Three Many Cooks in OXO’s Kitchen

My first job was working at a small cookware store a few miles from home. From cookie cutters to paring knives, peppermills to copper pots, The Cookery Ware Shop had everything! The wall next to the cash register covered – top to bottom – with a new line from a company I had never heard of: OXO. Their black, soft-handled tools were sleek, modern, and efficient. And they absolutely flew off the shelves.

When the business was slow, I’d gaze at that wall and covet every single kitchen tool and gadget, hoping that one day I’d have enough culinary talent (and money!) to make those things mine. That wistful teenage girl would never have believed that fifteen years later she’d be standing in OXO’s very own test kitchen – stocked with every tool under the sun – prepping for a book launch party. And yet, that’s exactly what happened.

Last month, the wonderful folks at OXO invited us to host a celebration in honor of our new book, Three Many Cooks, at their gorgeous tenth–floor test kitchen in Manhattan. Their huge and well-stocked kitchen opened out onto a dining area with beautiful wooden tables and a wall of windows overlooking the Hudson River. It was the perfect scene for a party 3MC-style—one that never really leaves the kitchen!

We started off the evening with simple appetizers: Mom’s famous bar nuts, fig and olive tapenade, and crispy bites of kielbasa with artisanal mustards. Thanks to Prohibition Distillery, our guests sipped custom cocktails (created by my husband!) featuring their local, small-batch spirits. Stay tuned for Anthony’s recipes for The Red Throated Loon, a fresh and bracing gin, grapefruit, and Campari concoction, as well as La Strada, which matches bourbon with sweet vermouth and Meletti Amaro.

When the party was in full swing, we three cooks demonstrated Mom’s popcorn salad, spinning our greens dry in an OXO salad spinner and getting our red onions paper thin (without threatening our fingers!) using their simple mandoline slicer. We all moved to the tables where the salad kicked off a humble but joyful meal of Pasta e Fagioli and homemade bread.

Mom, Maggy, and I read a few passages from our book, and then melted back into the lively crowd to share stories, sign books, and make new friends. When it was time to say goodbye, we sent everyone on their way with a bag full of OXO swag and a slice of my carrot cake (decorated in a flash using our new favorite OXO tool!) and packaged up like a prize in one of their cute little lock-top boxes.

The evening was absolutely magical thanks to OXO’s enchanting space and their even more enchanting staff. We are so grateful to our friends—old and new—who came out to support us as we took a deep breath, cracked the binding on our book, and began to share our stories with the world. If you haven’t checked out our book yet, we invite you to take a look. It’s not a straightforward cookbook, nor is it really a memoir. We like to think of it as a meal—a meal of words and recipes. We hope that reading it will nourish you as much as writing it nurtured us.