[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 […]
[I]’ve eaten a lot of good garlic bread, even making some myself (often an herb-infused-in-olive oil version), but I had not eaten GREAT garlic bread until I sat down at the table of Liboria Salerno (for more about her, please see blog entry, “Presenting Pavlova to a ballerina†of 6/16). […]
[W]hen I first began conversing with Al Dente Floyd at work, he gave me his mother’s phone number, saying, “Since you do the food thing, you might want to talk to her — she has a lot of recipes.†But, he admonished, “Whatever you do, DON’T talk to her about […]
[T]he strawberry shortcake I grew up with and loved was always more cake than short. That is, a golden vanilla layer cake like those found frosted for birthdays, but without the icing, soft and fluffy, easily absorbent of all the succulent red strawberry juices circulating over and under it. I […]
[I] believe in good recipes, ,those tried-and-true reliables we turn to when we want something we know we can count on. I have a few of these now in the cornbread realm, but, I’ll be honest, when it comes to cornbread, I’m always open to a new variation or version. […]
[M]y heart sinks a little every spring. Sounds odd and somewhat off, but when you consider California’s rains conclude in late spring, maybe you’ll understand. There is so little weather here, and the change in seasons is merely by light and feel and temperature, so our winter and spring rain […]
[I] had not considered the obvious parallels of birds and bread and lightness and flight until I made a bird out of bread recently. I had no choice but to make a bird out of bread recently when, in search of an annual Easter bread, I landed on a creature […]
“The Heart wants what it wants, “ poet Emily Dickinson wrote, “– or else it does not care.†[M]y heart, or at least the scones I made into hearts, wanted jam, and who was I to deny them? Scones and jam have gone together since the clocks could strike three […]
[I]’m not sure where flaxseeds currently sit among the healthy food trend “it girls.†For awhile, it was nearly insisted upon to put flaxseeds, flaxseed oil, flaxseed meal or some other interpretation in nearly everything, from cereals to smoothies to breads. I believe now that chia seeds are claiming more […]
[I] like the word “tonic.†It has a reality-based sense of comfort and a tinge of humor for the extent it’s been applied to things that aren’t necessarily…good for you. What it seems to connote most, for me, is something you can make to heal yourself. Whether it’s a hair […]