Only one weekend left until we send our kids off to school. I have to admit I’m looking forward to it, not because I don’t want them around, but because I think they’ll be happy to have some routine that involves other kids, other activities, someone – anyone – other than me. We spent the weekend with family, going to the zoo and bumming around the neighborhood. I also fit in a short photo session with my nieces and nephews and we took a family walk, all 12 of us, down the... more

You’ve probably read my other posts about beef tenderloin or filet mignon cuts, and as I’ve explained before, this is something that we would buy only on special occasions because of its higher price.  But not only are full tenderloins cheaper per pound than it’s trimmed and cut filet mignon brothers, but there are sales (try $5.88/lb or even $4.88/lb) on a semi-regular basis at our local food mart.  Regular enough in fact, that just about the time our tenderloin stockpile is... more

That, up there, is flat-leaf parsley, growing in a pot. And down below here? Those are all things that I had sitting around the house. No joke. If I had shopped for this meal, I would have picked up a better wine. As it happened, we don’t often drink white wine (we drink red), and so I keep white cooking wine around. And it is all I had on hand. Cooking wine = cheap wine with salt. Also lying around? Chicken breasts. Sometimes we just buy chicken breasts without a plan. We just... more

We visited the farmer’s market today. I have a special place in my heart for the farmer’s market. I could wander and people watch for hours if I was allowed to. As it is, I walk quickly and deliberately to my favorite vendors, stopping to browse at very few because Ole is sitting in the car with a sleeping Kidney Bean and a restless Kumquat and I am holding hands with Kola Nut, who is obsessed with finding the “balloon man” to make him a balloon sword. I did, however,... more

When I considered what I would plant in my garden in the spring after Ole had finished placing each and every rock around the bed, I really just picked things that I liked. I didn’t do much planning or thoughtful introspection. I knew I wanted a kitchen garden, a potager, and already had my herbs in pots. I went to the farmer’s market, looked around, found a few things I knew I wanted like everbearing strawberries and tomatoes, picked out a few more items and then I just went for it.... more

It’s summer in Minnesota, and that can mean many things to many people.  For me, it’s not really summer until the road side stands pop up offering cucumbers, melons, potatoes and, of course, sweet corn.  Now, it can’t be just any kind of sweet corn.  You see, I grew up spoiled.  My Uncle Duane had a farm in Southern Minnesota where he raised beef cattle, soybeans and sweet corn, and when the corn was ripe, he’d call my dad and we’d grab a stack of paper bags, head... more

My mom gave me this hibiscus tree for mother’s day this year. It sat in my dining room, sad, unloved in its original pot. I spent hours trying to find the pot I wanted at random stores. Then I found a ceramic version that was close to what I was looking for; however, ceramic wasn’t going to work for a tree I planned to drag around based on the weather. Finally, because my tree was sad, hadn’t bloomed in a month and was starting to yellow, I settled on a nondescript pot, far... more