As many of you know, I love to cook. Many of my go-to cookbooks are written by Yotam Ottolenghi. His recipes are innovative, flavorful, surprising --- and, yes, they often challenge me, but the results are worth it. Last night, Nicole and I went to the 92nd Street Y for an event where he and his co-author, Helen Goh, talked about their collaboration, SWEET, which is a dessert cookbook. They were interviewed by Ruth Reichl. One of my favorite questions from the audience was what common kitchen utensil they each consider essential. For Yotam, it is a juicer and a microplane zester; he loves lemon, as do I. I probably would pick those two and a santoku knife that we have that I use for cutting everything, which makes my husband crazy, as he uses the right knife for each thing. For Helen, it was an offset spatula; she carries one with her all the time.
