Hands down, apricots are my favorite stone fruit. Back in California, they were the first fruit to hit the market in late spring. I would buy them by the pound, keeping a bowl on the kitchen counter where I would eat them out of hand whenever I felt like snack. They were local, sweet, and […]

As I was putting together the pictures for this post, I was amazed to see just how many times rhubarb has made an appearance on this site. You might even think that is the only fruit/vegetable I cook with. There was this galette. And let’s not forget this one from years ago. (Apparently I loved […]

I’ve been baking a lot lately. A lot of bread. As summer quickly approaches I am furiously trying to finish up all of my recipe testing for the cookbook. I know that come July, when the heat and humidity set in, the last thing I will want to be doing is standing in my kitchen […]

I like cheesecake; but I don’t love cheesecake. So why am I presenting you with a cheesecake recipe, and imploring you all to make it? Because I guess it would be more fitting if this cake were called a cheese cake– a cake with some cheese in it. This recipe is one that displays the […]

I’ve been in California for over a week helping my mom recuperate from knee surgery. This trip has been not been like my usual jaunts to California filled with friends and frequent trips to my favorite haunts. No, this trip has been all about my mom. (And bread, the bread must go on!) I’ve actually […]

I love dessert– a tall layer cake, a slice of pie (duh, I wrote a book about that one!). I’ll even take a cookie. But what I really love, are trustworthy, un-embellished, not-too-sweet, single layered, coarse crumbed cakes. My friend calls these cakes abstemious– but he’s a wordsmith. I have a few of the recipes […]

Let’s take a moment and think about pie. I actually took way more than a moment to think about, bake, and research, this outstanding, American culinary tradition. I took about a year. Maybe you guys have noticed the image on the right-hand side of your computer screen. I put the picture of a book cover […]

Do you ever start one project, and by the the time you’ve finished it, it is almost unrecognizable from what it was meant to be? I do. It happens to me all the time– when I’m getting dressed for the day, running errands, and especially when I’m cooking. When I’m cooking  I like to call […]

I’m smitten with a lowly flour. It all started last year with a trip to upstate New York. I went to the teeny-tiny, mill town of Penn Yan. It was quaint. But what do you do in a mill town except buy flours and grain? Not a whole lot. So, I filled the trunk of […]

As a sit at my desk writing this I’m looking out the front window. Cars are speeding by, going home for the evening. Their headlights are on. I can’t see the drivers. It is dusk… It’s also 4:30. Really? Gag me. Daylight savings time has just ended. I’ll get over it. It just takes me […]