Thank you Photo Challenge: (Extra)ordinary for this wonderful theme. Autumn: how I yearn for your cool weather, warm hues and the sound of leaves cracking underneath my feet. Alas, the extended heat wave that has befallen Los Angeles shows little sign of abating. To ease the heat I go back to New Jersey and Milton Lake where I spent most of my summers fishing and winters … [Read more...]
9/11 – My Journal Entry
Yesterday, on the anniversary of the towers collapsing, I read through my journal and found this entry. I had just returned from three months in Australia working on a show. I was sleep deprived and exhausted. On Monday night I had had my first good night’s sleep only to be awoken by the phone. The World Trade Center was attacked. I had ignored NPR as it blared out a news … [Read more...]
Summertime Garden Party Menu
My personal recipe for a wonderful life: Family + Friends + Food = Happiness. Thus far this summer has been a whirlwind of activity filled with the first two components of my equation: visiting family in New Jersey, friends from Copenhagen visiting me and, playing one of my favorite roles 'fun aunt' with various kids, related or not. Missing from my personal recipe for a … [Read more...]
Sicilian Christmas Cookies
The Search for Vacata Recipe Finally Found When I was a kid there were three things that were always consistent at Christmas time: an Advent calendar, my dad bringing home a Charlie Brown Christmas tree and making cookies. But these weren't just any cookies, the recipe for these cookies came all the way from Sicily and they were called vacata. … [Read more...]
Orange Bundt Cake–School lunch dessert
My mom made and packed our lunches everyday to take to school. Yet she didn't slap some baloney on Wonder Bread and toss it in a baggy. No she baked...the bread...and always a dessert. The dessert NEVER had frosting. She even cut my brother Robert's orange in quarters so he didn't have to peel the orange because he bit his nails. … [Read more...]
