Author: Ann Bauer

  • Are YOU Killing the Food Network?

    Look, I think I’ve been honest right from the get-go. I’ve never been a foodie. In fact, I’ve always been a little squeamish about diehard foodies. And I stumbled into food writing because I was an out-of-work English professor who needed a job, not because I stayed up nights dreaming of the perfect creme brulee.…

  • Keeping the Faith

    I work out at the Y five or six times a week, so I see a lot of naked women. There are very elderly ones who stand crookedly in the shower, bones protruding, washing their thinning, silver hair. Others have bodies so wrinkled, the folds of skin fall like ripples from their shoulders to their…

  • Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's 2005

    For a Jewish Gen X’er, I have a strangely regressive Protestant work ethic. For instance, I tend to feel guilty when I have fun while I’m on the job. And after last Thursday at Thomas Liquors — let me tell you — my conscience is simply awash. These guys are crazy, in a very good…

  • Cheap Date

    It is that time of year when we pause and give thanks for small blessings. And among these I count Uptown, where my husband and I (who are saving up to send a kid to college) have had a succession of brilliant but inexpensive Saturday night dates. In this era of Transformers on 16 screens,…

  • Another Award for W.A.

    There’s nothing new here. W.A. Frost has been winning awards for years: from Wine Spectator, Gourmet, various local publications, and Zagat. The newest honor is from Wine Enthusiast Magazine — an award of "unique distinction" for Frost’s nearly Bible-size wine list. And it’s well-deserved. But what strikes me about this restaurant is that. . .…

  • What I Learned from Erica Kane

    I think it’s time you knew: I watch a soap opera. Not every day, not even every week, and never, ever in real time. (Not only is it a depressing thing to do at noon, I simply can’t stomach all those commercials for floor cleaning products and maxi-pads with wings.) What I do is record…