It’s a meme for Italian mothers: the wooden spoon. See one of these coming at you, and you better run! Seriously, though, the wooden spoon is emblematic of a cherished cooking instrument used by many, including the stereotypic Italian mother. When you find that perfect wooden spoon, you hold onto it. In my kitchen, it…
Following The Recipe Exactly – How Hard Is It? Impossible, Apparently.
I often ask myself why it is so hard, impossible almost, for me to follow even the most basic and classic recipe exactly as written. Someone once told me that a recipe is not meant to be a suggestion. Other people see recipes as a jumping-off point. I 100% subscribe to both schools of thought. I…
What Kind of a House is This?
Travel has changed so much in the last decade. Think of it: with a few taps on your phone, you can rent someone’s home, room or even pitch a tent in their backyard; you can swap your home with someone else’s; you can rent someone’s car or hire someone to drive you around in their…
After the Pandemic
It kind of snuck up on us. Yes, there were headlines here and proclamations there, but we were cautious – afraid to be too optimistic – because we had been disappointed before when we thought the pandemic was over and a new strain, a new surge disrupted life again. It’s odd to walk into a…
Mia Apple Pie
Mia’s first apple pie made by her Nanna.
I Love My CSA
What is a CSA? Community Supported Agriculture started to become popular in America and Europe in the 1980s with roots that go back to the 1960s when consumers in Switzerland and Japan realized the importance of supporting their local farms directly by essentially joining into a partnership. In a traditional CSA, the consumer enters into…
Expectations
Certain expectations are made when you are a food blogger. An invitation to a potluck, or to bring a dish to a dinner party, comes with high expectations that I’m going to bring a show-stopping dish: something exotic, something new and exciting, something very different from anything else on the table. No store-bought dips and…
Fennel and Friends
Herbs! How dull our lives would be without herbs. Surprisingly, many people are averse to using them or dangerously flirt with some of the more mellow herbs. Such a shame! Herbs are a low-calorie, low-sodium way to add a flavor boost while providing extra nutrients, texture, color and interest to any dish. Most people like…
Breakfast – What Are You Having?
Breakfast. First meal of the day. Some have said it is the most important meal of the day. That was proven not to be true for everyone. (Plus how much faith can we put in something that originated as a marketing tagline from the 1900s mainly to sell cereal.) But I like to think about…
So Many Books, So Little Space … Time for an e-Reader?
I recently saw a great cartoon in The New Yorker. A man and a woman are standing in front of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves and he says, “I never have time to read but if I did these are the books I’d read.” Yep! I can totally relate to that! I also have multiple bookshelves throughout the house…
2022 So Far – Reasons for Hope and Despair
The year has brought us both hope and despair. Just three months into the “new” year, we see new life and also the attempt to destroy a culture that has existed for centuries. There is a lot to stay updated on and informed about. These are what are on UnitedInFood’s heart and mind. On the…
Stocking Pantries for Our Afghan Friends and Neighbors
In her roles as an Ambassador for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (https://www.lirs.org), Pixie created a list of food-related items to assist our Afghan neighbors and friends as they resettle to life in the United States. These items will help to continue the connection our new friends have with their homeland. Spices & Herbs: whole…
Pixie’s 2022 Summer Garden Plans
I am hard at work planning my summer garden, are you? What are you going to plant? Do you have all your seeds, are you still ordering them from catalogs, or will you use starter plants and seedlings that you get from your local farmers market and garden stores? And me, you ask, what am…
#TheLongWelcome
As an Ambassador for the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (https://www.lirs.org), Pixie interviewed one of her friends who immigrated to the U.S. in 1962 from Alexandria, Egypt when she was a teenager. Her family settled in Colorado. Pixie asked her friend about her food memories of life in Egypt and the U.S. The following is…
The Long Welcome
In 2022, Pixie will be an Ambassador for Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (“LIRS”). You might say, tell me more about LIRS and we are so glad to! See the next paragraph below, and here is a link to their website: https://www.lirs.org. The LIRS Ambassador Network brings together people from all corners of the United…
Cardoons
While strolling through my little Farmers Market about fifteen years ago, I saw something in the distance that put a pep in my step and drew me in like a kitten to string. Standing in a bucket on the ground, a large bunch of tall, leafy stalks waved to me in the gentle breeze, their…
Sometimes Mistakes Are Made
I consider myself a decent home cook and my friends and family seem to truly enjoy the fruits of my labor. They just assume that everything I cook will turn out well and that is generally true – mostly because I do not serve them the mistakes … except my poor hubby who goes along…
Rolling with the Punches
Memorial Day 2021 started as a beautiful day with mild temperatures and pretty skies. I curled up on the chaise tucked on the covered porch, a book in one hand and a glass of rose in the other, listening to the vibrant yard around me. Bees and hummingbirds were happily buzzing the abundance of spring…
Life in the Age of the Periodical Cicadas (aka Great Eastern Brood X) and the Swarm of 2021
Postscript: The Great Eastern Brood X Cicadas are almost a thing of the past. There are a few here and there, still crazily flying into just about any structure thinking or hoping it is a tree. But for the most part, they have done what they came here to do and life is getting back…
Stir-Frying to the Sky’s Edge
A long time ago in a land far away … OK, it was the early 90’s in Boston … I was a young mother married to a graduate student so our meager resources meant we had to be frugal with our purchases and live a simple lifestyle. Garage sales were our favorite store! I happened…
Rules for A (Vegetable) Garden
The winter months are moving along. The days are getting longer. Soon we will be in late-winter, early spring. What this means for many of us, me included, is we are planning our summer vegetable gardens. We are asking ourselves, what types of vegetables, herbs and fruits should we grow, where, when and how much….
New Year’s Resolutions for 2021
I have been thinking about this for a while. With life totally upside down due to Covid-19, how do we decide what our new year’s resolutions will be for 2021? Should we have two sets of resolutions, one for continuation of life during the Covid-19 pandemic and another one for our lives post the Covid-19 vaccine? It is…
Kitchen Travels
There have been many difficult adjustments made during the pandemic. One of the hardest for me has been curtailing my wanderlust. I love to travel, whether exploring my state, neighboring states, throughout the country (I’ve visited 47 states!) or other countries. I love the open road and I love awakening on another continent after an…
Chef John Shields’ Presentation to the CHoW (Culinary Historians of Washington) – A Review
On Sunday, November 8, 2020, John Shields held a cooking demonstration on Zoom for the Culinary Historians on Washington (CHoW) and he included two recipes from his new cookbook, The New Chesapeake Kitchen: Local Foods Healthy for Bay and Body. Pixie attended this event and here is her summary: Although John has access to a highly professional…
Special Restaurants
Restaurants often hold a special place in our hearts and memories. Perhaps it was the site of a first date or a marriage proposal; perhaps a celebration of a new baby; perhaps it was catching up with old friends or a job offer. We all have that special place that harkens back to happy times…
Trust In the Time of COVID-19
Trust. It’s a rare commodity these days. The lack of trust in our institutions – be that government, academic, religious, corporate, political – has come to a head in this tumultuous summer of COVID and civil unrest. We form an opinion, we then seek affirmation from whatever source will provide it and there are now…
What I’ve Learned, So Far, About Cooking In The Age Of COVID-19
When I think about writing about cooking in the age of COVID-19, I realized this could go in many directions. For example, I could write about the challenges of grocery shopping, a subject that could be the basis for several blogs and/or commentaries (essential workers and suppliers that have kept groceries available and stores open,…
Pixie’s Reflections on Her February Cookbook Selection
Treasured recipes from women immigrants who came to the USA from all over the world.
It Is March and Pepper Is Cooking Up A Storm
For many years now, Pixie and I have given each other cookbooks for birthdays and Christmas … and sometimes just for the hell of it. In fact, most of my cookbooks are gifts and most of those came from Pixie. We just like to read cookbooks! One of the jewels given quite a few years…
Pepper’s Year of Joyous Cooking in January
Pepper’s Year of Joyous Cooking – Alison Roman’s Dining In (January) I bought this cookbook when it was published a few years ago and read it cover to cover a few times, but really had not delved into it for some reason. I really haven’t used cookbooks lately, relying on them for inspiration and the simple joy of…
United In Food: A Year of Joyous Cooking Using Locally Sourced Products
Pepper: I grew up cooking. Both of my parents worked outside the home and we were expected to cook dinner after school with written instructions for making many basic dishes. We rarely ate out when I was young and I don’t think we actually went to a sit-down restaurant until we were in elementary school…
Cooking Classes – Foodie Fun
What is it about cooking classes that I so love? I mean, I can get new recipes from my burgeoning cookbook collection, the many emails/newsletters I receive from some of my favorite blogs, online searches, food magazines, food blogs, books, friends. But, there is something about cooking with a group of people under the tutelage…
Sharing The Bounty of Summer
Sharing the bounty of summer with others is one of the best and most loving ways to “eat local”.
Shrubs — Not Just the Foliage in Your Front Yard
The grapes from the grape vine in Pixie’s back yard are one of the key ingredients in her Grape and Lavender Shrub recipe.
Dot’s Recipe Box
I happened to fall in love with a remarkable man. (We like to call him Mr. Perfect.) Shortly after we met, I discovered that he had an extraordinary family as well. They are a fun-loving, affectionate group who enveloped me into their world and have been the source of great comfort and laughter for over…
Nanna’s Gravy
Since becoming a grandmother, I’ve been thinking a lot about how culture stretches across generations, continents, oceans – permeating our very being and making us who we are. Inherited genes likely influence our behaviors and demeanor, but we also inherit the cultural aspect of our ancestry like religion, beliefs, and cuisine. Food is an integral…
If Courage Does Not Work, Try a Chocolate Chip Muffin
Do you ever have a day or a week, maybe longer, when things are coming at you from so many directions, all at once, and you aren’t sure if you can manage it all? Which “challenge” should you try to solve first? Is it even solvable? Maybe. Maybe not. Even with the confidence that comes…
An Ethiopian Dinner Party
I realized that some of the most memorable meals I have ever had were at Ethiopian restaurants. Is this true of you too? For me, there was the dinner in Washington, D.C. that I shared with my treasured cousin, his amazing wife who told us about her life growing up in Siberia, Russia and a…
Cold and Flu Season is Here
For as long as I can remember, food had been a comfort during illness. Ginger, garlic, carrots, honey … foods can help fight illness and make you feel better.
Garlic
Growing up in an Italian household, garlic was a given – an important staple used in just about everything.
Cook Together!
I’ll never be able to replicate my brother’s signature dishes, but I can ensure that my recipes continue on after I’m gone by sharing my knowlege.
On Tiny Gardens
I’ve been an avid, organic gardening throughout my adult life; the garden has changed as my life has changed.
Welcome to United In Food!
Actually, I think we love to cook more than we love to eat. For us, cooking is a measure of our love for our friends and family.
United In Food - Uniting Communities Through Food 