Marcia Smart's new cookbook hits shelves Nov. 1.
“The recipes are geared for simple weeknight meals, knowing that my cooking class students and audience is primarily made up of busy working and over-extended moms who need ideas for dinner that won’t stress them out,” says Smart. Her modern and vibrant creations —from salmon salad Niçoise and blackened redfish tacos to grilled tri-tip with black bean sauce — are ideal for anyone, not just families with kids.
Dinner is Done also includes Smart’s personal story of how Smart in the Kitchen and Smart in the Kitchen School came to be, her philosophy on cooking and ingredients, and the core lessons she teaches in cooking classes. She shares her love of family dinners — remember those? — and tips for bringing everyone together again, like ditching the cell phones for dinner hour.
A graduate of Tante Marie Cooking School in San Francisco, the California native began her career in the editorial department at Parenting magazine and worked as a producer for Women.com and a food editor for San Francisco’s 7x7 magazine. When Smart moved to Houston in 2004 due to her husband’s job, she continued freelance writing while starting her blog, smartinthekitchen.com, about meal planning, easy weeknight recipes and healthy family dinners.
Now Smart runs Smart in the Kitchen School, an online cooking school covering all topics from knife skills to pastry making. “The cooking school was created during the pandemic as a way to connect with my students while they were at home, but now it allows me to have students all over the country,” says Smart. She also conducts in-person courses in her home kitchen and demos at Kitchenette Farm, her teaching kitchen near Round Top.
Smart at work styling photos for her cookbook, 'Dinner Is Done.'
Ramen Made Right is among the dishes highlighted in Smart's new cookbook, a first-ever tome by the popular Houston-based cooking-school teacher and food writer.
A recipe for Halibut cooked with lemon and wine appears in the new book, 'Dinner Is Done.'
Vegetarian recipes in the new book include one for Vegetable Bolognese.
Wash everything down with an Aperol Margarita? You can find that recipe, too, in Smart's new cookbook. There's a whole chapter on cocktails.
Her cookbook to debut Nov. 1, which is impressively comprehensive and gift-worthy, has been in the works for about five years. Beautifully photographed by local talent Debora Smail, Smart styled each recipe in the book, which amazingly was her first stab at food styling. From the looks of it, she has a strong knack for this.
Can’t imagine this recipe developer and author would have leisure time, but when she does, travel hits the top of the list. “I’m headed to Paris over Thanksgiving break to visit my oldest daughter and love the inspiration that travel sparks — I always come home with new recipes to develop,” says Smart.
“My mission for Smart in the Kitchen is to help home cooks plan and execute weeknight dinners by sharing how I pull off dinner in the midst of classes, writing, recipe development, course creation and raising teenagers.” She adds, “I want to make it feasible for people to make delicious and simple dinners that don’t require a million ingredients, pans and hours.”
Sign us up for that!
Jim Crownover, Phoebe Tudor, Diana Hawkins
“Chaired by longtime opera supporters Molly and Jim Crownover, the evening marked a post-pandemic return to gathering donors with the cast and creative team for dinner and saw the largest opening night dinner participation in HGO’s 67-year history,” remarked an HGO rep. In all, nearly 500 guests helped raise about $600,000.
The itself marked the HGO debut of Grammy Award-winning soprano Angel Blue as the doomed heroine — is there any other kind in opera? — in the lead role. Celebrated Ukrainian baritone Andrei Kymach, who had to flee his war-torn homeland in recent months, also appeared; in her pre-curtain remarks, HGO honcho Khori Dastoor dedicated the evening’s special performance to him.
After many rounds of standing ovation, the black-tied crowd left the performing arts center and alighted in a grand tent erected on Fish Plaza outside. “Guests were greeted with glasses of bubbly, and two ten-foot floral Champagne flutes flanking the tent’s entrance with a flurry of real bubbles in the air” — courtesy of a bubble machine —the rep said. At a dinner of fall squash soup with lump crab, a beef tenderloin Marchand du Vin for the entrée, and a dessert of cherry and dark chocolate clafoutis, honorees Jill and Allyn Risley and La traviata crew and cast members were recognized.
Per usual, the guest list represented a who’s-who of Houston society, including Cynthia and Tony Petrello, Phoebe and Bobby Tudor, Lynn Wyatt, Margaret Alkek Williams, Beth Madison, Ping Sun and David Leebron, Bobbie Nau, Betty and Jess Tutor, Andrew Pappas and Charles Martin, Veronica Juarez and Lauren Randle.
Walter and Linda McReynolds, Lynn Wyatt, Molly Crownover
Ann and Jonathan Ayre
Beth Madison, Tom LeCloux
Schyuler Evans, Veronica Juarez, CJ Martin and Andrew Pappas
Joe Greenberg and Claire Liu
Tracy and Valerie Dieterich, Betty and Jess Tutor
Bobbie Nau, HGO's Greg Robertson
Brian Dunham and Allyson Pritchett
Margaret Alkek Williams
Cindy and Dr. Franklin Rose
Monica Karuturi and Kumaran Sathyamoorthy
Cynthia and Tony Petrello
Danilo and Stephanie Juvane
Diana and Russell Hawkins
Drs. Ishwaria and Vivek Subbiah
Drs. Rachel and Warren Ellsworth
Drs. Sugene Kim and Bob Basu
David Krohn, C.C. and Duke Ensell
Jennifer and Ben Fink
Jerry Fischer, Lynne Bentsen, John Turner