This article, published in Prospect Heights Patch, highlights our blog and our feats of small-apartment cooking.
In a Small Kitchen, Big Recipes
December 30, 2010
“The authors of Big Girls, Small Kitchen give tips on apartment entertaining and cooking in Prospect Heights.
“If there is one thing that Cara Eisenpress and Phoebe Lapine hope readers take from their blog Big Girls, Small Kitchen, it is that a tiny apartment stove is no excuse to eat take-out every night.”
Read the full article here.
We started our Great Minds Eat Alike series this fall in order to mix up the usual BGSK offerings with interviews and submissions by cooks and eaters whose mentality towards cooking and eating meshes with ours. Today we bring you a fabulous menu from Adelaide Mueller, our recipe tester for In the Small Kitchen. Adelaide is a fellow quarter-life cook and blogger who believes that solid recipes make for delicious food. Meals that are garnished and presented with out of the ordinary embellishments can inspire and comfort both the tummy and spirit. Professionally, Adelaide works in a separate field, but …
TOP 5 FESTIVE HOLIDAY COCKTAILS: Big Kid Hot Chocolate ; Christmas Cranberry Punch; Jonestown Punch; Warm Spiked Cider; Elderflower Fizz
We’ve been enjoying a lot of elderflower liquor in 2010. For Cara’s birthday, Kate brought over the chic-est disposable cocktail glasses she could find, and made individual Parisians for her bistro-themed buffet. In return for hosting said event, Cara gave me a large bottle of St-Germain to say thank you.
Since I don’t usually splurge on fancy liquor for my own parties, and rely on generous friends like Kate to contribute, I rarely experiment with …
Sardines seem to be having a moment in the sun. They’re not just an easy-to-prepare bachelor food, they’re also, apparently, health food—just see Alton Brown.
But I’m in it for the flavor. Gather a mess of Mediterranean ingredients and go to town. Chop up some pitted black olives, sweet and tangy sundried tomatoes, and fennel to complement the pungent fish. Throw in a bunch of peppery arugula leaves for good measure. Open the sardine can over a plastic bag, drain out the stinky oil, and dispose of the can immediately.
The mix of ingredients is salty, fresh, and pungent, …
EVENT: Josh’s Birthday Dinner; New Year’s Eve At-Home Prix Fix Dinner
VENUE: Phoebe’s Apartment, Flatiron
PARTY SIZE: 2
TYPE: Elaborate 3-Course Celebratory Dinner
MENU: Oysters with Mignonette Sauce; Crispy Shrimp with Cilantro-Harissa Aioli; Grilled Chermoula Lamb Chops with Cumin Yogurt Sauce; Spinach Orzo
If you don’t have a party to go to, New Year’s can be one of the most dreaded holidays of the year. And regardless of the fact that you have 364 days to plan something awesome, it just doesn’t always happen, and you may find yourselves staring at overpriced five-course prix fixe menus at restaurants you used …
Next year, as we’ve hinted at, we’re going to be relaunching Big Girls, Small Kitchen to be more user-friendly and comprehensive, adding new contributors in our Great Minds blog catergory, and a Guides section to house all our tips and tricks. We’ve been working for months, perfecting the site so that it will be a place that quarter-life cooks (and their friends!) can call home. There’s one corner of quarter-life, though, that feels just out of reach to us old fogeys–the college student. We were students just four years ago, but that sometimes seems like a lifetime, and it’s …
Giveaway: Le Creuset Holiday Braiser Winner! — Merry Christmas, and thank you to everyone who participated in our Holiday Giveaway courtesy of Le Creuset!
We chose a winner randomly from the list of commenters. Congrats to reader Caitbren who just got this amazing Cherry Red Braiser under her virtual tree!
Here’s what Caitbren had to say:
The best thing I ate in 2010 was sea bass with my boyfriend for my birthday dinner at Trezo Vino in Kansas City! yumm and he got sea scallops and I ate some of that too! 
Thank you to all of you who participated, and told us about all the fabulous things you ate during the last 358 days. It made us very hungry. And jealous.
A special thanks to all of those first time readers who found your way to us via Barefoot Contessa–we’re thrilled to have you here, and hope you will continue to follow all our cooking trials and triumphs in the New Year.
Happy holidays!!!
From our kitchen, albeit small, to yours,
Cara and Phoebe, THE QUARTER-LIFE COOKS
I cook accessible, creative food in my small city kitchen. Read all about my love for home cooking here »
