Home cooking in a small kitchen

Colwin's kitchen is genuinely small, and she likes it that way; she has written that a cook needs no more than a stove, a pan, and the will to feed people. Sheila Lukins, whose operation is industrial by comparison, and Jeff Smith, who built a career on thrift, have both squeezed in for supper.

The fried chicken is Colwin's, the chocolate cake is hers too, and the Greek lemon chicken, carbonara, and fried rice come from her guests. They trade notes on feeding a crowd on a budget, which is the common ground between a novelist, a shopkeeper, and a television minister. Nobody minds the lack of counter space.