Ever since Jenny Rosenstrach picked up the garlic powder at 18 and
her mother redirected her to a fresh clove, she’s been a passionate cook;
her devotion to the dinner ritual is so complete that she’s kept a diary of
every evening meal she’s cooked for the past 12 years. There was a time when she and her husband, editor Andy Ward, would spend hours tracking down tamarind paste, say, or baharat spice mix. But when Rosenstrach had their first daughter, Phoebe, in 2002, and their second, Abby, the next year, it never even occurred to her to make her own baby food.
“The collective wisdom at the time was, ‘You’re working! You’ll never have time to cook like that! Get used to it!'” the 39-year-old recalls. “But I eventually realized you make time for what matters. And cooking for my family matters to me.”
