While going to graduate school and living for several years in London, Thanksgiving dinner was not neglected by me or other American students and business people. Typically I invited colleagues from S.O.A.S. who came from many different countries and had not experienced our holiday tradition. (Some of the return invitations provided me the experience of … More Thanksgiving Joke, Told Yearly, Told Again
There was Thanksgiving frost on the stairs and driveway this morning at 8:30. I’m thankful that the threatened snow earlier in the week stayed in the mountains where the snow bunnies and water table may benefit. The first scent of the day was, naturally, coffee, but I’ve just saluted the frost with the aroma of … More Thanksgiving, Great Yearly, Made Great Again
In the summer and autumn of 2014, while spending part of every week at my mother’s house and having an abundance of fresh fruits from the garden, trees and eastern Washington, I learned how to make ice cream without an ice cream maker or rock salt. It began with a recipe for rhubarb ice cream … More Raspberries and Cranberries, Already Great, Made Great Again
Tidying my cookbook shelves today led to the two things in this photo. The lovely photo of the artfully arranged desert tray within my photo is from a 1950 book edited by Ruth Berolsheimer at the C.A.I. and published by Consolidated Book Publishers in Chicago. What does it have to do with the sock smiling … More Mismatched Sock Rice
Yesterday afternoon, about two and a half hours before dinner with my daughter, the oven on low at 250 degrees, a foil-wrapped package was put in it to slowly warm and meld the flavors of the filling within a partially-hollowed out round loaf of artisan sourdough. I took a shortcut, bought the bread. I’d wanted … More Clam Dip Baked in Boule
Last night, as dinner was on the stove and with an accompaniment in the oven, I mixed a batch of cookie dough for another experiment in fillings, in high hopes that the result would be the third offering of a peppermint-related cookie trio. There are already two unique and well-proven members of that trio, typically … More Peppermint Cream Snicks, Maybe
Last week there was an email from a tech site about yet another use for Sikorsky’s Black Hawk helicopters, and what a lovely bonus it will be to Sikorsky’s new owner, Lockheed Martin, as the implications are huge for this famous plane. I let my imagination carry me away. I like helicopters. I have a calendar … More Drone to Table in 3, 2, 1
It’s time to begin preparations for holiday baking and first that means a look in the back of the fridge for remains from last year. There’s almost always going to be jams, jellies, fillings and other sugared foods that easily survive a year. I found a jar with almost one cup of last winter’s date … More Date-Topped Fruity Bran Muffins, Made Great Again
My goodness! Well, not exactly goodness. These popped up over two days. Last year there was one mushroom growing out of the rotting wood and cracking paint of the rail on the steps up to my portion of this old house. One of my mushroom hunter-gatherer brothers warned that mushrooms growing in those conditions are … More Pretty Poison Mushrooms on Porch
It’s the season for pumpkin, the savory and the sweet. We see pumpkins in big piles at the grocery stores and some of us start jonesing for a familiar taste. I hear about pumpkin this and pumpkin that, pumpkin spice in a latte, pumpkin soup, pumpkin couscous and my inner baker reminds me that it’s … More Pumpkin Spice Joneses, One Variation
Ms Chef in Seattle 