recipes
Years ago, my mother sent me a recipe that I have since seen named “cry babies” or “candied jalapeños”--basically it involved adding crushed pineapple and sugar to a jar of pickled jalapeños and cooking them till they were happy together. It’s a good recipe. I’ve made it
recipes
I know the world is covered up in recipe posts, but this is one of our holiday favorites. Like most of my Thanksgiving recipes, this is one I learned from my mother. Unlike most of the recipes I learned from her, this is one I bake pretty much the way
recipes
The other name for Thanksgiving at our house is Pie-a-pa-looza. I love baking pies and sharing them. Starting Saturday or Sunday I’ll begin making crusts and then filling and baking them on Monday and Tuesday, before I am called to Thanksgiving Dinner duty, and then Ginger and I “Preacher’
recipes
The best recipes tell a story. This one starts with my friend, Sid Davis, who is the Minister of Music at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church in Houston. He called awhile back and invited me to come to his church to do two things. One was to read a
advent journal
I would love to tell you I remember who gave me this recipe. As you can see from the photograph, it has been around a long time and, based on the “this one” written and circled, it replaced one I had used previously. It has also erased the memory of
recipes
I had a rare opportunity this week to a part of Project PX, an amazing program sponsored by St. Luke’s UMC in Houston. My friend Sid Davis asked me to come do a house reading and concert on Saturday and then connected me with Meredith Davis, his daughter, who
poetry
banana pudding cookies I was invited by my friend Taylor Davis to be a part of an All Saints celebration at his church. During the past year, they have experienced a season of profound grief that included the deaths of two of their pastors. Taylor asked me to come and
recipes
My earliest memories of zucchini are not good. First, a bit of backstory: When I was growing up the house rules were that we ate whatever my mother cooked. If it was on the plate, we were expected to eat it. It was not negotiable. If we chose not to
recipes
One of the sadnesses of my summer is that our basil has not done well in the garden. It is my favorite summer herb, particularly when the tomatoes are ripe and (since I live in New England) I can find good, fresh mozzarella cheese. We are profligate in our planting
recipes
Tomato season in New England runs a little later than other parts of the country. Ours are just beginning to come in--at least, the cherry tomatoes are starting to ripen--but most wait for August. The good news is we keep harvesting tomatoes well into the fall. I would love to
recipes
It’s only Thursday night and it has already been a long week. I feel fairly safe saying I think I speak for a majority of people and not just for the way things feel at our house. As I said last night, life is hard right now. One of
recipes
Strawberry shortcake has been a Fourth of July tradition at our house for a long time. The recipe comes from my great grandmother--my father’s grandmother--who died not long after I was born. When my mother asked my father what recipes he wanted to make sure she knew how to