When I was 7 years old, I learned to paint with oils and found a lifelong passion. I took lessons for 2 years, then off and on as time has allowed up until now. Periodically I’ve felt the urge to draw and paint, with varying results. The big bright sunflower on the textured white background [...]
Over the weekend I did my usual grocery run at an independent market close to my house. I like to do at least some of my weekly shopping at Huffman’s Market for many reasons: it’s close; I know the people who work there and they know me; the meat department gives exceptional service and carries [...]
I recently re-discovered the joys of really fresh eggs. I mean fresh as in laid a day and a half ago. One can only assume the chickens that produce these gems are happy birds. They are semi-free range (out, about and unfenced during the day, sheltered at night). They eat all sorts of things chickens [...]
Tastes in foods go in cycles. If you look back by decades it might surprise you to realize how appetites for different foods evolve over time. So does their preparation. In the 1950s, the average American family ate three meals per day, on a more-or-less set schedule. Breakfast for many of us consisted of meat [...]
A woman who loves to cook collects a lot of recipes over decades of time. She takes family recipes with her when she leaves her childhood home (not counting going away to college) to make a home with her husband or “significant other” as may be the case. Single or married, she makes friends with [...]
Seriously. What do you serve people this time of year? We’re well into spring weather in Ohio. This means a climatic see-saw that goes up and down between freezing temperatures and the tropics. At 30 degrees we’re dressing in wool and layering; then the thermometer hits 80, and it’s shorts and flip-flops, for those of [...]
Spring’s been put on hold this year. Since mid-February my flower beds have been showing the sparse green stubble of bulbs struggling to grow foliage and make buds. They broke ground during a mild few days, but the process was literally frozen in place in the weeks afterward. I’m still looking for further indication that [...]
Rhubarb finds its way into so many baked goods. It just adds a nice, tart taste to everything. Mom baked with her homegrown rhubarb often, and she never had trouble growing rhubarb. If you want to start your own rhubarb patch, plant the rhubarb one year and then use it the second year. I have [...]
