How do you feed the people you love?

I’m pretty sure my husband fell in love with me because I can cook. He won’t admit it now, but I can still remember the night, 15 long years ago, when I made him dinner for the first time. Max took one bite of the chicken in cherry sauce I’d thrown together in the dinky kitchen of our Hamptons share house and just stared at me across the table.

I’d known I’d wanted to marry him from the moment I laid eyes on him; apparently he’d needed to taste my cooking first.

But that’s okay. Because food can be a form of love. Chopping, mixing, simmering—what is that if not a ritual, with the end result being its own kind of offering? Think of all the care you put into your cooking. What if that effort doesn’t disappear but, rather, like all energy on earth, it takes on another form? What if the love you put into your cooking is like another nutrient—up there with protein and anti-oxidants—that’s just as essential? After all, none of us can truly thrive without love in our lives.

So then, the only question left is: How do you feed the people you love? On Valentine’s Day, the answer—I think—should be something sweet. Chocolate is ideal. Decadence is a must. Food52 founder Amanda Hesser’s Chocolate Dump-It Cake checks both those boxes. Plus it’s delicious. I’d mastered a good number of desserts—everything from pumpkin pie to panna cotta—but cake, so far, had eluded me. My previous attempts often turned out dense and dry or calling out for more flavor. But maybe all I was missing was the right recipe. This cake turned out moist and light and was incredibly easy to pull together.

To start, you melt some chocolate and butter. The recipe says you should do it over a double boiler, but you can also do it in a heat-proof bowl in a microwave. Next you mix in the wet ingredients: milk, eggs and vinegar to add a little fluffiness (this trick also works with pancakes). Last you sift in the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder, etc) and mix in a little vanilla before pouring the batter into a greased and floured pan. Cook until a fork comes out clean when you poke it into the cake. (I cooked my cake in a bundt pan for 35 minutes).

The frosting is even easier. It contains only two ingredients: Melted chocolate chips and sour cream. The only tricky part is making sure you combine the melted chocolate and sour cream when they are at the same temperature so they blend smoothly. (I let my chocolate over cool so it became hard again and had to reheat and recool it.) The end result is a lighter, more chocolatey version of your standard chocolate buttercream.

Once the cake was cooled and frosted, I called my husband over from his perch on the living room couch and offered him a slice.

”From a box?” Max asked after taking his first bite.

“Nope,” I said. “It was from scratch.”

He lifted his eyebrows, impressed. “Nice work,” he said, that look in his eyes, once again.

It wasn’t quite the magical, chicken-in-cherry-sauce moment we’d once had, but I love that after 15 years together I can still surprise him—and myself.

My foray into the Paleo-way

I have no trouble understanding the appeal of the Paleo Diet. The diet allows you to eat plenty of meat, fat, veggies, legumes and fermented foods and drink coffee laced with butter and coconut oil (surprisingly delicious). Going Paleo also means giving up grains (our bodies aren’t “hardwired” to digest them, proponents say), processed and refined foods (that’s anything made from white flour or sugar), plus dairy—which is why I won’t be jumping on the Paleo bandwagon anytime soon.
But while I love wine, cheese and chocolate too much to follow this diet full-time, I’m curious enough about it to try cooking a meal or two, especially when the recipes look as tasty as the ones in The Paleo Chef do. The cookbook’s author, Chris Evans, is a chef, health coach and the host of The Moveable Feast on PBS. His recipes are hearty and flavorful. Many of them feature Asian spices, so I decided to go with an Asian-themed meal for my brood—Japanese Crispy Chicken and Turkey and Shiitake Lettuce Cups.

Both recipes were easy to follow but took a long time to prep. A lot of the ingredients had to be washed and chopped—and there were a lot of ingredients. If you don’t have a well-stocked pantry, you’ll have a long shopping list, and might have to take an additional run to a grocery or health food store that stocks less widely available ingredients like wheat-free tamari (a gluten-free substitute for soy sauce), almond meal and tapioca starch (to sub for the flour for the fried chicken).

The Japanese Crispy Chicken went over well with my kids—even my picky ten year old cleaned his plate—and the lettuce cups tasted fresh and light. The combination of coconut oil, cilantro, ginger and fish sauce will always call to mind a trip we took to Thailand and the great food we sampled there. I wanted a bit more spice in my cups, so next time I make this recipe—in the summer, for an alfresco dinner upstate with friends—I’ll add extra ginger and red chili.

I wasn’t done with The Paleo Chef yet: The next night, at the behest of my husband, I made Nasi Goreng, which means fried Rice in Balinese. Evans’s version uses cauliflower instead of rice, but I didn’t do that for the sake of time. Once again, the ingredient list was long and the prep time considerable. There’s chicken, shrimp, bacon, coconut oil, tamarind pulp, fish sauce and wheat-free tamari, plus lots of fresh vegetables and aromatics and a whole fried egg atop each serving. I won’t lie; it was a lot of work. But at the end, when my husband turned to me and told me it was the best thing I’d made since he didn’t know when, I knew my efforts had been worthwhile.

This is not a beginner’s cookbook, and the jury is still out on whether the Paleo diet is as healthy as its advocates claim, but the recipes in this book are delicious. That, at least, is not up for debate.

Turkey & Shiitake Lettuce Cups

 

SERVES 4

• 1 tbsp coconut oil, ghee, or duck fat
• 3 cloves garlic, minced 4 shallots, chopped
• 2 tsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
• 1 1/3 lb (600 g) ground turkey 4 oz (120 g) shiitake mushrooms, chopped
• 2 tbsp wheat-free tamari or coconut aminos
• 1 tbsp fish sauce, plus more to serve
• 1 tsp raw honey (optional)
• 1 (8 oz/225 g) can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
• 4 green onions, finely chopped
• 2 fresh red chiles, seeded and chopped
• 3 1/2 oz (100 g) bean sprouts 8 iceberg lettuce leaves, washed and dried
• Fresh cilantro leaves, torn, to serve
• Lime wedges, to serve

Heat a wok or large frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, add the coconut oil and swirl around the wok. Add the garlic, shallots, and ginger and cook for 1 minute. Add the turkey and mushrooms and cook for another 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until cooked through and browned. Add the tamari, fish sauce, and honey, if using, and toss to mix. Then add the water chestnuts, green onions, and chiles and keep stirring until the mixture is well combined. Cook until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, mix in the bean sprouts, and check for seasoning, adding more fish sauce or sea salt if needed.
To serve, place the lettuce cups on a serving platter or four plates. Top each with some of the turkey mixture, and garnish with cilantro leaves and lime wedges.

Japanese Crispy Chicken with Miso Mayonnaise

SERVES 4

• miso mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) mayonnaise (page 203)
• 1 tsp white miso paste
• 1 tbsp bonito flakes, crushed in your hands to form a powder marinade & chicken
• 1 tsp peeled and grated fresh ginger
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp white wine
• 3 tbsp wheat-free tamari or coconut aminos
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 3/4 lb (800 g) boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 2-inch (5 cm) pieces
• 3/4 cup (75 g) almond meal
• 3/4 cup (90 g) tapioca starch
• Coconut oil, for frying to serve
• Fresh baby shiso leaves
• Black and white sesame seeds, toasted
• Ichimi togarashi (Japanese ground red chile; optional)

To make the miso mayonnaise, combine the mayonnaise, miso, and bonito powder and mix until blended. Set aside.
To make the seasoning marinade, combine the ginger, garlic, egg yolk, wine, tamari, sesame oil, 1 tsp sea salt, and some freshly cracked black pepper. Add the chicken, turning the pieces until well coated. Marinate in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes.
In a shallow bowl, mix together the almond meal and tapioca starch. Lift the chicken out of the marinade and coat the chicken with the almond meal mixture, shaking off any excess.
Fill a wok or saucepan halfway with coconut oil and heat over medium heat to reach 340°F (170°C). Add one piece of chicken to the oil to test; it should bubble right away. Deep-fry the chicken in batches until golden brown, crispy and cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes. Place on paper towels to drain the excess oil. Season with salt and pepper.
To serve, thread the chicken pieces onto eight skewers. Garnish with the shiso leaves, sesame seeds, and ichimi togarashi. Pass the mayonnaise alongside.

Nasi Goreng

SERVES 4

• 4 tbsp coconut oil
• 14 oz (400 g) boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1/2-inch (2 cm) pieces
• 5 oz (150 g) sliced bacon, thinly sliced crosswise
• 4 shallots, thinly sliced 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
• 1 celery stalk, trimmed and finely diced
• 1 fresh red chile, seeded and finely chopped
• 5 oz (150 g) cooked, peeled bay shrimp
• 1/2 cup (50 g) finely shredded Chinese cabbage
• 1 tsp shrimp paste
• 3 cups (600 g) Cauliflower Rice (page 61)
• 1 cup (120 g) bean sprouts 2 green onions, sliced
• 2 tbsp fried shallots (page 207)
• 4 tbsp wheat-free tamari or coconut aminos
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 tbsp tamarind pulp
• 4 eggs
• Bird chiles, thinly sliced
• Lime wedges

Place a large wok over medium heat, add 2 tbsp of the coconut oil, and heat until just smoking. Add half the chicken and stir-fry until brown and just cooked through, 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, then stir-fry the remaining chicken and trasfer to the bowl. Add the bacon to the wok and stir-fry until it becomes golden and crispy, 2 minutes. Transfer to the bowl with the chicken and set aside.
Add 1 tbsp coconut oil to the wok and heat over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and stir-fry until shallots are soft, 1 minute. Add the carrot, celery, and red chile and stir-fry for 3 minutes.
Return the cooked chicken and bacon to the wok, add the shrimp and cabbage, and stir-fry until the cabbage wilts, 3 minutes. Stir in the shrimp paste, then add the cauliflower rice, bean sprouts, green onions, 1 tbsp of the fried shallots, the tamari, fish sauce, and tamarind pulp. Stir-fry until heated through, 2 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl and cover with foil to keep warm.
Heat the remaining 1 tbsp coconut oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. When hot, crack the eggs into the pan and cook, uncovered, until the whites set and the yolks are almost set (for a soft yolk), 2 minutes, or until cooked to your liking. Transfer to a plate.
Spoon the nasi goreng into four shallow serving bowls. Top each with a fried egg and sprinkle over the remaining 1 tbsp fried shallots. Serve, accompanied by chile slices and lime wedges.
Reprinted with permission from The Paleo Chef by Pete Evans, copyright © 2014. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Penguin Random House, Inc.

Photography © 2014 by Mark Roper

Fun foods to serve a big crowd: From chicken skewers to an elevated pizza, plus a couple great dessert and drink ideas.

Trying out a new recipe when you’re cooking for a crowd can feel a lot like sending up a Hail Mary pass: You just don’t know how things are going to turn out, and by the time you do, it’s probably too late to do anything about it. Still, it’s no fun playing it safe all the time, which is why, for my column on the ideal Super Bowl party spread, I didn’t want to rely on the old bar-snack standbys—Buffalo wings, nachos and pizza—that lack little in the way of inspiration, not to mention nutrition. To me, the ideal football-watching food is hearty, tasty, and can be eaten with your hands. Think cocktail hour fare with a bit more meat on its bones.

I’ve wanted to cook from Camille Styles Entertaining since it came out in October. Written by an Austin, Texas-based event planner, the book is part entertaining guide, part cookbook, and is bursting with beautiful pictures, smart tips and—best of all—flavor-packed recipes that are perfect for your next gathering. There’s something very Martha Stewart about Styles’s elevated aesthetics and detail-oriented approach to party planning. This is aspirational stuff for the modern hostess—perfection that looks effortless, even if it isn’t. I picked a handful of Styles’s recipes to make: A caramelized onion, prosciutto and arugula pizza; jalapeno-laced guacamole; Indian-spiced chicken skewers and bite-size chocolate cookies.

To save time, I used pre-made dough from Fresh Direct (already a household staple) instead of Camille’s recipe for dough and cooked the pizza in my oven instead of on a grill. The sweetness of the onions and saltiness of the prosciutto were enlivened by the peppery, fresh arugula.

Styles’s guacamole recipe is pretty basic, but such an improvement over the pre-made stuff. I used pickled jalepeno instead of fresh because it has a longer shelf life and adds a vinegary zing.

The Tandoori chicken skewers were delicious and satisfying—think of them as a sophisticated swap for Buffalo wings. Styles suggests serving them with a yogurt-harissa dipping sauce. Harissa is a garlicky, spicy condiment from North Africa and worth taking the time to make from scratch if you can. If not, you can typically find a bottle of it in specialty grocery stores.

Shockingly (not!) the salted brownie cookies were a huge hit with my children. I liked them, too, because they were small and light, but sated my chocolate craving, making them a relatively healthy choice from a portion-control perspective. Of course, this assumes you won’t gobble up the whole batch. (You’ll want to!)

But, if you ask me, no good party is complete without a signature cocktail or two. Styles’s book contains plenty of recipes for fresh, fun libations, but I decided to go with one developed by Hillary Brown, a mixologist at Red 8, a sleek billiards bar in Overland Park, Kansas. Brown’s Skinny Minny Mule is made with Prairie Organic Vodka, soda water, fresh lime juice, grated ginger and agave. You muddle ginger and limes, pour over ice, then add the agave, vodka and soda water. It couldn’t be easier, and the taste is light and refreshing. I’ll be sending out a tray of them as soon as Katy Perry hits the 50-yard line.

Skinny Minny Mule
1 1/2 oz. Prairie Vodka
Fresh peeled Ginger
Agave simple syrup
Fresh Lime
copper mug
In a shaker tin muddle fresh ginger and limes
Pour over ice in a copper mug
Add a splash of agave simple syrup
Add Prairie Vodka
Top with soda water
And my results, which I think came out well. Perfect dry run for Sunday’s big day!

Photos courtesy of William Morrow/Buff Strickland

6 Healthy Twists on Classic Superbowl Dips

No Super Bowl party spread is complete without a chip and dip combo. But the usual cheesy, gooey go-tos are not only about a football field short of healthy, they're also—how can we say this nicely?—a little boring. Need a mental image? Picture Tom Brady walking into your party, taking one look at the bowl of onion dip and greasy potato chips on your coffee table and walking straight back out. As implausible as that particular scenario may be (for starters, Brady will be in Phoenix, playing in the game, and not anywhere near your living room), the point is that we can all do better. Check out our round up of six delicious and nutritious dips that would, hypothetically, impress a certain Patriot quarterback, not to mention your non-imaginary guests. You might just find a new fan-favorite.

See full slideshow here: http://www.self.com/body/recipes/2015/01/dip-recipes-super-bowl-entertaining-game-slideshow/1

ELEVATED BEEF STEW: Perfect fare for a cold winter's night

Every year, at the first sign of snow, I start craving heartier food. A salad no longer suffices at suppertime; I want food I can sink my teeth into, meals that will make me feel cozy and warm—the culinary equivalent of an oversize cashmere sweater. For me, nothing quite does the job like beef stew. It’s comforting and delicious and practically fool proof since the longer you cook it, the better it becomes.

So when I stumbled upon a recipe for beef cheek stew in A Kitchen in France, A Year of Cooking in My Farmhouse, I knew I wanted to give her version a go. The cookbook, by food blogger Mimi Thorisson, is arranged by seasons and shot entirely by Thorisson’s photographer husband, Oddur. We see Mimi peeling apples in her kitchen, bicycling along a dirt path, and tucking into a plate of oxtail-macaroni gratin. She and her idyllic, familial life in Medoc, a Southwest region of France known mostly for its wine, are as much stars of this book as is her classic French cooking. These are the kinds of recipes a chic Parisian housewife might recreate for her Saturday dinner party. They are meals made to impress.

Even Thorrison’s beef stew, a comfort food if there ever was one, feels elevated, thanks to the addition of a bouquet garni (an aromatic bouquet of herbs tied together with a string), beef cheeks in lieu of stew chunks and an entire bottle of red wine. I had trouble finding beef cheeks and piment d’Espelette, so I subbed in two pounds of beautiful grass-fed beef and chopped the end of a spicy red pepper I dug out of the crisper (origin: unknown). I also omitted the 4 tomatoes in the recipe because my husband is, sadly, allergic to tomato.

A word of warning: This dish takes 2-3 hours to cook and about 20-30 minutes of prep time. We’d gone cross-country skiing that day and I didn’t have a chance to get going in the kitchen until 6 p.m. We didn’t sit down to eat until after 8:30p.m. and the stew could have benefited from another 30-45 minutes of simmering.

The cookbook suggests serving the stew with macaroni or potatoes. I went with mashed potatoes, which I don’t generally make, and which were a huge hit with my 10 year-old. I also roasted some Brussels sprouts to serve alongside the stew—I felt like it needed a little veg to balance out the heaviness of the meat and sauce—and paired a Pinot Noir from Oregon with the meal. Sometimes pinot noir can be a bit too light to stand up to a meaty dish like this—I typically like to drink it with salmon or chicken—but the Pinot Noir from the Sokol Blosser Winery in Oregon’s Willamette Valley, was plenty robust.


The stew was such a hit with my family we barely had any leftovers for the next day, which was a disappointment to me (I was hoping to get a night off cooking) and my husband (who had been planning to have it for breakfast). I guess that just means I’ll have to make it again—and double the recipe.

My new cooking column for SELF

I edit a section called INDULGE at Self magazine. Some months we cover travel but most months we feature great recipes that are both healthy and delicious. Because I want it all: at work, home, and even on my plate. 

It used to be that there were nutritious meals and gourmet meals, and never the twain shall meet. Now, thanks to Michael Pollan and other luminaries in the food world, there's been a convergence of the two. My column focuses on the cookbooks that are at the forefront of that change. The books I cover are filled with recipes that are equal measures nutritious, seasonal, delicious and satisfying. 

Here is the first column in my series. I hope you'll keep reading it and let me know what you think about it at Tatiana_Boncompagni@condenast.com. What kinds of recipes do you want me to try? What's your dream recipe makeover? Is there a cookbook out there that should be on my radar?

 I’ll admit it: I am a creature of routine. Familiarity is comforting to me. I seek it at the office, the gym and especially in the kitchen. My cooking repertoire, therefore, is somewhat limited. I’ll break out a new recipe for a dinner party (a Moroccan-spiced chicken dish was a recent hit), but on most weeknights, I prepare simple, wholesome meals for my family. Think grass-fed steak, a fresh salad and roasted potatoes, or pan-seared pork tenderloin with buttered green beans and rice. On the weekends, I rely on a half-dozen crowd-pleasers—an old family recipe for arroz con pollo, black beans, key lime or pumpkin pie. What I do cook, I cook well, and I’m passionate about using seasonal, local and organic ingredients as often as possible. But there’s no doubt that my culinary horizons could use some expanding.

Especially now. As SELF magazine’s lifestyle director, my job requires me to pore over all the new cookbooks that walk through our door. The photography is so beautiful, the recipes so mouthwatering—it’s hard not to get inspired. My goal for the New Year: To try a new recipe once a week. I’ll focus mostly on new or recently released cookbooks, and specifically on recipes that are both delicious and healthful. I’ll tweak and sub in ingredients when necessary (or I think advisable), and I’ll be honest about the level of difficulty and prep time. My hope is that my adventures in cooking and baking will inspire you to try new things in the kitchen—and life.  

Fearlessness has to start somewhere, so why not let it be with what you put into your body.

With all that in mind, I cracked open Plenty More, Vibrant Vegetable Cooking from London’s Ottolenghi. The author, Yotam Ottolenghi, has three other cookbook bestsellers under his belt and runs a group of eponymous restaurants in the U.K.. Plenty More is the vegetarian follow-up to Plenty and is packed, cover-to-cover, with delectable dishes I want to make (and eat!), like Tagliatelle with Walnuts and Lemon, Eggplant Cheesecake and Smoky Polenta Fries.

I decided to try the Quinoa and Fennel Salad first—mostly because I already had quinoa in my pantry and, thanks to the Winter CSA my husband had so smartly signed us up for, some particularly beautiful fennel in my fridge. To round out the meal, which I served as a light lunch for eight, I made roasted rosemary garlic potatoes, two ways, and paprika-dusted hard-boiled eggs over cumin-spiced lentils.

The prep was easy. Basically, you throw together prepared quinoa (1 cup, boiled for 9 minutes) with sautéed fennel, generous handfuls of cilantro and dill and add some chili, segmented limes and currants. I omitted the fava beans in the recipe because I was also making a lentil dish and didn’t want to overdo it with the legumes. I didn’t miss the beans, but I think you would if you wanted the salad to work as an entrée. In fact, the cookbook suggests adding pumpkin seeds, walnuts or goat cheese to make it feel more substantial. 


(Recipe here)

The fennel caramelizing in the pan made my country kitchen smell heavenly and caused me to wonder why I didn’t cook with it more often. Even just roasted on a baking sheet with salt, pepper and a little olive oil, it would be a delicious side to grilled wild salmon or beef tenderloin. Segmenting limes was also an eye-opener. I could add the bright green, juicy morsels to a fruit plate or creamy dessert to add a pop of citrus and color. So much cooler than a sprig of mint!
In fact, maybe this is what trying out new recipes is all about—not simply discovering another dinner party go-to, but picking up new skills and ideas you can use every day. Because I believe we should indulge a little every day and aim to keep an open mind—in the kitchen and beyond. Life can be so much more satisfying that way.

RELATED LINKS:

• Quinoa And Fennel Salad

 

Cover story for SELF magazine on Hilary Rhoda

As the lifestyle director at SELF magazine, I wrote our December cover story on model Hilary Rhoda, who is, to our mind, a bright star on the fashion scene, a disciplined, clean-living model who treats her body as well as--if not better--than most professional athletes do.

Hilary Rhoda stands barefoot in the middle of her kitchen in downtown New York City, long and lean in gray skinnies and a cozy green sweater. There’s a small smile on her lips as she opens her refrigerator door and reveals a distinctly non-modelesque trove of peanut butter M&M’s, Kit Kats and fudge-covered cookies. “So unhealthy, I know,” she says. “I do have a really big sweet tooth. But I balance it out.”

Rhoda can certainly afford a sweet treat or two. Nearly 10 years after she burst on to the scene as the fresh-faced teen with those eyebrows, it’s her ultra-toned body, arguably the fittest on the high-fashion runways, that’s put the 27-year-old back in the spotlight and at the forefront of a new vanguard of athletic, clean-­living models. “I didn’t start working out to change the way models are viewed or to change the industry,” she says. “I did it for me.”

Whatever her reasons, Rhoda’s transformation from waif to wonder woman—an evolution five years in the making—hasn’t gone unnoticed by industry insiders. “The way people used to know Hilary was for her face. Now she’s got the beauty and she’s got the physicality,” says Kohle Yohannan, co-curator of the Model as Muse exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. Yohannan places Rhoda among an elite group of super fit supermodels—like Gisele, a yoga enthusiast, and Doutzen Kroes, a former speed skater—who are forging change in the industry. “The whole idea of a model type is dissolving and expanding,” says Yohannan. “It’s about time.”

In person, Rhoda’s sculpted form is impressive, as are her luminous skin and bright blue eyes. It’s no wonder she’s frequently asked what she does to look so amazing. The answer: a lot. Aside from her daily sweet fix, Rhoda sticks to a diet chock-full of vegetables and protein, rarely drinks alcohol, downs 4 liters of water daily and gets plenty of sleep. Bedtime is 9 p.m., 10 if she doesn’t have an early call time the next day.

Then there are the workouts: two-hour daily sweat sessions at the Tracy Anderson Method studio (for which Rhoda wakes at 5 a.m., weekends included), plus frequent trips to SoulCycle for Spin classes, often after a long day at a photo shoot. “It’s crazy, I know. But going to the gym is my outlet,” she says. “It’s the best place for me to clear my head and recharge. And it makes me feel better if I’m not having a good day.” Rhoda also walks and rides her bike everywhere she can in the city and in the Hamptons, where she and her fiancé, Sean Avery, a former NHL player, recently completed a renovation on their weekend house. It’s an impressive routine for anyone, let alone an in-demand model with a hectic travel schedule and about a million balls in the air.

But you could say that being active and breathlessly busy are second nature to Rhoda, who grew up in Chevy Chase, Maryland, dancing ballet and playing a bevy of sports, among them soccer, basketball, swimming, lacrosse and field hockey. She was determined to keep pace with her brother Spencer, older by just 19 months and now a Manhattan-based real estate agent. “I wanted to be like him and hang out with his friends all the time,” she says. “So I got into sports.”

Still, Rhoda had ambitions beyond playing varsity. As a child, she dreamed of landing a role on All That, a children’s comedy-sketch show that aired on Nickelodeon. “I’d be like, ‘Mom, when are you going to call them?’ I would do little performances at home,” she says. It wasn’t until high school that Rhoda started thinking that maybe all those strangers who stopped her in public to tell her she should be a model were on to something. “They’d say, ‘Oh, she looks like Brooke Shields.’ And I didn’t know who Brooke Shields was!” she says.

At 15, Rhoda attended an open call to meet with modeling scouts in Washington, D.C. Within months she had signed with a New York City agency and was shooting her first campaign for Hollister with Bruce Weber. More jobs followed, which Rhoda scheduled around school vacations until she graduated from high school and, deferring college, moved to New York.

This time around, success wasn’t quite so immediate. Going to New York Fashion Week castings, she didn’t get a single job. The same happened in Milan. “Coming into this industry and getting rejected can hurt your feelings if you don’t understand,” she says. But Rhoda soldiered on to Paris, where she was handpicked by Nicolas Ghesquière to walk in the Balenciaga show, effectively anointing her the new It Girl on the block. After that, “I did every major show in Paris,” she says, beaming at the memory.

http://www.self.com/body/celebrity/2014/11/supermodel-hilary-rhoda-cover-girl/