making life delicious blog
When you get a big basket of peaches as beautiful as this, it’s time to cook. We got these in South Carolina a few weeks ago while visiting family, and they were so fresh and sweet that the smell made me want to bury my face in the basket. They still needed a couple days [...]
“Cherries!” That’s the shout I hear when the boys find cherries on the counter and eagerly pop them in their mouths and pull off the stems. They can’t resist the deep red fruits, and neither can I. Seeing their happy smiles with cherry juice all over their hands and faces is one of my favorite [...]
When the blueberries start to ripen on our bushes, the boys get excited and eagerly eat the fresh berries as we bring them inside. Occasionally I’m able to set some aside for cooking projects, but most of the time I have competition for their juicy goodness. This time I was able to whip up some [...]
When summer rolls around and it’s time to start making jams and jellies again, I stock up on pectin. Many of the recipes I make call for regular pectin, which requires cooking the jam or jelly, but I also like instant pectin for no-cook jams. Skipping the cooking process keeps the wonderful fresh flavor of [...]
My first experience in an Asian grocery store was on the island of Saipan back in 1989. I was still new to the small island and its mix of cultures, and Asian ingredients were not part of my vocabulary, so browsing through a bewildering array of soy sauces left my head spinning and I couldn’t [...]
Some kind of Mexican food is on our menu every week, whether it’s tacos, enchiladas, fajitas, soup, whatever. It’s a meal our boys always look forward to, especially if there’s guacamole, too. We always have beans on the side, black beans being our favorite. We spice them up with onion, garlic, chili powder, cumin, chipotle [...]
One of my favorite childhood lunch memories was sitting down to a bowl of hot tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich. It was simple, not fussy; canned soup and plain white sandwich bread with American cheese, but I grew up with the notion that this was the perfect lunch on a cold day.
We’ve gotten hooked on pomegranates and eagerly look forward to the autumn pomegranate season. Our love for the fruit led us to plant a pomegranate tree this year, which will hopefully give us a harvest of our own pomegranates in a couple years. And of course we will promptly toss the arils into a bowl [...]
Years ago I had my first taste of hot spiced wine at a friend’s apartment in Bogotá, Colombia, which we sipped while listening to Edith Piaf after a glorious dinner of beef tenderloin (lomo). Maria Consuela had spent time in the U.S. and Europe during her college years and liked to share her cultural experiences [...]
I can’t imagine the holidays without this hot cranberry apple cider. The aroma is wonderful and makes the house smell so festive, and it’s also easy to make and won’t keep you hovering over the pot when you’d rather celebrate time with family and friends.
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