Ever since I first heard about lemon ricotta pancakes, I’ve wanted to try them. They sound like the perfect Father’s Day breakfast. I especially wanted to make them because my daughter went to Claire’s on Cedros in Solana Beach, California, and told me she ate the best pancakes of her life there. How could stinking Claire make the best pancakes of her life when mine, her baker/cook mom’s,…
As you may have noticed, I spend a lot of time thinking about food. When I’m not thinking about it, I’m cooking it, eating it or cleaning up after doing both. And friends always ask me, how do you stay thin? Well, I’m not thin, I’m usually five to ten pounds over what I’d like to be, but I aspire to thinness, and I exercise a lot. There…
My father served as a medic in the Army in World War II. He never talked about it until he was in his 90s, except to let us know that war is hell and he was not a fan of anything in France, especially the French. So when I went to Paris with two friends for my 40th birthday, and came back with stories of how nice the…
A good neighbor is someone who, years after you’ve moved, still calls when the blackberries are ripe in his yard so you can come pick some. That’s what my former neighbor, Brian, did a few days ago. We had great neighbors in my old neighborhood. One let me pick apricots in his yard. You’d bite into them and the apricot juice would run down your chin. That’s what…
My long time friend Carolyn’s father passed away a few weeks ago and while I was telling him my final, tearful goodbye, I couldn’t help but notice what a nice casket he was in. I snapped out of it and got back to saying my goodbye to Mr. Riley, who always kindly made time for me and respected my family. And, I have to say, his casket was…
By now it’s well established that I can be a total dolt. I do things like buy tickets for Craig Ferguson, then confuse the date and show up two days after the actual show. On my way out the door, I forget things so often, that poor Topper (my Corgi) stops and looks back at me every three steps as we go down the stairs because he knows…
There wasn’t a lot of excitement at New Brighton Junior High, except when Carolyn Riley arrived breathless after some catastrophe. Usually one of her horses got loose and she had to run, her long thin legs slipping and sliding, to retrieve it. Or the snow-plow had blocked off their driveway with snow, so they had to shovel themselves out, or Margie and Nancy, their lambs (and eventual dinner)…
No, I did not forget to write last week, I was covered in flour, white chocolate and nuts for days. Nothing “Shades of Grey,” I was just getting ready for my biscotti tasting on Sunday the 12th. I baked like a maniac, then did the scariest thing a baker can do, I asked people to give me their honest opinions of my biscotti.…
Italian women bound into a flurry of baking activity before big holidays like Easter and Christmas. Then they rush their baked goods to friends and family, as though the holiday will not happen unless every last baked good is delivered.…
When I attended Clarion University of Pennsylvania, I studied Elementary Education. I use the term, “study,” loosely because I don’t remember a damned thing about education, but I do remember the Seven Layer Cookies my roommate, Margaret brought back with her.…