If you know my sister-in-law Marlys or me, you know we love to cook. But a cook without an oven is a very sad cook. Just ask Marlys. She finally has a working oven again. A brand new Wolfe! After their Heartland oven’s most recent break-down, the new part (that took over a week to…
“Food prepared with a light heart and in a happy frame of mind is often the best food. Preparing the special foods that are favorites of those you love…making just a little effort to garnish the salad with a sprig of parsley, a bit of grated cheese, or a wild strawberry from the nearby meadow….
Flipping through a new cookbook, just glancing at the pictures can make your mouth start to water. But before you pay for the cookbook based on salivary appeal alone, take a second look, and see if you can actually make the recipes included. Is it so gourmet that it calls for ingredients that aren’t in…
Mondays are usually laundry day here on our corner of the farm. Unless we’ve used our day off from tending the store to go to town, I usually tackle sorting the loads of laundry as soon as Merritt’s off to do his day’s projects. It’s the kind of thing one wants first-of-the-week energy for. Especially…
“I need say nothing of household economy, in which the mothers of our country are generally skilled, and generally careful to instruct their daughters. We all know its value, and that diligence and dexterity in all its processes are inestimable treasures. The order and economy of a house are as honorable to the mistress as…
(a letter from Ruth Wiechmann in response to Sourdough, Laundry, and Tea…) Dear Gretchen, We have had a few days of spring weather here in south-western South Dakota, and yesterday I heard the first robins singing in the cottonwoods by the creek. It’s a Sunday morning, and I suppose we should be in Church, but–guess…
“[There is] no furniture so charming as books, even if you never open them, or read a single word.” -Sydney Smith, in A Memoir of the Reverend Sydney Smith, by Lady Holland, 1855 I can spend hours looking at books. Absorbing the clever titles (My Lady of the Fog, mysterious, Their Yesterdays, intriguing), unique bindings…
Every time Marlys and I brainstorm about the evening’s menu together, we are sitting out in the store. The beautiful, bright red, green, and orange jalapeno and habanero peppers in front of us most often inspire a Mexican meal. But the tempting aroma of the Walla Walla Sweet Onions always brings to mind my favorite…
If you wash on Monday, you have all the week to dry… If you wash on Tuesday, you’re still not much awry… If you wash on Friday, you wash in real need… If you wash on Saturday, you are slovenly indeed. -an early 1900’s skip-rope rhyme quoted in The Clothesline by Irene Rawlings and Andrea VanSteenhouse…
“Mom, what’s for dinner?” We hear this question often. Except in our house, it’s not Mom who is queried, but me, the 19-year-old family chef. If I don’t already have something thawing, I turn to the freezer for a variety of menu selections. When a trip to town takes longer than expected, or 5 o’clock…
The End.
The End.