Who knows what we'll do or where we'll be next
Sometime during the end of summer, Sherry spent an industrious afternoon picking fruit from our strawberry tree. If you haven’t heard of strawberries growing on trees, we are not far ahead of you. We hadn’t either until we purchased our home, where two mature specimens adorned our back yard. The tree grows to the size …
Continue reading "If you make jam, you’ll want an English muffin to go with it*"
Every cook has horror stories; I have my own fair share and two of them are related to Thanksgiving. Some years ago, I was attending a Thanksgiving dinner with some friends and their extended family, including their elderly grandmother. I decided to contribute a pumpkin pie. Image by Element5 Digital from Pixabay The pie baked …
This is the story of the day Sherry and I bought three paintings we didn't need and didn't even want. And yet, we got our money’s worth. If you've traveled tourist destinations in developing countries, you are all too familiar with vendors selling various trinkets, clothing and cold drinks. Their demeanor can range from very …
Many years ago, I decided to throw a little dinner party for some friends on the weekend before Thanksgiving. I went out to get the groceries and returned home to be greeted by my son, then 7 years old. As with most growing boys, he had a keen interest in food. He eagerly assisted me …
In the past two weeks, a mysterious series of burglaries in our own back yard has left us perplexed. It began with one of my pool shoes. Then a pair of Sherry's garden clogs. The last straw was one of my expensive leather Ecco sandals. Our patio footwear was disappearing at an astonishing rate. We …
Continue reading "Cracking the case of the vanishing footwear"
When I was 14 years old, my family relocated from a rural enclave in Connecticut to an even more remote region in the great state of Maine. My siblings and I were a bit dubious about this move, but our parents promised it would be an adventure. We'd have our own 100-acre farm, high on …
Continue reading "A lumbering tale: From Maine to California"
Around this time six years ago, I found myself out in the cold on a street corner in Mountain View, California. But I was having so much fun, I really didn't notice the time or the weather. I was busking (playing guitar and singing) with Sherry. We started at sometime around 10 p.m. and went …
The days are shorter and colder; winter is upon us, but we wanted one last summer-time meal before we officially kick off the holiday season. Also, I had this brand new, pre-seasoned Lodge grill just waiting for a workout. I had visions of homemade salmon burgers on homemade sesame buns, dripping with tartar sauce. So, …
“What are you looking at?” I inquire, innocently, of my very preoccupied wife as she squints at her phone. “Poop,” she says. “OK, then,” I reply. If we had had that conversation at the beginning of the year, I might well have been shocked. Now, it seems quite routine. The hills behind our new home. …
Continue reading "Sherlock Holmes and the case of the dirty pictures"
It should have been easy. Two screws and five color-coded wires. At least, that's what I thought on Monday when I decided, just before breakfast, to upgrade the old thermostat for one of those new fancy "smart" devices. You know, the kind of gizmo that displays a beautiful HD screen, which, of course, you don't …
I have a confession to make: I don't follow recipes. Oh, I read them thoroughly. I analyze them. And I usually think to myself: "That sounds delicious!" Then I more or less ignore the recipes and go about improvising. Maybe it's because I am so fond of jazz. Also, I'm not what you might call …
GROWING UP, WE HUNG OUT IN Dad's shop a lot. While he was busy building, repairing and usually swearing, we would tinker on our own projects, invariably getting in his way (this may or may not have been at least partly responsible for his profanity). Dad recycled everything. So he always had an old 3-pound …
IT IS QUITE LIKELY the most ubiquitous condiment in American households. Whether you call it "ketchup," "catsup" or "catchup," you likely have a bottle or two adorning a refrigerator shelf at this very moment. Americans love the stuff and that's putting it mildly. Somehow, per capita consumption is 71 pounds a year. I know I …
Having successfully produced a few batches of baguettes, the quintessential French bread, I decided it was time to take on its Italian counterpart: ciabatta. The history of these two loaves is fascinating and underscores the friendly culinary competitiveness between the two nations. The baguette has been around since the French revolution. Bread was a mainstay …
Continue reading "The Battle of the Breads: Wands vs. Slippers"
IT HAS BEEN QUITE SOME TIME since we have posted here and we have a good excuse. Amid the pandemic, raging wildfires, heat waves, economic mayhem and political strife, we left (escaped?) the hustle and bustle of downtown Los Angeles for a sleepy suburb in Ventura County. It seems like only yesterday that we were …
