Pomegranate martinis make the ultimate holiday libation!
Fruit
Figs – Kisses from the Summer Sun
My fig tree not only bestows me with gorgeous summer fruit but presents a nature show all year long. In the fall and winter, it loses its leaves to reveal bare-naked limbs. Small green buds evolve into broad, finger-like leaves while nubs form on its skinny branches in spring. Finally, in early summer, these little…
Bonding Over Pomegranates
This story is dedicated to my forever pomegranate best friend, Jenny. The one fruit I have always been smitten with is the pomegranate. Not because of its highly sought after nutritional benefits or how it has become a “cool” fruit, but for other deeper reasons. Flashback. We had one of the few backyards in my…
Granita – Sicily’s Sweet Secret
I’ve tasted some pretty incredible things on my world-wide travels but did not expect for Sicily to offer foods that almost made me speechless. Seriously! Fine pastries in France, fresh seafood in Australia and robust goulash in Budapest all stand out as epic food experiences. What great Sicilian taste made my heart beat a little…
Holiday Pears
Pears have this seductive quality about them. They flaunt their curvy hips and hold their stem high, like wearing a tiny crown. Their taste and texture, soft, sweet and flowery, almost melts in your mouth. Rustic, yet delicate describe the Bosc variety, my favorite for poaching and making tarts. They hold their shape and don’t…
A Passion for Persimmons
She lured me in with her perfect “t” shaped limbs, reaching out like angel wings. “Take me home.” she whispered. Not planning to add another fruit tree to my already demanding garden, this one was like an abandoned puppy. You know, the one that finds you. I’d always loved Fuyu persimmons, their sweet versatility making…
Rhubarb Marries Meringue
Lately I’ve been feeling disenchanted with the world. About the only thing I find enchanting is my lovely, colorful garden. This is just a phase I’m going through. We all have them. To console myself, instead of watching evening tv, I crawled into bed with food. Figuratively, not literally! I perused my cookbook shelves and…
Late Summer Watermelon Salad
Labor Day’s Swan Song of summer demands a final salute to the ambrosial fruits the season delivered. This recipe is so simple it’s embarrassing but I make it over and over and continue to receive rave reviews. Peach Balsamic Vinegar is its secret ingredient, drawing the flavors out of the watermelon and complimenting the mint….
Lemoniscious
My aunt Barb is a baker. Not just a home baker; she owned a bakery and can recite a recipe for a cake without blinking an eye. That is why, when she came for a visit, my task was to make for her a birthday cake that was so extraordinary she would be speechless. I…
Summer’s Arrival
Every summer has a story. ♥ What is it that is so romantic about summer? Is it the long hours of sunlight, its warm breezes persuading us to linger a little longer to drink in the day? Is it the fond memory and sentimentality stirred up of childhood vacations and days out of school spelled…
Once Upon an Easter
This time of year, my thoughts return to my childhood and fond memories of Easter. Sentimentalist that I am, I still have my first Easter basket left by the Easter Bunny. Well-made, it has stood the test of time, the pink weaving now faded. I retrieve it from the upper cupboards of my closet every…
Pucker Up! Lucious Lemons Rock
When I think of lemons, this folk tune often sings in my head, “Lemon tree very pretty, and the lemon flower is sweet, but the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat.”* The author, of this song, Jose Carlos Burle, must never have tasted a Meyer lemon or he wouldn’t have written this…
Plum Crazy
Late summer is my favorite time of year. The skies are clean, the breezes warm and the markets are bursting with late harvest veggies and fruits. So many home and garden projects have taken me away from my writing time. In exhaustion, I find myself sneaking in an occasional afternoon nap, imitating my dogs who…
Blueberry Hill
As a pastry chef, fruit desserts were my specialty as well as my favorite pastries to create. If fruit was in season, it showed up in abundance in my pastry case from Strawberry Napoleons to a Blueberry Bourbon Cream Cake, a tall tower of thin cakes spread and layered with a light bourbon cream and…
Ruby Beauties
Hi my faithful readers, Do you sometimes get that overwhelmed feeling? That’s where I am today. I so want to share with you everything that is swirling around in my head. But where do I find the time? Since returning from France with a million ideas to post, I find that my garden, my home,…