“If my life wasn’t funny, it would just be true, and that is unacceptable.†— Carrie Fisher [S]ometimes, after a crap-ass year, you just need to have some fun. That is not a terribly positive beginning (was it the term “crap-assâ€?), and I apologize. But I speak the truth in […]
[M]y mom’s got a thing against muffins. She won’t make them. She won’t eat them. This stems from a traumatic period in her childhood, where her obligations as a member of 4-H pushed her to the brink after years of being chained to an oven, churning out muffin after muffin. […]
[I]f something has a flower flavor, I’m on it….like a bee. Recently I was exposed to some delightful imported Italian sodas flavored with, of all things, elderflower! I could not resist. It was a beautiful taste, slightly peachy and as soon as my little fingers could do their walking, I […]
[S]ometimes, it’s good to see red. Strawberry red, that is. Spring months usher in that beautiful ruby across California fields and farmers market tables. This year, with all the rain, the berries are big, beautiful and bodacious, and you make room in your life/schedule/oven/fridge for any and all ways to […]
[I]t was long ago when I first ran across a recipe for “Welsh rarebit†or “Welsh rabbit,†as it is sometimes called. As a girl who studied cookbooks, I couldn’t have been that old, but I was certainly intrigued and excited by a melty cheese sauce dish that was named […]
[I] baked bread today. It doesn’t sound like much, but it is. Some of you did way more, I’m sure, and I commend you. But my country loaf was a commitment of four hours of work (and wait) or more, begun before it was light. You have to resign to […]
[I]’ll admit, I’m a little too attached to instructions. My sister and I kid each other about this difference between us — she is more of a “freestyle†cook who invents and improvises (sans measuring spoons and cups), while I refer strictly to a recipe, allowing myself a few adaptations. […]
[I] won’t say I was anticipating a Dutch baby almost as much as a real one because that wouldn’t be true. First off, I have no anticipation for a real one; second off, as excited as I was to make a Dutch baby, I’m sure the thrill level would fall […]
[T]hroughout my childhood, I was treated to a tale of candy. The imagination can almost act as the proverbial “candy store,†and I was the kid who went there, as my parents recounted a magical place. Next to a local movie theater, there existed a candy store where the proprietor […]
“To eat good food,†says Italian chef Primo in the 1996 film, “Big Night,†“is to be close to God.†[A]nd truthfully, over the 20 years since I first saw this movie, I have said, again and again, that my idea of heaven was the kitchen where Primo, played by […]