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Making Do in the New Normal
The supermarket shelves are slowly getting back to normal. At least in the supermarket I frequent, flour, yeast, and of course TP are generally on the shelves. Still, some items I need are persistently out of stock: plain gelatin powder,…
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Summer Bounty: Put Up and Cut Up
How does your garden grow? Are you one of the many who has started a vegetable garden or expanded this year? Count me as an expander – with two new raised beds and adding bok choy, brussels sprouts, and eggplant…
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Add a Little Spice (Blend) to Your Life
In March 1959, when I was in the eighth grade, my family embarked on a monumental road trip from the freezing farmland to Arizona and sunny California via Route 66. That road trip would put National Lampoon’s Vacation movie to…
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Ditch the Stove
When it’s been hot for a long stretch, you’re not only tired of cooking over a stove; you’re also getting a little tired of those salads. Now what? To the rescue! Have you thought about a slow cooker, Crock-Pot, or…
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Mmmmm … Mustard!
When I was a young, I had a definite preference for the condiment on my burger. While those burgers of my youth were home-grown, featuring fat-filled prime beef that provided a robust flavor on their own, my condiment of choice…
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It’s Corn Season, and I Love Sweet Corn
Corn season is here, and I couldn’t be happier. I may have left the Corn Belt farm and the Midwest, but I can’t get sweet corn out of my system. It’s that fresh-from-the-field corn, steamed until just barely done and…
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Guilty Pleasures on the Road
Right now, I’m really missing travel. One thing I miss the most is the ability to sample local specialties when I’m on the road – local taste sensations not recognized outside a particular area that are reflected in the cultures…
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Watermelon: No Longer Just an Athletic Event
There was a time when my only questions about watermelon involved which one of my pals had the injector to get the vodka or rum into the big green melon. Or, having achieved this milestone, who could spit the seeds…
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What to Do with All Those Cucumbers
I have a cucumber tree in my vegetable garden. At least, that’s what I tell my grandchildren. And this summer, the “tree,” a circular trellis supporting several vines, is working overtime. I’m not alone. I’ve heard from fellow gardeners that…
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Undressing Your Salad Dressing
Warm weather means salads, and salads typically need dressing. Most grocery stores have a large portion of shelf space devoted to a premade liquid dressings, which may well end up populating the back of your refrigerator shelf before becoming a…
