Apps & Snacks 
Happiness is a bowl of Sungolds mid-winter
Golden orbs of sublime flavor these Sungolds. We love August and September when their vines are loaded and tomato grazing is prime. I return to the house after such a foray – me and my tomatoes alone at last – with my culinary soul satisfied and hands tinged with tomatoes’ invisible aura, the pigment that, [...]
Fruity Salsa Dancing
I’m on a fruit salsa kick and there’s no slow down in sight. Give me a bowl of fruit and I’ll whip up a bowl of salsa in no time and then it gets eaten just as quickly. Wait for me to make a pie and you probably won’t get one before summer fruit season [...]
Some Like It Hot: Basil & Frico
Browsing through my new volume of Canal House Cooking, I came upon the perfect pairing for my favorite basil summertime drinks — the Italian crispy, cheesey treat known as a frico. Perfect for me because I love something salty to munch along with a cocktail. These are so simple to make, the thought of having [...]
Pack Pate for a Picnic
With Summer Solstice comes the beginning of house guests, picnics, and lazy meals outdoors. I know summer doesn’t really begin here until around July 12, according to Cliff Mass, atmospheric scientist and weather prediction wizard. Still, it’s not too early to sneak in drinks and apps in the garden or just get ready for full-fledged [...]
Fraiche and Foresty
When I was in college in NC, I managed to talk an old farmer into renting me his family home on forty acres for $50 a month. He had since moved up in the world and retired to a mobile home. The farmhouse was rustic beyond my parent’s belief with no indoor plumbing, no insulation, [...]
One Potato, Seed Potato
Watching my seedlings pop out of the ground in the garden never ceases to amaze me. I’ve become quite the over-anxious parent checking on them more frequently than my email these days. Potatoes require a bit more patience but once the flowers on the mother plant begin to appear, tender new potatoes are easy to [...]
Great Granola, No Gluten
During our 28-day detox diet, just finished, no wheat was allowed, along with dairy, sugar in any form – yes, that includes chocolate – alcohol, soy, caffeine. Our plates were full of fruits and veggies, rice, some meat, nuts and legumes. A limited repertoire, but a healthy way to eat for a short while. It [...]
Snacks Unwrapped
I’m reading the paper the other morning, oblivious to the impending New Year, when from across the room Bob asked if I had resolutions for 2010. Not yet, was my absent-minded reply. But then the brain started buzzing, independent of what I thought I wanted it to do, and it began to muse about the [...]
Offal-ly Trendy
I know I said I was going to give my computer a break and I did for a couple of days but at this time of year, I’m a real sucker for lists of all kinds — the best of and trend predictions are among my favorites. Of course, I had to check on food [...]
Fondues Warm the Longest Nights
Fondues are the perfect foil for winter blues, something gooey and melted wrapped around almost anything that we can dip or stick a fork into. For Pacific Northwesterners today is the year’s shortest day, longest night. Winter Solstice. Although we don’t dance around maypoles in chiffon, we do we have seasonal food rituals and celebrations [...]
