Leah Eskin

Fashion forward

My daughter spent the night in New York and came home with a tattoo. Not a real one. But a real-looking one. I didn't even flinch. True, I've spent 15 years broadcasting the standard PSAs: it's taboo, it's tawdry, it's tacky. To, no doubt, no avail....

On the straight and narrow

The pretzel crosses its arms in the universal sign language for "no way." In fact, "pretzel" comes from "crossed arms." But it's not the surly sort. Salty, sure. Knotted, often. Hard, sometimes. Never surly. The pretzel is easygoing. Good with beer. Good...

Tags: Salt, Kosher Salt, Butterfly Ballots, Chad, Baking Powder

Crustless quiche

Nora Ephron knew good. She celebrated, ever so cleverly, the pleasures of the balanced vinaigrette, key-lime pie, pastrami sandwich and true — if unexpected — love. She had her prejudices too. No patience for disheveled hair or, strangely,...

Tags: Nora Ephron, Salt, Nutmeg, Shallots, Heavy Cream

The quick catch

Pickles lead mysterious lives, trolling the briny depths. They seem content shoulder-to-shoulder in their tight-packed school, treading their bracken aquarium, perhaps for years on end. Every now and then the pickle fisherman descends two brave fingers...

Tags: Lifestyle and Leisure, Salt, Pickles, Fishing, Cucumbers

Clouds from both sides now

The cloud is a lovely, puffy companion that lends a friendly feeling to the landscape. Unless it's a dark rain-dense cloud, in which case it casts a menacing shadow. Either way, it never occurred to me to file my recipes in a cloud. Which is what the...

Tags: Lifestyle and Leisure, Salt, Bacon, Soups, Foods and Beverages

Know your onions

The story begins with "Once upon a time;" the recipe begins with "Onions." Both have the same effect: to set the mood. Onions get right to work scenting the kitchen savory, flavoring the oil sweet, deepening the color and complexity of the dish as it...

Tags: Salt, Recipes, Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions

Sweet nostalgia

The cupcake was once all innocence: a stub of cake, a swirl of frosting. On a dressy day, adorned with a sprinkle. It worked the birthday-party circuit for the under-6 crowd. It didn't mind. It was the sidekick, junior, the kid in the pastel pan liner....

Tags: Bankruptcy, Hostess Brands, Inc., Financially Distressed Companies

Night of the living blender

The zombie apocalypse strikes many with fear, but I'm all for it. I've seen the upside. Consider the blender. It works hard, blending. Grimy work. After a long day on the countertop, it needs a bath. And yet, should the kitchen human wet a sponge and...

Tags: Malts and Milkshakes, Ghouls and Zombies (supernatural entities)

Cool relief for a hot mess

The storm blew over a tree and the tree knocked out the electricity and the electricity — or lack of it — shut down the air conditioning. You'd think that air conditioning would maintain a positive attitude — that it would keep on...

Tags: Lifestyle and Leisure, Salt, Breads, Tomatoes, Foods and Beverages

Ice is nice

At The Aviary, the cocktail kitchen on Fulton Market in Chicago, there's a department devoted to ice. The ice staff creates tiny cinnamon ice spheres, big balls of bitters. It makes ginger snow, milk cubes, ancho shards and water balloons frozen into ice...

Tags: Thyme, Limes

Pitting cherry against berry

Clafouti is sprinkled with conflict. That, and powdered sugar. There's the clafouti versus clafoutis conundrum, which sets carefree final s-less Anglophones against stalwart s-conscious Francophones. There's the free-thinking naked-flan contingent...

Tags: Salt, Raspberries, Cherries

Gnaw over gnocchi

Gnocchi share much with their cousins, the pastas, yet retain a unique heritage: rolled from potatoes; hunched into dumplings; and led by that silent "g" cozied up to the "n." A burden few words share. The gnome is used to the role of odd. He spends...

Tags: Gnocchi, Lifestyle and Leisure, Pasta, Salt, Chicago Tribune Columnists