Appetizer Recipes

The summer I turned thirty, my neighbor Dot—a retired home economics teacher with cat-eye glasses and a suspicious amount of energy for someone who’d been … Read more

The Halloween party was in four hours and I’d completely forgotten. I mean, I hadn’t just forgotten the food—I’d forgotten the whole thing. My friend … Read more

My neighbor, a quiet woman named Rosa who always wore cat-shaped earrings, watched me struggle with a too-small cutting board one October afternoon. I was … Read more

Samantha wasn’t trying to impress anyone. I’d stopped by to return her slow cooker—I’d had it for three months, honestly—and the smell hit me before … Read more

My niece asked why I couldn’t just dump everything in one dish and bake it instead of fussing with separate pans. I started to explain … Read more

Three autumns ago, I was at the local farmers’ market, completely overwhelmed by the sheer abundance of squash and apples. I had a dinner party … Read more

It was 11:47 PM on a random Tuesday, and I wanted something that felt like a party. Not a real party, mind you—I was in … Read more

My brother-in-law, Mark, had sworn off grazing boards for years. “They’re just overpriced piles of cheese and meat,” he’d announce every single time someone suggested … Read more

There used to be this tiny café tucked into a converted garage in Portland’s Hawthorne district that made roasted delicata squash rings that I still … Read more

I walked into the living room and saw the slow cooker sitting there, empty and still warm. My brother-in-law was scraping the very last bit … Read more