For several years now, my Tuesday afternoons have been spent in various school kitchens, teaching area middle schoolers to cook. I began as a volunteer for one program, moved to another school with that program and am now back at the first school, Walker Upper Elementary, where I am now the lead on the after school cooking program. Continue reading
Category: cooking
Better living through organization.
I recently made a batch of chicken broth with a carcass I had stashed in the freezer. You do this, right? Have a stash of roasted bones in the freezer just for making stock? So anyway, I was down to my last jar of broth and needed to make a batch. There was just enough meat that came off the bones to make a pot of soup, but I sensed by my family’s reaction that one more pot of straight up chicken soup – or really, any variation thereof to be honest – might be one pot too many for this winter soup season. That’s when I realized I hadn’t made Dorie’s White Chili in some time and that might be a nice change.
See the reflection of my bedroom windows on my lap top screen?
Ryan’s Ginger Beef Soup
It has been pointed out that I haven’t written a post here in too long – by none other than my own offspring, who apparently uses this blog for her own reference from time to time. Who knew? I certainly did not.
Ladies Who Brunch.
There was an absolutely lovely party this past summer, the sort that felt like everyone who was still left in town had to have been in attendance, where at least a few of the worlds of Charlottesville collided. And as happens as these things, there was much chatter about how we – me – should invite people over for wine to continue the worlds colliding fun. Because apparently, this is a thing I do – have random gatherings with cool people where they met other cool people.
Of course I obliged, sending out an email to inquire as to when people might be free in order for us to have a ladies wine night. As it turns out, working moms are busy people and the best time for all of us to gather for drinks was Sunday morning. And thus came the inspiration for “Ladies Who Brunch”.
Leni and Oyster Loaves.
My friend Leni has been cooking her way through the classic Mary Randolph cookbook “The Virginia Housewife“. As part of that project, she hosted a dinner at her home recently featuring recipes from it. She asked if I would come lend a hand serving and ensuring everything went smoothly. I absolutely said yes because not only did it involve quality time cooking with my dear friend, it also meant quality time talking old cookbooks and food history with someone who shares my enthusiasm on the subject while also being incredibly knowledgeable on the subject.
An honest to goodness Family heirloom.
I have an admitted weakness for shabby old cookbooks. To me, a slightly abused old cookbook full of stains, with torn pages is a cookbook that has been well loved and well used. I’ve been known to walk out of estate sales with cookbooks that are absolutely in shambles because I just couldn’t leave them sitting there feeling abandoned. Friends that know I cook and how I feel about old cookbooks routinely share gems with me that were from their mother/grandmother/aunt that no one wanted, but they didn’t feel they could just give away to a stranger, or worse, throw away. Continue reading
And so it goes.
We moved into this house 18 years ago last month. To celebrate, our gas range, the one that came with the house, decided to go out with a bit of a bang. Continue reading
Handwritten Treasure.
On our recent visit, Pat’s mom Kathy, offered I go through a chest where she kept her late mother’s cookbooks, to see if any appealed to me. Of course I leapt at the opportunity, but seeing how I’m trying very hard to not accumulate new cookbooks, there was nothing that deemed ‘necessary’. But then I saw this:
A gallon ziploc bag full of handwritten recipes as well as recipes clipped from newspapers and magazines over the years. I was more than a little excited and when I sat down to look through it, Kathy told me I could just have it. (!!!!) Continue reading
Fork Soup.
This is one of those family favorite recipes that not only has been renamed from its original (and rather staid), “Creamy Spinach Chicken Tortellini Soup” but has also been completely reworked. Starting out as a quick weeknight meal that uses a number of convenience items like canned soup, at some point I had the realization it wasn’t that much harder to cook from scratch – just a little bit of chopping involved really. And because we lean more vegetarian, I started going with cream of mushroom instead of cream of chicken soup. The end result? Still really good while remaining an easy weeknight dinner. Continue reading
Behind the scenes.
In my seemingly constant state of ‘busy’, I often refer to projects I’m involved with that I don’t always share in this space for a variety of reasons. Occasionally though, some of those mysterious projects do manage to see the light of day here. I’m excited to share a project that while I was only minorly involved in, resulted in my name in print. And when I say print, I mean, published in a book print, as in a cookbook – my very favorite type of book.
Chicken Wire & Paper Flowers 