child, President George H. W. Bush made a famous denouncement of broccoli: “I do not like broccoli. And I haven’t liked it since I was a kid and my mother …

Overcoming an olive aversion

It seems to me that there are certain foods over which people never feel wishy-washy. They either love or hate such things as okra, anchovies, beets, olives, Brussels sprouts and calf’s liver. …