Chris Nordquist
A few months ago, I was sitting across the table from my friend Jon at a cozy (that is, rather dimly lit) restaurant in the West Village, squinting at a menu I held inches from my eyes. Jon whipped out a pair of chic horn-rimmed reading glasses and carried on without effort. When I complemented […]
I’ve never been very enthusiastic about houseplants, by which I mean those species of plants meant to live indoors indefinitely. It’s just a matter of personal taste, of course, but, aside from in places like sunrooms, atriums and grottoes (none of which I have), I prefer changing displays of cut flowers and greens. Cut flowers, […]
In spite of the fact that neither of us are morning people, or maybe because of it, my 16-month old daughter Julia and I both like a hot breakfast, and one of our father-daughter rituals is making it together. I hold her in one arm and set out all of our tools and ingredients with […]
It’s cold in New York this week. Really cold. Cocoa weather. Ironically, I learned to make good cocoa in sunny California. During my first year in law school at Berkeley, I rented rooms from a wonderfully eccentric Dutch artist. One rare chilly day when I was hunkered down studying for my exams, she taught me […]
I think the cleaners have shrunk my trousers over the last month or so. I don’t want to spring for alterations, or new trousers, so I’m trying to reduce their contents a bit by lightening up my meals and getting a little more exercise. This dessert fits right into my program. It’s creamy and silky-smooth, and […]
Last weekend we got the happy news that our good friends’ first child had been born, a healthy baby boy. Of course, I had been dispensing unsolicited advice for months. I remember one evening in particular. Between cocktails and dinner we had taken the couple to a baby superstore in Manhattan with the aim of […]
The dreaded event has come and gone: taking down the Christmas tree, and, with it, the garlands, wreaths, flower arrangements and candles that decorated our Southampton home for the Holidays. It always makes me a little sad, but sooner or later, I just have to pull up my socks, vacuum up the pine needles and […]
