Last week, while visiting Penzey’s, I picked up a fun recipe for Hot Chocolate Snowball Cookies, a variation on the Nutty Nuggets/Mexican Wedding Cake/Russian Tea Cake Cookie that is popular this time of year. The cookies were easy to make, and the whole family enjoys the addition to our holiday treat plate. Hot Chocolate Snowball [...]
Last week our piano teacher hosted a holiday salon, which is sort of like a piano recital for adults. Instead of playing in a large performance hall, we play in her living room. In December, we always have a little reception after, with wine and nibbles. A fellow pianist, Ida, brought along dried Hachiya persimmons. [...]
Becky had a unique opportunity this year – a local radio station, KGO, asked listeners to nominate their favorite cookies with a story and have the opportunity to participate on-air in the annual cookie contest. She was psyched, having found a wonderful recipe perfect for sharing. Then last week, the night before she was scheduled [...]
Every year I celebrate a Generic Christmas Party with women my Mom went to college with and knew in the salad-days of her 20′s. Since my Mom died a long time ago, these women provide loads of important things I need in my life – stability, wisdom, guidance, support and love. Oh, and food. Lots [...]
My big contribution to Thanksgiving dinner is always pies – pumpkin, pecan and mince are required to get me through the door of Julie’s house, and then I usually throw in 1-2 more, wildcard pies. The creative pies, if you must. Yesterday I took the required three, plus Apple/Cranberry with French Crumble Topping, and a [...]
Jonathan of Eat Right at Home included this easy couscous salad in the Mariquita newsletter last week. We had it for dinner tonight, along with hummus and pita, sauteed chard and roasted beets. The most interesting part of the recipe for me was the vinegar syrup used to flavor the salad. It would be fun [...]
A little late this week, as it is already Friday, but I wanted to make sure to honor Cookie Thursday and the tradition of baking with for my kids. Part of the delay was because I needed to roast the pumpkin before mixing the cookie batter. The other reason is that I have been so [...]
Found this treasure in my recipe box, along with my Mom’s note and a “wow”. She had lots of recipes, so a wow is pretty special. I like that these can be made in a tiny version, 12 mini loaves. Perfect for hostess gifts during the holidays. Maybe I should check out these Bake and [...]
Remember I wrote about kohlrabi back in April? Mariquita Farms stuck some in our spring box and it was a new vegetable for us, one that we enjoyed quite a bit. Jonathan came in May to cook for a party at our house, and demonstrated a quick way to cook kohlrabi (or tokyo turnips): Seared [...]
Michelle has been nagging suggesting I bring back this feature, Cookie Thursday, from last year; she has written several times about how much she enjoyed reading about what we were baking in our kitchen. Unfortunately, do to insane after school schedules, and lack of interest on the part of the kids (not in eating the [...]
With bees in the backyard, and concerns about high fructose corn syrup and other easily refined sugars in processed food items, I have been considering how to move towards healthier sweeteners in our home. Easy enough when adding syrup to waffles or honey to yogurt, but a little trickier when thinking about baked goods. Fortunately, [...]
One of my very favorite, and first cookbooks, is the Frog Commissary Cookbook from a now-defunct restaurant in Philadelphia. The spine is a mess, with many pages holding on for dear life. I wrote my whole name in the book, back before I was married, probably because I brought it along to college and did [...]
