There is a row of hooks behind the door in my grandmother’s walk-in pantry. Each hook holds a hanger upon which is carefully hung an apron. The pantry is in a newly remodeled section of the house, but the aprons speak of vintage kitchens in older homes of previous generations. Oh the stories they could tell!
Four things have happened since I posted my favorite frappuccino recipe: My almost-2-year-old developed a terrible fear of loud noises, including my Cuisinart blender. I tried eliminating some dairy (mostly milk and yogurt) from my diet to help with my almost-4-month-old’s reflux symptoms. I realized I could cut my (sugary) calories a bit and start…
A neighbor happened to call the other afternoon. “How do you find the time to hang out all that laundry?” she asked. “It gets the girls outside,” was my reply of the moment. But as I thought about her question later, I realized that I look forward to that time hanging out the laundry. Yes,…
My first Christmas with my husband’s family, I discovered that not everyone has the same definition for “candy cane cookies.” When my husband requested them, I made my family’s favorite recipe: a hearty, oatmeal cookie filled with candy cane chunks and glazed with powdered sugar and crushed candy cane. We’d gotten the recipe from another…
We revisited the deliciousness the summer my cousin Abbie was here. It wasn’t as if I had never had a BLT before, but these things that Abbie called “open-faced sandwiches”—a staple in her family—were amazing, especially on my sister-in-law’s homemade bread with fresh ground wheat. And, the best part of all was that Abbie’s open-faced…
My recipe book falls open to page 402 every time, the page with our new favorite recipe: potato bread. Homemade bread made with homegrown potatoes—you can’t get much better than that! And we love to make at least one of the loaves each batch into a cinnamon swirl loaf my daughter calls “Cinn’ Bread.” The…
Hey, Hey, Good Lookin’, whatcha got cookin’ How’s about cookin’ somethin’ up with me Hey, sweet baby, don’t you think maybe We could find us a brand new reci-pe. Hank Williams Jr. Hey Good Lookin’ Husband of Mine! I wish I could remember which visit it was that I first saw this little oven and…
On days like today, I decide to hang out the laundry even though there are grey clouds in the sky, knowing that laundry brings rain, knowing that we need rain for the fields and our newly-planted grass. On days like today, I pause to admire my laundry hampers—one, made in Africa of elephant grass and…
The photos I shared in the March of Books bookshelves photo gallery over at ylcf.org were realistic—they showed the bookshelves of our little pink house as they appear right now. But I was thinking back to all the different ways we’ve arranged our books through the past four years, and had to share a few…
Our favorite tomato soup recipe turned out extra-pretty this week with the addition of yellow heirloom tomatoes. It’s a simple recipe: just saute diced onion and garlic in butter. Then add diced tomatoes and a bit of beef broth, then salt, pepper, thyme, and parsley to taste. Simmer for a few minutes and it’s the…
Have you ever tasted homemade tomato sauce? From tomatoes grown in the dirt around your home. Tomatoes that have been chopped on your kitchen counter. Tomatoes that have simmered for hours on your kitchen stove. Until the extra liquid has evaporated and the tomatoes have reached the smooth perfection of…homemade tomato sauce. Last week I…
Ah, springtime… Geese flying, calling across the morning sky; brighter sunshine; longer days; balmy winds; mud underfoot; little rivers running down, down, down, carrying winter away with them. Two days ago, I was walking across the pasture bareheaded, my two small boys tagging along and my baby on my back, watching the creek run. That…
The End.
The End.