My appetite changes with the season. In the winter I appreciate things that warm you up and keep you warm. Like soup. In the summer, soup takes a back seat to pasta salads, potato salads, slaws, grilled meats and fresh fruit. A warm cup of soup on a winter day makes the transition from morning coffee to lunchtime that much easier. Yes. I use coffee to keep warm. Sometimes tea too. There is something about a well-balanced soup that makes me smile on the inside. Over the years I’ve learned... more

Some things are worth it. Be it time, distance or price, some things are just worth the effort. This entry covers all the bases. Get comfortable. I have a lot to say…as does Ole. While we were in California this year on a trip back to Martinelli, one of our favorite wineries, we were told about a great cheese shop outside of Santa Rosa. We followed the hand drawn map, found Llano Road and turned down the driveway that transitioned from blacktop to dirt, past the vines and bovines, past... more

I woke up with a migraine yesterday. I have to say that after this odd three-week hiatus (unheard of if you’re me), I particularly resented this one. It was just there. No usual phantom warning, flecks of light, odd pain elsewhere. There. Pounding at my eyelids and making it impossible for me to feel like dragging myself out of bed when my alarm went off at 5:45 in the morning, even though it had to happen. I think the fact that I’d been oddly migraine-free for about three weeks... more

Let’s talk turkey. Turkey carcass, that is. No, don’t throw it away. Let’s use it. While I used to snicker when my aunt’s would decide who would bring home this year’s turkey bones or the ham bone at the holidays, I now understand. I get it. I have been enlightened. The power of making your own stock, your own broth may have been lost on me when I was 13 and had no time for such foolishness, but as I began to cook for my own family and not just my siblings while... more

Daylight savings, nearly a month ago now (where did the time go?), marked the end of late evenings, cooking dinner by the light of the kitchen window. The sun is gone by 5:00 p.m., forcing me to turn on glaring overhead lights earlier, sometimes before I’ve even stood up from my computer and finished work for the day. Dinner-hour darkness and cold, windy nights have me dreaming of warm dishes cooked in my oven and over the stove. I thought this hearty cream stew was the perfect way to warm... more