Abby Murphy

  • Turnip tops

    What is it about being on vacation? You sleep better. You get to spend long hours reading or flipping through magazines. You go for long, chilly walks. You actually crave vegetables for lunch instead of pizza. For me, the first… Continue reading

  • Signed, sealed

    Valentine’s Day is a tough thing to write about because there’s so much baggage attached to it. The single folks think you’re cruel for reminding them of their single plight, or they take it in hand and have an anti-Valentine’s… Continue reading

  • Parsnips redux

    For the past few weeks, I’ve been thinking a lot about food. Not just perusing recipes to figure out what to make for dinner (although that is one of my major hobbies), but about what I choose to consume. It… Continue reading

  • welsh rabbit

    It sounds exotic, right? Welsh rabbit. Or, as Mrs. Hannah Glasse called it in her Art of Cookery in 1774, Welch Rabbit. Surprise! It’s cheese on toast. (Served with kale salad.) My previous experience with this dish, also known as Welsh… Continue reading

  • the care of rooms

    My apartment is located in a grand old house, the kind with high ceilings and ornate trim and bay windows. It’s beautiful. I love coming home every afternoon, because I feel warm and cozy within the elegant architecture. There’s something… Continue reading

  • new year, new disaster (or, steak and kidney pie)

    I’ll confess: I kind of have a thing for Britain. Pubs, pints, high tea, scones, royals, BBC period dramas (anyone watching Downton Abbey this Sunday?), Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie, the British Invasion, Tea & Sympathy…the list goes on. My sister and… Continue reading

  • Brunswick Stew

    We are pulling Christmas together here in Ohio. Everyone’s pitched in wherever they can, and the house is finally starting to look holiday-ish. We’re winding garlands around the banisters and laying boxwood across the mantle. We keep asking each other,… Continue reading

  • A Sallad of Anchovies

    Yesterday was a cobbled-together sort of night. Chores like cleaning the hamster’s cage. Piano practice. A dinner of leftovers and random bits and bobs. Some schoolwork. The 1959 version of The Shaggy Dog (I don’t care how silly it is,… Continue reading

  • Book Two: The Williamsburg Art of Cookery

    Apparently an interest in historical cooking runs in the family. I stole our new book, The Williamsburg Art of Cookery, from my parents’ house last time I was in Ohio. I think they bought it on their honeymoon in Colonial… Continue reading

  • Roast Turkey

    Happy post-Thanksgiving, all! I hope your homes were full of the people you love and your tables laden with delicious food. We had a relatively simple Thanksgiving out in Ohio, where my family lives. After the requisite morning of cleaning… Continue reading