[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 […]
[I] have always been able to make sense out of things (somewhat) by writing about them. Even still, lately, I have had trouble writing. It made no sense and yet perfect sense that on a rainy November evening, while I received the news of a loss of life as close […]
[S]ometimes I think my fun is done. I know that sounds fatalistic. I know I have joys and things to enjoy ahead. But as far as true, hilarious, tickle-me, laugh-out-loud pleasure — like the fun of childhood — I at times feel I’ve entered into a phase of adulthood where […]
[I] don’t need much urging to head for the soup pot, whether the weather is cold…or if it’s hot! Rhyming aside, soups, to me, are the perfect food. A good soup is filling and satisfying and if the right components make up the soup, everything a body needs is in […]
[I] know that I’m not the only one who associates doughnuts with Halloween, although I suppose I could associate doughnuts with anything, given a chance. Sunset magazine also pondered the connection between the traditionally fried treat and our favorite fall holiday. In an online article, Sunset reminisced on issues of […]
[R]ecipes can come from surprising sources. The backs of boxes or packages, coupon inserts, obscure Internet sites and offbeat cookbooks. If you had told me even a year ago that, upon seeing a copy of “The Disney Princess Cookbook,†(2013) I had gotten for my nieces that I would have […]
“…there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.†— William Shakespeare [I]t’s ironic that each year, I make a birthday cake for myself (but mainly for my blog, since we share birthdays). Because, to be honest, on the list of desserts I favor, cake ranks low. […]
[I]’ve long been obsessed with cream puffs. I learned to make them as a child, watching my mother and then whipping them up myself. It’s a strange process, puff-making, strange in its doing and even stranger in its simplicity. I continue to be baffled that the same ingredients, cooked in […]
[I]t seems like every summer I become fixed on a particular fruit. In the past, it’s been strawberries, blueberries or cherries. I’ve been fanatic for apricots and peaches. This year, it’s been “plummy,†as the deeply jeweled and juicy fruit began appearing in my mind before it ever arrived on […]