The Revealing, Secret Diaries of a Not-So-Secret Foodie

Stuffed Pepper Soup

In Family, Food, Recipe, Writing on March 13, 2025 at 4:09 pm
Green Bell Peppers and Wax Peppers in wooden box at local farmer's market.
5th Avenue Display of Green Bell & Hungarian Wax Peppers. Perfect for Soup & for Stuffing.

Celebrating Gramma: Tasting Memories


March, the month for wearing green and thinking Spring forward thoughts.  This year, a month to celebrate my grandmother’s 97th birthday. Reflecting on the days when she lived alone and could still hear well.  Recalling our standing date—the Saturday morning call. 

I’d share a little about my week and she’d share details of hers with me. Mine took the form of a news bulletin straight off the wire. Where we’d been. What we’d done. Direct and without added flavor. No sparks of rising action, no point of climax, void of resolution.

Chili Beans

In Family, Food, Recipe, Writing on October 31, 2024 at 7:59 pm

A Recipe For Making Connections: Boilermaker Tailgate Chili

It’s been said, “Good things come to those who wait.” Like many, I have not always been the best at waiting.  Recently, I had a new opportunity to hone this skill. Alongside 60,000 other train enthusiasts wanting to see the restored Big Boy Steam Engine. Stopped in Rochelle, Illinois, this marvel of 1940’s engineering designed to mount steep grades was impressive. 

Union Pacific’s Big Boy No. 4014 Steam Engine stopped in Rochelle, IL. on the Heartland of America Tour.

Kisses

In Family, Food, Recipe, Writing on July 28, 2024 at 8:07 am

The Power of the Wedding Cookie Table Tradition of Western Pennsylvania

It had to be you …

Big band notes bounce. A muted trombone calls. Arm-in-arm, hand-in-hand, decades of marriage twirl. Spirals in love, circle round. The radiant couple, joyfully joined. Newly wed, kiss.

Weddings and kisses– I am in Love with Love.

True love, gracious hospitality, pure joy, and of course–excellent food. Thinking about these things makes me happy. My mother is a wedding planner who owned a local bridal shop. I suppose the art of celebrating love & marriage is baked into my DNA.