DIG IN

Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake CONNIE & JANE A decade ago I was inspired by a do-better nudge from a woman I met only once. The memory of that has served me well. I hope my story will inspire you to come up with your own. We all have stories to tell. In this week's...

It may take a village to raise a child but it only takes two professional cooks and an adaptive amateur to pull together a celebratory Baked Ziti (Ziti al Formo). Call it a casserole or pure comfort food but please do not call it lasagna. Like most food I serve, Baked...

BAKE THIS. Last week cookbook author Joy the Baker posted a simple one-layer Lemon Crumb Cake recipe she claimed would add a ‘sparkle of sweetness to your week.’ After spending 4 months in warmer climes I’m just back home in Aspen so Simple + sparkle + sweetness...

Croissant: “However you choose to pronounce it at home, it is perhaps worth noting that outside of the United States, the closer you can come to saying “kwass-ohn,” the sooner you can expect to be presented with one.” Bill Bryson Very seldom do I do something ‘on a...

On most days I consider aging a privilege, not a predicament. Remember Andrew Rooney who spoke his mind on CBS Sixty Minutes? “It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone,” he said....

Cathy O’Connell and I have broken bread in London, Paris, Aspen and El Jebel, sharing wonderful meals and experiences together. But nothing tops the hilarity and merriment of Christmas dinner at her brother Barney’s condo in Encinitas (Cali) last Sunday night. When I...

YEAR 2013 Years ago I flew to the Food Blogger Conference in Seattle to join twenty other French Friday with Dorie members to support Dorie Greenspan, the keynote speaker. We were part of a virtual group cooking through her latest award-winning book, “Around My French...

If the answer is, “Don’t know.”  Pretty sure the question was, “Where did the summer go?” #Summer Highlights Facade of Aspen Art Museum What hasn’t yet left the building is this year’s bountiful crop of tomatoes.  As long as we can still slice and salt a...

Every summer from late June to early Fall, I pick up addictively delicious Palisade peaches (and plums, apricots, pears and sweet corn) at a fruit stand pitched near the gas tanks at Roaring Fork Valley Coop in nearby Carbondale. The Coop is my year-round go-t0...

“When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain is too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome.”  Wilma Rudolph Realizing there are some mountains too high for me and some troubles beyond my control, the sun is still shining so… BRING ON SUMMER Grilled...

Last Tuesday a friend who lives in Mountain Valley, an East Aspen area that shares its space with wildlife habitat, called, “Hey Mary,” she said, “Can you come pick me up? There’s a moose in my front yard and I can’t get to my car.” Honestly, Readers, this is a call...

My daughter, Melissa, has always said the best thing we do together is laugh. That premise was to be truly tested after I finally scheduled Total Knee Replacement surgery for mid-April. When I called to tell her, she replied, “ So I’ll come for two weeks to take care...