February 2nd: A ladybug works on a soon to open "Colonel Fiery" Camellia Japonica blossom.
Based on weather reports of a blizzard in the western U.S. and Colorado, the answer to that question is: Not everywhere. But, in what was no great surprise around these parts yesterday morning, our local resident groundhog, General Beauregard Lee, did not see his shadow on Groundhog Day, predicting that our Spring will be early. Ummm, more like right now…I would say! Continue reading
Texas Sheet Cake....you know you want it, you know you're gonna make it!
I think I mentioned at some point, probably in one of the 10 question posts, that when I was a kid I loved to bake. Fast forward well into adulthood, and I really don’t bake that often. I guess it’s partly due to the fact that if I bake sweets, I’ll eat ’em, and if I eat ’em, well, let’s just mention that slow metabolism once again and leave it at that! The other problem though, and the reason I don’t bake bread, is that my oven has issues. The main issue has been a broken seal, which my dear husband just replaced. “Why don’t you just get a new oven,” one might ask? Time and hassle, but it’s coming, yes it’s coming… Meanwhile, this relatively simple fix seems to have transformed my oven into a decent space to bake once again, and so this week I did just that with a vengeance. Continue reading
Last year's snow.
As winter is fully upon us by January and I’ve done posts on summer and fall, I thought I’d take a moment to talk about those things that I love most about this season. One of the things I love about winter is snow…probably because we have so little of it down here in the south. And if it does snow? Every man, woman, child, dog and cat…we all as one become excited little children when it snows here, taking great delight in our snow days off from work or school, making snowmen, snow women and snow angels, following the trails of icy footprints in the snow. And then there’s the sledding…even if we only have the tiniest bit of snow or ice, southerners will sled on cardboard boxes, garbage can lids, plastic saucers and of course, sleds. I can hear the chuckles of you seasoned masters of the icy stuff in the more northern and snowy climes. Yes, I know we’d feel differently if we really had snow to deal with, but understand, even the mere mention of a snow flurry can shut this southern metropolis down in it’s tracks…willingly! Alas, we’ve had none so far this season, but hope springs eternal. Continue reading
An awaiting bowl of warm happiness on a cold winter's night.
Every once in a while I get a nagging craving for a particular comforting dish, and in the winter it often comes in the form of soup. I’ve found that the craving will go on and on until I actually make whatever it is…oddly, even if I have some of it out of the house somewhere. This time it was Split Pea Soup with Ham.
This recipe began years ago when I was living on my own in a condo, and I really didn’t cook too often. One cold winter day, a downstairs neighbor of mine was working in the kitchen on something that smelled really good, and I was smelling that delicious aroma for hours…it was making me crazed with hunger! I kept passing my neighbor in the hallway during this marathon of cooking, and asked him what it was…”Oh, that’s just my split pea soup,” he said casually, and back into his apartment he went, shutting the door with a disappointing finality. Continue reading
Cecilia over at The Kitchen’s Garden, kindly tagged and challenged me a while back to answer these 10 questions about myself. I’ve tried to give you guys a little breather since my last post about me, and hopefully you’ve recovered by now, so I’m going to fire these off!
1. Describe yourself in seven words.
Caring human-being, loving wife and daughter, loyal friend, artist, food-lover, cat-mother, nature-loving-good-intentioned-gardener. Oh, sorry, guess that was more like 7 titles, not 7 words. Continue reading
Alas, another night shot which really doesn't do these justice, a wrinkle in my cloth, and my little digital camera ran out of space in the middle of shooting...was it the shadow of Friday the 13th looming over me? Nope, I was just hungry!!
Happy Friday the 13th everyone. It’s hard to believe that we are almost halfway through the first month of this new year. I choose to view this as a lucky day, and therefore want to share a fiesta recipe with you in celebration, but do watch out for those out there who are a bit wigged out by the date!
As I’ve probably mentioned a time or two, I really, really like Mexican food. I don’t cook a lot of it at home, but am trying to remedy that as the fat content of eating it “abroad” catches up with you rather quickly…the “broad” part of that word being key. Continue reading
Sharyn of The Kale Chronicles, whose blog I do enjoy reading so much each post, has kindly given me the Food Bloggers Unplugged Award!  Thank you so much, Sharyn, for honoring me with this award and for being such a supportive reader and commenter of my blog. This award is involves answering some food related questions about yourself, and then you pass the baton to 5 other food bloggers you’d like to know more about, so here goes!
A match made in heaven...Bourbon-Mustard Glazed Pork Tenderloin and Roasted Butternut Squash Salad. Yes indeed, I'm gonna make these two together again!
This week we’ve had quite a warm spell and my plans to make either my recipes for either split-pea soup or chicken noodle soup—soup being one of my favorite meals this time of year—went by the wayside when the temps went up to the mid-60’s and then 70 degrees. Really? In January? This time last year most folks here were racing for the grocery store like the non-snow savvy southerners that we are, trying to out-buy each other in the milk, bread, salt and chili-making ingredient categories, and battening down our hatches for what turned out to be a significant snow storm that shut Atlanta down for several days….not that it actually takes snow to do that, as you already know if you live here!
There was a time, not too long past, that you’d have had to tie me down and force feed me anything that came under the heading of “greens,” and collards were most certainly at the top of that list. As a kid I remember that every time I smelled greens cooking, I’d hide or start planning some way to discreetly scrape them off the dinner plate and into a napkin while my parents weren’t looking. To me they were slimy, smelly, and well…GREEN! YUK! Continue reading
First and foremost, I hope you’ve all been busy sharing some good times with friends and family during the past few weeks, and that you’ve celebrated your respective holidays with lots of great food, frivolity and a little reflection as well. We just returned from celebrating a most lovely Christmas with my mom out of town, and it was wonderful to be with her and to have the chance to spend some quality time together. Thanks for having us mom, you’re the best and we love you!
Second, I’d like to share a great surprise that happened on my way out of town for the holiday. I discovered that I’d been nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Sharyn at The Kale Chronicles and also by Eva over at Kitchen Inspirations. Wow! What an unexpected honor, and a super Christmas present, to boot! Sharyn’s blog, The Kale Chronicles, features her inventive recipes using ingredients from her CSA box, and for each post she creates bright and charming watercolor illustrations to go along with the subject, a unique and quite wonderful approach. Eva at Kitchen Inspirations is a graphic designer like myself, and hails from Canada. Her blog features some diverse and terrific sounding recipes along with lovely photographic images (she’s quite a stylist and shooter, too), as well as tales of her travels and culinary adventures…it’s a terrific read. Thank you both so much for honoring me with this special award and congratulations to you both on your nominations as well. Continue reading
bits and breadcrumbs 