Let me set the table here – the historic table – about recipes and reputation. Growing up in my grandmother’s house, I had the luxury of learning all sorts of recipes – daily recipes, bridge day recipes, celebration recipes and feast recipes. It was long after I married that I came to recognize that a recipe wasn’t just a recipe … Continue reading →
I’m feeling keenly the contrasts lately. Maybe it has something to do with being a “tween” – living life in between aging family with health challenges and raising children still in the nest or encouraging those outside the nest. One day I’m hugging grandlittles who give whole-hearted hugs or big slurpy smiles – and another day, I’m sitting beside a … Continue reading →
Last week, I pulled out an old recipe. It my great-grandmother Muddy’s recipe – her corn fritters. I don’t know why I hadn’t made them in such a long time. For a season, Muddy’s Corn Fritters were a dinner-time staple. . . until they weren’t. The old recipes, like Muddy’s corn fritters, handed down for generations mother to daughter, from … Continue reading →
Saturday, I jumped in my canoe and paddled to my garden for dill. The day before, during a lull in the rain, I’d spotted my youngest one, sitting on the raised garden edges, slipping his hand into the tomatoes, chard and peppers to pinch off a few leaves of chocolate-mint and stuff it between his cheek and gum. On Saturday’s … Continue reading →
“Who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that your youth is renewed like the eagle” (Psalm 103:5). “Don’t worry about cooking. Just rest and enjoy,” my husband encouraged, as I stuffed mason jars and lemon curd into a cooler on wheels, to be packed in the back of my van. All that was missing was my kitchen sink! He … Continue reading →
Reasoning that if you make creme brulee (egg yolks), you might as well whip up a batch of meringue shells – and if you’ve already made creme brulee – it’s time for something chocolate – and if you want to provide a gloss of credibility and nutrition to what your doing – throw in a couple of blueberries, blackberries or … Continue reading →
I might call myself Nacho Mama when I cook Mexican, and I might really be Not(ch) Yo’ Mama – but that does not stop me from trying to find recipes that allow my dinner to be all things to all people. I refuse to be a short order cook, but if the cookin’ can wear different plates, well then, why not! … Continue reading →
My Joyful son, whose joyfulness has been challenged by teen-itis – and probably by his mother’s response to his teen-itis, turns 16 this month. I miss the days he would say wonderful words like, “Great cookin’, mom” or sneak up behind and hug me. You’ve heard about his humor: “Joyful has grown beyond snuggle-buggles and telling me he loves me, but he … Continue reading →
Quite a few years ago, a tradition started in our house. First, it started when my boys trooped in on a chill afternoon with the neighborhood kids following behind. They’d line up on stools on the other side of the island, for steaming cups of hot cocoa. Then, one day, I found some hot chocolate cups at my favorite pottery … Continue reading →
My very favorite coffee shop has a delicious pastry, Pain au Chocolat, an out-of-reach recipe because ordering a special chocolate from Italy for baking seems exhausting. Then my very favorite Italian cooking show presented an awkward-for-me cookie recipe with a very simple ganache recipe filling. Both left me feeling like a frustrated failure. Until inspiration finally dawned in my blue cotton mind. Sometimes inspiration is the collision of … Continue reading →
