Homer Soda Company storefront in downtown Homer. PHOTO COURTESY HOMER SODA COMPANY Regular readers of this space know that I’ve railed against the American habit of constant soda consumption more than once. But truthfully I like soda. I like it a lot. If it weren’t for the problems – medical and dental – excessive soda […]
Food & Drink
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Pie plant pie
PHOTO BY JOSEPH COPLEY It’s a family favorite, especially for my mom and me. In fact, it’s such a favorite that if my husband, Peter, is making Mother’s Day brunch or dinner for us at home, mom or I will make a rhubarb pie ourselves rather than Peter making another dessert. (Peter is an outstanding […]
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Foraging spring flowers
PHOTO BY METRO CREATIVE CONNECTION Every year of my life, violets have appeared on our dinner table. Occasionally they show up in a vase, but far more often we use them as a garnish for salads and spring vegetables, especially asparagus. “You can eat violets?” incredulous guests always ask. Yes, you can, and dandelions too, […]
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Crazy for cornbread
It’s more American than apple pie. The English brought apple pie to American shores. Native Americans taught the earliest European immigrants to parch, grind and mix corn with boiling water, and then bake it into thin cakes. They weren’t nearly as tasty as the cornbread into which they evolved, but made good staples for hunters […]
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Easters past
PHOTO BY METRO CREATIVE CONNECTION What a difference a couple of years make! In 2012 Easter fell on the seventh of April. It was a glorious weekend, undoubtedly our best Easter ever. The most wonderful thing about it was the marriage of our daughter, Ashley. It was a joyous celebration, a gathering of friends and […]
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Curry party
“Hey, let’s have a curry party!” Greg Hurt said. Peter and I looked at each other and smiled. We didn’t know what a curry party was, but it was sure to be fun and have delicious food. In the 1990s we had a group of friends I thought of as our British Commonwealth buddies. Most […]
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Reading recipes
It’s one of my biggest fears, something that sometimes even keeps me awake at night: Writing recipes that are inaccurate, incomplete or incomprehensibly worded. When I started teaching cooking classes, I was determined to write accurate, easily understood recipes. Cooking involves all of the senses, not just taste. I knew what I meant when I […]
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All hail, kale
Suddenly it seems as if kale is everywhere. The sturdy-leaved member of the Brassica vegetable family, which includes broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, collard greens and others, is showing up on restaurant menus, in cooking magazines and websites; actually in anything food-centric. Or not food-centric: It even made an appearance on Jimmy Fallon’s debut week hosting […]
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Flour power
For years I’ve been asked why I always specify unbleached all-purpose white flour in my recipes. And for years, my answer has been the same, “Yes, you can substitute bleached for unbleached flour. But why would you want to?” Today my answer is the same, with a minor exception. Growing up in an organic-centered household, […]
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Guinness goodness
A defining characteristic of stout beers, of which Guinness is arguably the best known, is a creamy head and extremely dark body caused by the addition of roasted barley. PHOTO BY BOB FILA/MCT Will ye be havin’ a pint or two of Guinness to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day come Monday? If so, you won’t be […]
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German feast
Sauerbraten with potato dumplings makes a yummy German feast. We served sauerbraten at our first dinner party as a married couple. But we didn’t know it would be so explosive, providing the evening’s entertainment, as well as its entrée. Peter had been talking about hosting the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign German club for months […]
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Cooking with beer
It’s one of the oldest beverages in the world – almost certainly the oldest alcoholic beverage. There are references to it in some of the earliest writings discovered in ancient Sumeria and Mesopotamia. In its modern forms, beer has a range of flavors and complexities that can match and often even exceed wine. So why […]
