A Disclaimer
I love barbecue; real barbecue.  I’m talking about meat that falls apart when a fork looks at it because it was cooked for hours over the smoking remnants of fruit trees.  I refer to the method that requires hours of time spent lovingly tending a fire outdoors and turning and mopping meat. Please let [...]

This is a continuation of my Southern New Year’s Foods series.  And it comes with an executive decision.  I was unable to get photos of the dish, but I wanted you to have the recipe before New Year’s Eve.  So up it goes sans photos of the greens!  If I get photos of it at [...]

Is it soup yet?

We lived in Le Roy for just over a decade.  We loved our home, our church, our community. We had rebuilt the house while living in it.  (This process was helped along by the fact that it was bare studs, floors and outer walls and absolutely-nothing-else when we bought it.)  We could’ve [...]

It’s finally Fall.  I wait all year for this; pumpkins, scarlet maple leaves, blustery wind, butternut squash, grey clouds with bits of brilliant blue peeking through, hay bales, mega-bags of miniature chocolate bars (the best size for stashing in my apron pockets to cover ‘mommy-emergencies’), weather that justifies hours-long baking sessions, wool sock and scarf [...]

Ah!  The Thursday before a three-day weekend is a special kind of Thursday, isn’t it?  It’s a luxurious feeling Thursday.  Despite the rain-that-never-ends, I have an extra dose of patience (snort) and an extra measure of indulgence.  And to celebrate the indulgent feeling, I whipped up a fancy-pants lunch for myself.  I made a gorgeous [...]

Update:  Woo.  Who would’ve thunk it.  I forgot to tell you where the white wine vinegar and lime juice go in the instructions portion of the recipe.  Deep apologies if you were stumped.  And mega thanks to Melissa for kindly pointing it out to me.  I’ll go eat a batch of cookies to assuage my [...]

Part II of this recipe can be found by clicking this link!
I love to grocery shop.  I love to examine labels, produce, proteins and liquids.  I get giddy trying to decide which mangos and avocados to choose.  I carefully flip through piles of cilantro bunches looking to find the bundle likeliest to survive a week [...]

Beans.  They are the perfect budget food.  They’re chock full of dietary fiber and nutrients, simple to store and able to leap tall buildings with a single bound. And they’re cheap! They’re so cheap (“How cheap ARE they?” screamed the crowd.  “So cheap they’re on the dollar menu!”) that there is no excuse to be without them.  [...]

My boys gave me a cold this week.  I cannot tell you the joy this gives me.  Not because I love slobbering and running from the nose, eyes and every other mucus membrane on my head.  I’m just relieved that I got it from them instead of the other way around.  That way there is no [...]

Now, admittedly, I do follow some recipes for a lot of dishes I prepare,  but soups and stews are very forgiving foods to make, very flexible and a great way to use up those bits and pieces that don’t seem to have anywhere else to go. And most of these creations are dubbed by Jim as being [...]