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

Archive for March, 2011|Monthly archive page

Pumpkin Pies

In Essay, Faith, Food, Gab, Photos, Recipe on March 31, 2011 at 9:02 am
pumpkin crunch cake

Pumpkin Crunch Cake served on Grandmother’s Theodore Haviland Rose-covered Porcelain Dessert Plate.

With great awe, I would watch my mom pack the Buick as we prepared for our traditional Thanksgiving Day trek. I knew to stay out of her way when she was shoving things here and there. She never said it aloud. Rather, it was her face that said it all. Her mind focused with determination.   Her eyes fixed on the task at hand.  Strongly flexed, her brow provided the needed “Oomph” to get things where she wanted them. Yep, I knew not to go anywhere near her or that car. I just sat back and took it all in. My dad also seemed instinctively aware it was not a time to offer unsolicited advice.  Nor question her placement of a packed item, lest a piece of uncooperative luggage come flying his way.

Amazing to recall how many people, pieces of luggage, lovely desserts, and on more than one occasion, an oversized dog, a lone woman could cram into the family vehicle. Especially when I remind myself she did it years before the invention of the now common mini-van. Nope–she did it seventies-style. No car seats or seat belts to hinder her ingenuity. Sometimes I wonder how we survived those early road trips smashed tight with all our belongings. But we did. We survived.  Doing it in grand style.  Bickering, singing, and complaining all the way. With everything loaded and all passengers in place, we’d depart. Destination: Gramma & Papa’s house.

Read the rest of this entry »

Chicken Soup

In Essay, Faith, Food, Gab, Photos, Recipe on March 18, 2011 at 1:35 pm
Swiss chicken casserole with Green Garden Peas final

Swiss Chicken Casserole with Green Garden Peas

The year I was born my aunt was nine. My mom, her sister, was twenty-one and still wearing braces. How unaware we all were that day of the unusual, yet needed tie, that would be formed between the three of us in the years to come. Sometimes someone else’s tragedy is your unknown blessing, even if not fully realized until many years later. Sadly and suddenly, I had received a precious and beautiful gift sent straight from God, albeit unexpected and unsolicited. I received an older sister, overnight. Read More>

Blackberries

In Essay, Faith, Food, Gab, Photos, Recipe on March 5, 2011 at 11:25 pm

blackberries in basket

It is amazing how, even today, the sight of blackberries can always make me smile.  I smile when I spot them in the produce section at the grocery store.  I grin when I find them collected in wooden baskets displayed in neat rows on narrow folding tables at the local farmers’ market.  And, I am delighted when I spy a new use for them tucked away within the pages of Wednesday’s food section in our suburban paper. Read More>