Isn’t it a marvel the way you can taste, or smell, or hear something long forgotten and have it brought back to life in an instant, a powerful memory you didn’t even know was still there? For me, the smell of Concord grapes is like being thrust back in time to my five-year-old self, perched on the fender of a tractor as my uncles stacked wooden boxes of grapes to go to market. Another thing that brings back happy childhood […]
We’ve been in the process of moving, and it’s wreaking havoc on my neat lists of recipes to make and post. There was going to be a peach pie, but then the pie pans were packed and nowhere to be found. Pantry staples are sketchy; the bread knife is MIA. Despite the disruption, there were enough interesting ingredients to make a decadent granola bar – peanut butter, chocolate, and some healthy stuff too, to assuage my guilt. Moving is more […]
There’s a really fascinating book called “Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience,” which I’ve been reading this summer. It’s a compilation of historic, moving, and extraordinary letters written by famous people throughout history. One of the more endearing is a handwritten letter from Queen Elizabeth II to President Dwight Eisenhower, in which she shares her recipe for drop scones – which the President had tasted and admired while visiting the Queen at Balmoral […]
Cooking well takes time, so whenever I can find a recipe that has multiple uses, I’m more likely to give it a try. A flaky buttermilk biscuit doesn’t take long to make, and when you add cooked bacon before baking, you’re creating a lovely and substantial breakfast biscuit while leaving yourself the option of bacon, lettuce, and tomato biscuits for a light lunch later. Made in smaller sizes, the BLT biscuits are perfect summer hors d’oeuvres, because who doesn’t love […]
There’s a wonderful Greek restaurant in Malibu called Taverna Tony’s, where they serve an addictive dip with warm pita bread that’s so good we barely have room left to eat all the Greek deliciousness that follows. I always say to the waiters, “What’s in this stuff?” – like there’s some secret ingredient that explains why we – and everyone at the tables around us – are scraping the bowl and licking our fingers. The friendly waiters patiently reel off the […]
