Four for Dinner

Ever since spending time in Paris, I’ve been obsessed with the French macaron. Not a “macaroon”, as this month’s recipe in Bon Appetit calls it – but a macaron. Macaroons are heavier – like the coconut cookies that you see at delis and at Passover, or the sweet almond macaroons made with almond paste. I [...]

Monday night, without my kids, but with two of my nieces, my sister-in-law, and Grandma and WG, we sat down to a meal of: pappardelle with bolognese sauce, salad, garlic bread, ice cream with raspberries and chocolate sauce. It was the last night of a visit, after all. The dinner was fairly uncomplicated, when you [...]

I have been off-line for so long, it feels so strange to even look at my blog. A little over a month haitus, after only about 7 months on the job, and I am truly missing the writing and cooking. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to get back to the cooking or photography [...]

My brother-in-law made an interesting comment to me regarding our divergent cooking styles. It turns out, that because of this blog, he thought that I cooked from recipes whereas he cooks without them. In reality, I use recipes as guidelines, and much of what I have posted (except for breads and sweets) I have measured [...]

When S & I went to Acadia National Park, we planned to do some hiking on the small but steep mountains by the ocean. Unfortunately, our view of the ocean was completely obscured by an incredibly dense fog that hung around the entire time we were there. We saw neither sea nor sky, really. However, [...]

In California, the climate is right for growing citrus. When S and I bought our house, we counted up the number of citrus trees and it was an astounding eleven. These aren’t full size commercial production trees, but dwarf trees that reach about 10 feet max. Nonetheless, we have more oranges than we can use [...]

Watermelon seeds make me feel old. I know that sounds strange, but it is not easy to find a watermelon with seeds these days. Most watermelons at the grocery store are seedless, including the new mini-watermelons. And, those “watermelons” don’t even make sense to me – since watermelon seems to be about abundance and summer [...]

Above are some pictures of the bread that I’ve been baking from the book that I just bought, “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day”, by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. I’m all for easy and quick recipes and this book is just that (not including the time it takes to rise and bake the [...]

We got back from Yosemite all happy and healthy. Yosemite Valley has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. Each season is so different there. Right now, it is the height of the spring run-off. The waterfalls are at their peak. Still, with the drought that we are experiencing, the water levels [...]

Thankfully, mother nature is an indulgent parent. She makes lots of candy. I can think of so many incredibly sweet treats that are healthy, plentiful (depending on the time of year) and require no cooking. Fruit is the obvious candy-like provision that comes to mind. But, this weekend, we saw a treat that is just [...]