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…
United In Food - Uniting Communities Through Food 