This is not a cooking blog, but I love to cook and several people asked for the recipe once I tweeted about it. Plain tomato soup can be thin and sharp. Adding cream—the usual stodgy solution—merely dulls it. I wanted to tame the tartness without losing flavor. I found this recipe in Cooks Illustrated. You have to be a member to get it, so I’m posting it here for you. The Problem Too many versions of tomato soup either feature an acidic, watery broth or an overdose of cream. Though it’s meant to tame tartness and lend body, adding cream goes hand-in-hand with muting flavor.The Goal we wanted a tomato soup with good looks, velvety smoothness, and a bright, tomatoey taste. And we wanted it without the cream. The Solution First, we chose canned tomatoes—they’re almost always better than the average supermarket tomatoes plus they’re already peeled. To begin brightening…

Friday night my friend Chad called to tell me his good friend Martin had just dropped dead after returning home from a run. I didn’t know Martin, but he was practically my age and, according to Chad, very healthy. So what does that mean to you and me? Well, there are probably many lessons here, but the obvious often escapes us: we are not guaranteed another day on earth. Today is all we have. Carpe Diem before it’s too late. Chad called not only to tell me the sad news, but also to let me know that 1. my hair looked good and 2. that he loved me (he knows me well). I’m sure he hugged his children specially tight Friday night. I snuggled up with boys on the couch and told them both I loved them within minutes of the call. Interestingly, last week another friend had asked me…

I’m happy for Rio’s win bid to host the 2016 Olympic games. I think it’s past time that a South American country host the games. But beyond hosting the world for the games, I hope that this opportunity along with the World Cup event in 2014 (in many ways a bigger deal than the Olympics for most non Americans)will help Rio deal with with their crime situation. During my last visit to Rio a few years back, I heard horror stories from residents of how organized crime ruled the city. One that stuck with me was a large area “shut down” (where stores are forced to shut down for hours in the middle of the day or risk being burglarized) was staged and directed by a crime boss from inside of one of the city’s prisons. For it’s amazing beauty, and let me tell you it is a beautiful city,…