Every Flower Sends a Message to those who take it in. Hello from my Santa Barbara garden. Lately, I've been on break from writing about cooking. As you may know, I'm heavily distracted with my garden-related activities and so, I thought I'd veer over to my current passion on this my original page. Awhile back I claimed the domains for a new page called Garden-Inspirational but I never got around to finishing it. Life's been way too busy. … [Read more...]
My Tribute to Roseann Tully
circa 9/2012 Stories of friendship often begin with an unlikely occasion but endure via one or more shared interests or passions. It is thus with my friendship with Roseann Tully. Ours began formally via one of two recipes that had occupied my heart and memory for a period of 5+ decades and had remained the objects of my yearning and searching. The memory of a small, dry and crumbly but unforgettable cookie, hinted with anise that my … [Read more...]
An Affinity for Fran and a Wonder at Martin – My Random Thoughts on “Pretend It’s a City”
photo courtesy Christopher Macsurak If ever there was a saying about my life in this stage, such as it is, it is: It's never too late to embrace all that you don't know. That and that perhaps it is in the previously unappreciated that we have the most to learn. And, #3, is it not the most wonderful in revelations, that in what unfolds itself from the most serendipitous act, as in flipping through channels after dinner? These days, mine is … [Read more...]
Trowel and Trunk: My Year 2020 in Flowers – What We Love Sustains Us
Harley and me - Perfect Together Santa Barbara, CA Jan 2020 Well, we have all trundled through the ups and downs of 2020 as best we could under the circumstances. However we did it, if you are reading this, you have made it through, maybe scarred, bewildered and tried by the year's events and pigeon-holing limitations on our circulation outside of our homes. What limited us physically challenged us to find new opportunities, to seek new … [Read more...]
All Manner of Possibilities Live in a Cake Pan – Prized Kugelhopf
recently used my Kugelhopf pan for a Julia Child's sponge at Schoenbrunn Palace 12/2014: Doesn't everyone dream of Alsatian or Austrian snow-covered villages at this time of year? My ever-expanding curiosity about European history leads me down this path. After all, on such a small continent, how did so many diverse cultures coalesce, thrive and create the most fantastical works of art, architecture, music, literature, poetry … [Read more...]
Sage Advice – Thanksgiving Week 2020
You've noticed that I've dusted off the blog this week. Feels good. Could it be that this unprecedented time can be an opportunity for those of us who can step back, consider and let in some new thinking in sans resistance? More than average time on my hands gets me to wondering. As I have aged I have come around to the realization that the only person I should be handing out advice to is me. Don't ask my kids about this statement but I … [Read more...]
Parcel Post Holidays – Life in the Time of COVID
The famous line from The Sound of Music rings in my ears these days: "When the Lord closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." I think it is good advice to contemplate as we close out another month in this pandemic. Ah, retrospect. 2020 began relatively peacefully. Santa Barbara was a dream to live in in Winter. Days were bright and encouraging. Walks on the beach invigorating. Flowers bloomed everywhere. And, while I missed one … [Read more...]
While We Hurry Up and Wait: Orange and Chocolate Cake Pan (Pull-Apart) Scones
Are we getting used to our new way of life yet? Are we getting the new balance between old normal and new normal? Have we figured out which things we can do over the Spring holiday weeks that we heretofore expected to be sacrosanct? Let's face it, bakers take liberties in creating adaptations all the time. How else would we have the millions of iterations that we peruse and play with from our favorite books, tv chefs and nowadays, the … [Read more...]
Reason to Bake – Raison d’être – Omg, What Am I Going to Do Today
(sorry to anyone who read a mistaken laden earlier version - apparently, my changes were lost in an update) 4:53 pm The reason to bake is not always practical. Often baking is undertaken for or yields unexpected therapeutic benefits. Go ahead, ask your Grandmother. It is soul-satifyng, industrious, creatively reaching, imaginative, scientific and wonder-inspiring. Down through the ages, baking was a practical endeavor. Nowadays for many … [Read more...]
For One Brief and Shining Moment Here in Bergamot – Earl Grey Banana Bread
Spring is here! (That title by the way, is to be sung to the iconic music of the play on Broadway, taking liberties with the rhyming of Bergamot and Camelot, in case like some in my house who didn't get it.) I didn't think I needed to point that out, but apparently I did. Well here we are. In an unprecedented time. We are in the midst of a global pandemic. It is time for pause for us all. Whatever your beliefs, it is a time for prayer … [Read more...]
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