In Search of the Finer Things

Merry Christmas to us!1) After years of waiting, we finally got a dog for Christmas. A friend gave us a 4-year-old female chihuahua, very sweet and mild mannered. She is just starting to come out of her crate and follow us around the house, tail waggi...

Italian Lacinto Kale, aka Tuscan Kale, aka delicious kale I'm growing nowI may not have planted much by way of fall garden, but I was eager to try my hand at a few crops. Here is what I learned:1. Baby beets tast way, WAY better than the ones from the ...

My mind is spinning with plans for growing two gardens next year - one at home and one at my parent's property again, for the larger, rambling viney plants like squashes and pumpkins.My goal for 2012 is to start all of my plants from seeds, which adds ...

To my amazement, even in the middle of winter there are signs of life in my yard. Not many, but just enough to keep my spirits up. Observe:Alpine Strawberries. They actually fruit in cooler weather. So tiny, so sweet!Lemon balm (right- it loves the col...

I follow the Meatless Monday campaign on Facebook, and this week they posted a question that got me thinking. "What's your favorite meatless comfort food?" My first thought was homemade macaroni and cheese... and then I couldn't think of another one!La...

The last time Sacramento held a mobile food festival, I completely underestimated the popularity and demand of the people. I wasn't the only one to walk away empty-handed after hours of standing in line, but I determined not to let it happen again when...

My mom and I have a tradition that every Thanksgiving Eve, we bake pies together for the next day. How fortunate that just last month, I found a recipe for perfect pie crust while making a chicken pot pie. This dough was beautiful: pliant, easy to work...

This is how we began: cerulean sky and an expanse of water, right outside our window.The next morning was more like:Every day I spent there, I wrote. Not literally as I must when at work, but as a poet might. I tried to see everything as an artist. I'd...

Cozy is the name of the game this weekThings I love about this week:- Soup is on the menu 3 times! Lentil, Split Pea, and Tomato, oh my!- After an eternity of procrastination, I finally knit a perfect square. One perfect square. That means I am on my ...

When people ask me what we did in Seattle, I never really know what to say except that we ate. Some people learn a new place by sight-seeing, but it seems that we do so by eating.We couldn't have asked for a better start to our trip than a sunny corner...