It’s a new year, a fresh beginning and it’s going to be noisy. With 7.5 billion people hanging out on Planet Earth, why are we surprised? Here’s a thought. Let’s bring joy and wonder into each day, making it sparkle. Let’s laugh louder and more often. Let’s try on Happiness until it fits. What we…
#fromage friday (SAY CHEESE, PLEASE)
THE PAST As a kid growing up in Iowa, I knew three cheeses: Velveeta, Maytag blue and Swiss. My Mom always kept a 16-ounce block of Kraft’s processed cheese in the fridge. In Newton, located 140 miles from my home town of Manchester, Maytag Dairy Farms with its herd of prize-winning Holstein cows was producing…
PARIS IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA*
GOODBYE, COMFORT ZONE….. Last Saturday morning I stopped by a currency bureau to exchange my US $$$ for Euros. Having been in Paris only 3 days, I prepped for the conversation needed for this transaction. As I stepped to the window, I did my spiel en français, and felt quite pleased with my performance. The…
#MeToo, #TimesUp & FLU-FIGHTIN’ SMOOTHIES
BE A FLU FIGHTER It’s time to take up arms. If Influenza A H3N2 heads your way, Just Say No. Shot or Not is the question. (Still time.) Vaccination is a personal decision. Our family always takes the needle because Michael, who was a doctor, said so. He also said, “There’s no simple surgery, just…
SUMMER’S HOME STRETCH with FRIENDS
THE COSMO GIRL I first met Karen Kribs, above, fifteen years ago when we joined our mutual friend, Nancy Alciatore, for a month of immersion study at the Institut de Français located on the Côte d’Azur in Villefranche-sur-Mer. Nancy, fluent in French, tested into the Advancé 1 class. Karen and I, both neophytes, were placed…
HAIL to LITTLE NELL’S HOT CHOCOLATE & 4 SEASONS IRISH COFFEE
The world of a food blogger is occasionally challenging. Sardine rillettes? Maybe not. David Lebovitz’s Seaweed Sablés? Sticking with Snickerdoodles. Mimi’s Oxtail-Macaroni Gratin? I’m a lumberman’s daughter and partial to Babe. Sometimes, however, sacrifices must be made. In the spirit of the upcoming holidays and our approaching winter, stress-minimizer comfort drinks are required. This week…
SHOWTIME: ZIN FEST & POULET à la MOUTARDE
If weeks had titles, the past one would be called Best Day Ever Week. Do you experience those? Each day gets better and better. Not so often? I get that. Me, too. I have droughts. So when seven great days in a row land in your lap, it’s okay to whoop and holler and buy…
FRENCH FRIDAYS IS MMMMMM, MMMMMM, GOOD
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe is Vegetable Barley Soup with the Taste of Little India. Très confus? Dorie admits this is neither French bistro fare nor authentically Indian. It’s a Greenspan concoction. While walking through a Parisian Indian neighborhood she spotted and bought several tiny sachets of mixed spices. Adding them to…
FRENCH FRIDAYS: WHERE’S THE PUFF?
This week’s French Fridays with Dorie choice is Scallop and Onion Tartes Fines. Like its brethren we’ve already made, Tomato-Cheese Tartlets and Fresh Tuna, Mozzarella, and Basil Pizza, here’s another recipe where our intentions are not honorable. What Dufour and Pepperidge Farm have devoted years to perfecting, we take five minutes to flatten….
Hallelujah-It’s-A-Healthy Tartine
A tartine, if you are not acquainted with the term, is what the French call an open-faced sandwich with a sweet or savory topping. These spreads can be exotic or simple. At one of my favorite food blogs, theKitchn, is posted ten of their favorites, from Ricotta, Fig and Honey to Egg, Arugula and Herb…
PASS the PORT, Please – SNAP OUT OF IT
SNAP # 28, PASS the PORT, Please This is not a Snap about Port. Perhaps, it should be. At a restaurant recently, I watched a woman swig down two goblets of this sweet red wine, served on the rocks, before receiving her entrée. Although I realize Port is “just not for dessert anymore”, she was…
Snap Out of It – A Signature Drink
SNAP # 10 – A Signature Drink Stocks are down. Spirits are rocky. Temperatures and tempers are soaring. Look left. Look right. There’s a nearby neighbor who is struggling more than you. —————————————————————————————– So, savor this last month of Summer by offering friends and neighbors your very own Signature Drink. Create it. Invent it….
