Category: Celebrate
Ham and Lavender Hash
For once, I planned this breakfast menu days in advance. It actually started with the biscuit. When I saw the recipe on A Year in Bread, I knew it was something I had to try (particularly since I’ve had a monster craving for biscuits this pregnancy). But what to pair with it? Being that it’s [...]
French Toast and Ina Garten’s Maple Roasted Bacon
I was much more daring this week with my breakfast. We had Ina Garten’s Maple Roasted Bacon, hash browns, a cheddar omelet split between Will and Shawn, and French toast. Talk about carb overload. Secret of making good breakfast #1: Lower the temperature on the burner! You would think I already knew this, but the [...]
Sunday Breakfasts #1: Cinnamon Toast
Cinnamon toast anyone? Cinnamon toast happens to be a favorite breakfast for both Will and I. It could have something to do with the fact that I am a disaster when it comes to traditional breakfast foods. Pancakes burn, eggs dry out, sausage turns to rubber … it’s a curse. But one I want to [...]
Berry season!
When I was a little girl, my grandmother and I would go every year to a pick-your-own strawberry patch near our home in Dutchess County, New York. When the sign point to the patch would appear at the roadside, with an arrow indicating it was time to start picking, I would get so excited anticipating [...]
Joys of Spring: a simple fruit salad
It’s warm out now, with May quickly approaching. There are signs of spring all around – the blooming forsythia, flowering daffodils, blossoming tulips. Everywhere you look, at least here in Connecticut, trees are coming alive again and animals are emerging from long winter rests. Just this morning, we spied a skunk (beautiful, however smelly) across [...]
Springtime!
It’s spring! Okay, okay, so spring started last week – I know. But now it’s warm out. And we can work on our pitiful garden (I never cleared it after last season). And we can walk to the park again, which is one of my favorite activities with Will. But this puzzles me (this isn’t [...]
Getting to the Stuffing . . .
As promised, here is the recipe for Apple Bacon Corn Bread stuffing . . . everyone raved about this on Thanksgiving. I know it seems like a lot of ingredients but the prep goes very quickly and it comes together easily. Apple Bacon Corn Bread Stuffing 1 recipe corn bread such as my lavender corn [...]
Thanksgiving food porn, and anti-porn
I’ve written bits and pieces about Thanksgiving at my Cucina Bella, but here’s an inside look at the good and bad . . . This was my table. See the centerpiece? It was born of necessity . . . I wanted something fancy and didn’t have time to actually get all the things necessary for [...]
1:15 a.m., Thanksgiving Day
It’s 1:15 a.m., Thanksgiving Day. After a delayed start, due to my need to reseason all my cast-iron pans (and I use the term “need” very loosely), the glazed carrots, cranberry apple chutney, roasted parsnips and honey maple glaze are ready. I also made (to my own detriment) walnut turtles — oops, the walnuts were [...]
Thanksgiving Menu
I have a confession to make . . . my Thanksgiving menu is still unfinished. I have some finalization to do yet. I know, I know – it’s getting a bit late for that. But c’est la vie. It will get done. Here’s what I have so far: Hor D’ourves Blue Beef Bites Antipasti platter [...]
