O.M.G. What a great pasta! Tonight was a double-treat. Victor decided to cook and he decided to make a slightly different pasta than he usually makes. Years ago he bought me a pasta roller for my birthday or Christmas, and I’ve never used it. It wasn’t out of the box 20 [...]
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It is 73° outside. Blue skies, a gentle breeze… It’s one of those perfect-weather days that just don’t happen often enough. Absolutely gorgeous. The only thing that would have made today better was if I hadn’t broken my glasses this morning. I received my notice from my eye doctor [...]
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I don’t really need an excuse to bake a cake, but it’s always nice when I have one. And what better excuse than Mother’s Day and Birthday celebrations? Yesterday was Victor’s mom’s birthday, today, of course, is Mother’s Day, and tomorrow is my mom’s birthday. Our mom’s were born 2 [...]
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Birthdays are fun. They mean we get to use the good plates! Not that we really need a reason, but you know what I mean. Any ol’ reason to celebrate at our house, and having Nonna celebrate birthday #87 is more than a good reason! Chicken parmesan, pasta, and spinach. [...]
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It is 73° outside. Blue skies, a gentle breeze… It’s one of those perfect-weather days that just don’t happen often enough. Absolutely gorgeous. The only thing that would have made today better was if I hadn’t broken my glasses this morning. I received my notice from my eye doctor [...]
O.M.G. What a great pasta! Tonight was a double-treat. Victor decided to cook and he decided to make a slightly different pasta than he usually makes. Years ago he bought me a pasta roller for my birthday or Christmas, and I’ve never used it. It wasn’t out of the box 20 [...]
I don’t really need an excuse to bake a cake, but it’s always nice when I have one. And what better excuse than Mother’s Day and Birthday celebrations? Yesterday was Victor’s mom’s birthday, today, of course, is Mother’s Day, and tomorrow is my mom’s birthday. Our mom’s were born 2 [...]
The Annual Easter Egg Coloring and Pizza Party just happened to fall on our niece Elizabeth’s birthday this year… and what’s an Easter Egg Coloring and Pizza Party without Peeps?!? I thought Peeps atop cupcakes would be fun with “Happy Birthday Elizabeth” spelled out on top. I went downstairs to fetch the cupcake tins [...]
O.M.G. What a great pasta! Tonight was a double-treat. Victor decided to cook and he decided to make a slightly different pasta than he usually makes. Years ago he bought me a pasta roller for my birthday or Christmas, and I’ve never used it. It wasn’t out of the box 20 [...]
It is 73° outside. Blue skies, a gentle breeze… It’s one of those perfect-weather days that just don’t happen often enough. Absolutely gorgeous. The only thing that would have made today better was if I hadn’t broken my glasses this morning. I received my notice from my eye doctor [...]
I don’t really need an excuse to bake a cake, but it’s always nice when I have one. And what better excuse than Mother’s Day and Birthday celebrations? Yesterday was Victor’s mom’s birthday, today, of course, is Mother’s Day, and tomorrow is my mom’s birthday. Our mom’s were born 2 [...]
Birthdays are fun. They mean we get to use the good plates! Not that we really need a reason, but you know what I mean. Any ol’ reason to celebrate at our house, and having Nonna celebrate birthday #87 is more than a good reason! Chicken parmesan, pasta, and spinach. [...]
Tonight I decided to see how far I could push the the dinner envelope. With the thermometer at 83° and slightly muggy, this was a salad night. Back in the day, Nonna used to make a salad every night when she cooked us dinner, but I couldn’t recall when I last saw her actually eat one. [...]
It’s so nice to have a man around the house – especially a man who knows his way around the kitchen! While I was working, Victor was creating – and what a creation it turned out to be – a pecan-topped lemon cake based on his apple cake recipe. Genius. This is a bit [...]
Victor received an awesome Birthday Present in the mail last week from a friend in Kansas City – local Kansas City BBQ sauces and rubs. Totally awesome! We’re both huge fans of regional cooking and really love locally-produced products. We’re going to have a lot of fun going through [...]
I’ve been thinking about risotto for a week. I finally decided to stop thinking about it and start making it. I’m a broken record when it comes to me saying how easy it is to make risotto. It’s just so easy. I made a chicken, shrimp, and mushroom version. It almost had [...]
Over the winter I had stocked up on lentils and rice. I bought several pounds of black beluga lentils, lentils du puy, black japonica rice, and a few other slightly offbeat whole-grain rices from Lundberg. I really like the various white rices, but I also really like the nuttier [...]
¡Feliz Cinco de Mayo! What started out as a slightly obscure holiday out west commemorating a Mexican victory over French forces back in 1862 has blossomed into a nation-wide holiday celebrating Mexican culture and heritage. The day is not Mexican Independence Day as many seem to believe, and, like St Patrick’s day, [...]
Since most of dinner, tonight, came out of the freezer, I had plenty of time to bake a loaf of bread. I have a few go-to recipes for bread but one of my all-time favorites is from James Beard. I actually have this recipe memorized. It is no-fail every [...]
Leftover smashed potatoes are a good thing. Especially when Victor has a plan… His plan was potato pancakes. I loves me some potato pancakes! They really are the perfect way to use up leftover potatoes. And using up leftover potatoes is the only time I ever think to make [...]
It’s a birthday cake. baked in our own, newly-fixed oven. Yes. newly-fixed, not new. We started talking last night and by this morning we had decided that we just couldn’t justify all new stainless steel appliances. The clincher really was the refrigerator. It works. It works really well. And [...]
Nonna really likes tomatoes. Back when I did her shopping, I’d pick up three or four of them every week for her. She’s just cut them up and make simple tomato salads. I really like tomatoes, too, but I would seldom actually buy one. I like to wait until [...]
We’ve survived 48 hours without an oven, but not having that clock is driving me nuts. I can’t believe how often I looked at that clock – it seems like it must have been every time I walked into the kitchen. Note to self: make sure new oven has a [...]
