Jenn Hall Writes

Paste Food: The Casserole Stands Eternal

June 12, 2017 by jennhallwrites

This has been a challenging, no good, difficult 2017. Sure, sure, there has been positivity along the way. (Its persistence is shocking, isn’t it?) Yet there have been plenty of just-plain-tough days, too. And when things are low, when they come just shy of bottoming out, there is a dish I return to for solace: The Casserole. Spoken aloud, the words are an incantation. They bring my best friends into the kitchen when I’m pushing against the empty, a lifeboat delivered […]

Categories: Food, Recipes

Sprudge: Booskerdoo Coffee Co. Opens Roastery Cafe In Asbury Park

June 12, 2017 by jennhallwrites

The action in Asbury Park trends east. Ocean air, boardwalk vibes, and a hot new hotel all help. But lately, locals have been hitting up the rising northwest side to caffeinate. There, Booskerdoo Coffee Company has planted its headquarters just over the tracks, uniting a roastery, bakery, and coffee bar over 2,000 square feet. When you’re used to roasting in an 800-square-foot space shared with a cafe, that’s a mighty upgrade. Read more… Published June 1, 2017

Categories: Coffee, Drink

Edible Jersey: Growing the Next Generation of Jersey Farmers

June 12, 2017 by jennhallwrites

Rose Robson always follows this rule: If a crop crosses her path more than once, she investigates. This is how the fourth-generation farmer discovered pawpaws, a greenish tree fruit that has tropical notes of banana, mango and citrus. First, they came up in a Rutgers organic agriculture class she was visiting. Then she read about them in Modern Farmer. Within a year, Robson had a grove of 90 trees in Wrightstown, which she tends along with flowers, field crops and peaches. […]

Categories: Agriculture, Food

Edible Jersey: Road Trip – LBI Like a Local

June 12, 2017 by jennhallwrites

The story of Long Beach Island, better known among NJ local as LBI, is a story of the water. As you cross the Route 72 Causeway, the view opens up in stages. There are the salt-marsh homes of Beach Haven West, some still bearing Sandy’s scars. There is the strange absence of the bayman’s shack that used to hold court in the reeds. Finally, the vista opens onto a union of water, land and sky. Even for locals, the landscape strikes […]

Categories: Drink, Food, Travel

Edible Jersey: In the Kitchen – Local Eating with Blue Moon Acres

June 12, 2017 by jennhallwrites

Growing up, Ashley Lyons Putman’s lunchbox wasn’t quite like the other kids. When you’re the daughter of organic farmers Jim and Kathy Lyons of Blue Moon Acres, Lunchables don’t make the cut. “So I’d take out this big, black orb,” Ashley says with a laugh. Brown rice balls filled with pickled plum paste were common. While she fared poorly in lunchroom trades, Putman learned about healthy food early on. That made her and her brothers adventurous and mindful eaters. Read more… […]

Categories: Food

Spoonful: When We Gather – Holding Syria Close in Philadelphia

May 13, 2017 by jennhallwrites

When Hanaa Al Atmah gathered her four children and walked to the Jordanian border from Daraa, their home city in southwestern Syria where the conflict began, her youngest son Alaa was just an infant. That was back in 2012. By then, war had been raging for some time, eventually finding its way to the family’s doorstep. As for so many, life in Syria had grown too dangerous. There was no choice but to go. Hanaa’s husband Luai fled first, having been […]

Categories: Coffee, Food, When We Gather

Inside Jersey: Runway Restaurants

April 4, 2017 by jennhallwrites

Spend enough time at New Jersey’s local airports and you’ll begin to notice the nearby birds. Hawks and vultures seem attuned to their mechanical counterparts: Cessnas and Pipers, gliders and biplanes. They swoop and dive along the airport perimeters, displaying their natural grace. However, there is another charming aspect to these general aviation facilities dotted across the the state: runway restaurants. Attracting pilots, locals and the aviation-obsessed, they’re a place to get away—if only in spirit. Read more… Published in the April […]

Categories: Food, Travel

Paste Food: Escape to Chocolate Town, USA – A Guide to Hershey, Penn

April 4, 2017 by jennhallwrites

It’s easy to feel transported when standing at the intersection of Chocolate and Cocoa Avenues. More than the center of a chocolate-production empire, this 114-year-old company town reflects the utopian vision of its founder, Milton S. Hershey. A groundbreaking industrialist who brought milk chocolate to the masses using adapted Swiss techniques and modern sales strategies, Hershey aspired to build a civilized and self-sustaining community where residents could enjoy the fruits (and profits) of the cocoa bean. Read more… Published March […]

Categories: Food, Travel

Paste Food: Around Philly, St. Patrick’s Day = Irish Potatoes

March 17, 2017 by jennhallwrites

Last St. Patrick’s Day, my holiday started with a gift. With a knock and a smile, my Irish-American neighbor, Ellen Hannan, bestowed me with the most Philly of St. Paddy’s treats: a box of Irish potatoes. In part, I believe, it was to correct an error that I had made a few days prior. When she had asked me if I liked them as we chatted on the porch, I’d stammered something about enjoying potatoes with my corned beef. “It’s lovely […]

Categories: Food

Edible Jersey: In the Kitchen – Making a Good Mess with Heirloom Kitchen’s Neilly Robinson

March 15, 2017 by jennhallwrites

In Neilly Robinson’s sunlit Asbury Park kitchen, the sourdough starter is ever hungry. Fridays through Sundays, Robinson, the founder of Heirloom Kitchen in Old Bridge, bakes bread for the cooking school’s new weekend chef ’s table and supper club. Much of Robinson’s fresh bread goes with her to work. But she keeps some aside for sourdough French toast breakfasts with her husband and business partner Jason Robinson. The breakfasts are a nod to tradition: Growing up a bit north of here, […]

Categories: Food

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Jenn Hall Writes

words for hire

Creative storytelling

Paste Food: The Casserole Stands Eternal

Sprudge: Booskerdoo Coffee Co. Opens Roastery Cafe In Asbury Park

Edible Jersey: Growing the Next Generation of Jersey Farmers

Edible Jersey: Road Trip – LBI Like a Local

Edible Jersey: In the Kitchen – Local Eating with Blue Moon Acres

Spoonful: When We Gather – Holding Syria Close in Philadelphia

Inside Jersey: Runway Restaurants

Paste Food: Escape to Chocolate Town, USA – A Guide to Hershey, Penn

Paste Food: Around Philly, St. Patrick’s Day = Irish Potatoes

Edible Jersey: In the Kitchen – Making a Good Mess with Heirloom Kitchen’s Neilly Robinson