Some time ago, I was relaying a story to Phil and I ended with the disclaimer, “But, you know, he’s cuckoo for cocoa…” Before I had the chance to finish, Ben supplied the word I had obviously intended, … “vin.” Those of you in my general age range who lived for Saturday mornings when you…
One Potato, Two Potato, Three Potato, Four
Over Thanksgiving, we were in Virginia helping my parents prepare for their big move to a retirement home. We were home in Pennsylvania for two days before Phil returned to help them finish the move. In that two-day window, Phil made a batch of mashed potatoes so large that Ben and I were nearly defeated…
It’s a Christmas Miracle!
Yesterday, we had lunch at the Herdic House. They always decorate beautifully for the season, and in December they offer lunches Thursdays through Saturdays. What’s not to love? It felt like such a luxury to be dining on delicious food in such an elegant atmosphere on a Saturday during the day that I asked Phil,…
Bentertaining
It feels like years since we last had friends over for dinner, but the last couple weeks have seen a nice return to conviviality. We hosted a revival of “book club” with a group of friends that first started meeting before Ben was even born. When the kids were little, we often hosted because it…
Double, Double, Toil and Trouble
I love fall, especially when it dishes up the beautiful golden-warm weather it has recently, but this fall I am sometimes finding the contrasts and unpredictability of daily life unmooring. I want to be outside soaking up the last slanted rays of sunshine, but work beckons. I’m enjoying my cooking sabbatical, but since I’m no…
Lean In
Had the blue-sky warm summer weather held even one more day, we probably would have gone with the last of summer’s bounty to cook this week, but Sunday felt like fall in Williamsport, so we put on sweatshirts and steamed up the kitchen windows roasting pork with fall veggies. Ben had been hankering for a…
1984
Let’s start here. My high school classmates gathered a couple weeks ago to celebrate our 40th high school reunion. Living so far away with no current ties to Rocky Ford, I have not gone to a single reunion, but I am a little sad to have missed out on seeing friends I have known forever. …
Teach
This week Ben wanted to put a twist on his familiar chicken parm by making chicken parm sandwiches. Since he had 4 consecutive cheesesteak meals last weekend (not including breakfast – that’s what burritos are for), I figured a couple poultry-based meals wouldn’t be the worst thing. Ben knows the making of chicken parm like…
True Grit(s)
If you are from the Williamsport, Pennsylvania area, you know that Grit was a newspaper published in Williamsport for 111 years, before moving to Topeka, Kansas in 1993. What you probably don’t know is that when I was a kid living in Colorado, I was briefly a Grit “newsboy,” getting a shipment of newspapers every…
Sorted
We returned from our family vacation in the UK on August first, and then I immediately began my sprint to the first day of school. I haven’t had much time to reflect on the trip, but as you can imagine, food acquisition was always Ben’s number one focus. Our eleven-day trip included Stonehenge, Bath, Glastonbury,…