Dianna Marder

Dianna Marder was an award-winning investigative reporter, covering courts, crime and City Hall for 18 years, before turning her talents to writing features about food and romance (which are not mutually exclusive topics). Look for her stories in the Image, Food and Daily Magazine sections of the newspaper.

Email Dianna at dmarder@phillynews.com

Author Ben Yagoda will lead a panel discussion at the First Person Festival of Memoir and Documentary Art.

Celebrating the memoir - fiction's day is done?

By Dianna Marder, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted 11/03/2009

When browsing online or in a bookstore, one might easily conclude that every third person in the country is actively engaged in writing or reading a memoir.

Poll: What do you like with pancakes? (375 votes)

Chocolate Chip Pancakes With Orange-Brandy Sauce - 10/29/2009: Makes 5 to 6 servings For the pancakes: 2/3 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking powder Pinch of fine sea salt
Cardamom Griddlecakes With Maple Cardamom Cream - 10/29/2009: Makes 4 three-griddlecake servings For the Griddlecakes: 11/3 cups all-purpose flour 3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar 2 teaspoons baking powder
Danish Ebelskivers - 10/29/2009: Makes 28 (3 pieces per serving) 2 cups buttermilk 2 cups flour 6 eggs, separated 2 teaspoons sugar
Earhart was spreading her wings at a local school - 10/29/2009: By Dianna Marder, Inquirer Staff Writer

The movie Amelia shows the legendary aviation pioneer at the height of her career. But here's a little-known snippet of Earhart's bio: Before becoming the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, she attended a finishing school in our neck of the woods.
From the griddle, the ultimate comfort food - 10/29/2009: Plain or fancy, served morning, noon or night, nothing conveys comfort like pancakes.

By Dianna Marder, Inquirer Staff Writer

In a world of chaos you want peace in the moment. You want an elixir, a panacea, a remedy, a reminder. You want to bask in the easygoing air of a sleepy Sunday. You want comfort. You want pancakes.
Southeast Asia seniors feast at Moon Festival - 10/14/2009: By Dianna Marder, Inquirer Staff Writer

Cao Bong Thi, 73, marked the annual Moon Festival earlier this month just as she would have in her native Vietnam - by eating her favorite foods in the company of family and friends.
A chronicler of social activism - 10/13/2009: Harvey Finkle's photographs, some say, "capture what most of us cannot even see."

By Dianna Marder, Inquirer Staff Writer

Perhaps, by sheer volume or the absence of merit, blogs that allow anyone to publish and cell phones that make photographers of us all ultimately will dull our reactions to the strife that surrounds us.
The play's the things - 10/01/2009: The audience gets really involved in this show about stuff: An hour before they go to a tag sale.

By Dianna Marder, Inquirer Staff Writer

How often does this happen? You're at a play when suddenly your eye is drawn to an object on the set and you find yourself thinking how good it would look in your living room.
Soaking up September perks - 09/27/2009: The Shore now has fewer people, no fees, warmer water, sales.

By Dianna Marder, Inquirer Staff Writer

Vickie and Todd Swiontek of Lancaster County returned to Cape May Point yesterday to celebrate their 18th wedding anniversary and found the scenes only September can bring.
With more eating in, cooking classes heat up - 09/24/2009: By Dianna Marder, Inquirer Staff Writer

The movie Julie & Julia inspired Paulina Vink of Riverton to do more home cooking. And that urge brought the 18-year-old Burlington County Community College student to Elise Fellinger Henry's cooking class at Kitchen Kapers in Moorestown last week.