Welcome! I'm Tammy Donroe, a Boston-area mother of two and author of this here blog. Food on the Food was the brainchild of my oldest son who was 3 when I started writing it. Like most kids, he would object whenever he was confronted with sauce on his pasta, a speck of parsley on his meat, or basically any component of his meal touching any other part.
Eat your dinner, I warned him one night as he picked at everything in disgust.
He replied in his most pitiful whine: But, there's food...on the food!
Indeed, I said. That's the best kind!
Food on the Food has been praised by The Boston Globe, The Chicago Tribune, Edible Boston, and Saveur. It documents my messy adventures trying to feed my family the best meals I can, with a little dessert thrown in because you only live once. My first book, WINTERSWEET: Seasonal Desserts to Warm the Home, is out now by Running Press.
For more information about me or my books, visit tammydonroe.com, or contact me by email at tdonroe [at] gmail [dot] com.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are you a trained chef?
If, by chef, you mean someone who has toiled in a commercial kitchen for years, chopping and peeling her fingers to the bone while a Gordon Ramsay-wannabe chips away at her will to live, then no. I never aspired to be a restaurant chef. I always wanted to be a writer (just not a starving one). What I do have is a degree from the Cambridge School of Culinary Arts, and many hours clocked in the test kitchen of Cook’s Illustrated magazine and the related PBS cooking show America’s Test Kitchen. I even shook hands with Julia Child once, lingering a bit longer than was polite while I tried to siphon off some of her culinary brilliance like a shameless parasite. (It didn't work.) Nevertheless, I enjoy letting my classical training and naturally lazy ways duke it out in my home kitchen on a daily basis.
Are you a trained journalist?
My diploma from Tufts University says I majored in Spanish, though you wouldn't know it if you airdropped me into Latin America right now. The closest thing I have to a writing degree is a creative writing award I received in high school during an afternoon assembly. It did not make me popular. But I did work as an editor for Boston Magazine for three years. Since then, I've written a book and dozens of articles for print publications and the web, including Fine Cooking, Parents, Yankee Magazine, Tufts Magazine, Grilled, Cape Cod Life, Elegant Wedding, New England Travel & Life, Culinate, BlogHer, and Serious Eats.
You wrote a book? Where can I buy it and when?
My first cookbook WINTERSWEET: Seasonal Desserts to Warm the Home is available now. You can buy it through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or your favorite indie bookstore. If you've already bought a copy, thank you for your support!
Is there a way to be notified of new posts without having to come back to your blog over and over?
Yes, e-mail subscriptions are finally up and running. Just click here to have the latest posts delivered directly to your email. No spam ever. You can also follow Food on the Food on Facebook or through your favorite feed reader.
Can I send you free stuff?
I appreciate the offer, but probably not. I don't like to have a lot of extra stuff lying around. Plus, my love cannot be bought. You're welcome to send me an e-mail about your stuff. If I'm interested, I'll buy it myself. I apologize in advance, but the volume is such that I can't respond to marketing emails.
Do you sell ad space?
Nope. My personal life experiences are not for sale. Some things I'm not interested in seeing in my sidebars are: penis enlargement products, one simple wrinkle/weight-loss trick that has angered doctors, and anything involving Monsanto. As you can see, this eliminates the vast majority of the Internet's paying advertisers. I have no interest in selling my readers anything they don't want, except for books I've personally authored!
I was offended by something I read on your blog. Can you take it down?
You can ask, but I doubt it. If I've offended you, do let me know, but unless there are some seriously dire ethical implications, I think it's important to respect the spirit of free speech. I hate to lose readers, but I recognize that not everyone shares the same sense of humor.
What kind of a camera do you use?
Actually, nobody ever asks me this. But if anyone were to ask, I would say I use a Canon Digital Rebel XT that I bought off of Craig's List from an Indian student at MIT (the neck strap still smells like curry!). When I'm feeling lazy, I just use my iPhone. My photo studio is a picnic table on the porch. My lighting set-up consists of "the sun." I don't spend more than five minutes taking a photo, and it shows. What can I say? If my photos were worth a thousand words, then the writer in me would be out of a job!
What’s your recipe for upside-down chicken?
Okay, Husband, if you’re going to keep sending me this question. First you take a whole chicken and place it UPSIDE-DOWN in a roasting pan. Then, you cook it. As if it were right-side-up. Okay? It could happen to anyone. And, actually, it keeps the breast meat nice and tender, which I’m sure you can appreciate.