food

Grandmother Trafton’s Blueberry Cake

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Old family recipes are little treasures, comfortable rest stops on the roadmap of a family’s history.   Since I’ve been writing this blog I’ve been receiving family recipes from friends and followers of the site and it’s been amazingly consistent: every recipe I’ve tried has been better than good.  It seems there is a universality about family recipes, no matter the background or means or region, everybody’s got one, and there’s a reason they keep handing it down from generation to […]

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food

Five Great Grilled Cheese Recipes

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I can’t help but think of September as the beginning of the new year, because the start of school is such a significant event for students and parents.  Between childhood and parenthood, our lives can revolve around school schedules for decades, and it becomes difficult to let go of the pattern.  I prefer to embrace it and remain a perpetual student.  Today I’m studying how to make the ubiquitous grilled cheese sandwich more memorable, and the process has been both […]

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food

California

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Last week and three pounds ago I spent a week in Los Angeles.  If you care about food, it’s about the best place there is to see what’s coming to America’s tables.  The cutting edge of food is like a blunt instrument, compared to what’s cooking in LA – and I barely scratched the surface in a week’s time.  Vegan Mexican, Asian fusion, Korean BBQ, the farmer’s markets – it’s total sensory overload. I want to focus on the clever, […]

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food

Lobster Salad on Fried Green Tomatoes Hors d’oeuvres

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Cocktail parties are the most versatile party to give.  You can pack together a group of people – as many as you like, and they don’t need to know each other at all (in fact it’s more fun if they don’t).  It ‘s a graceful way to make matches for business or romance without the pressure of guests having to spend an entire meal together.  When a party gets buzzy and laughter rolls around the room, it’s magical.  Guests have […]

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food

The Best Granola Bars Ever!

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Last year we remodeled our kitchen, after 14 years of cupboards that didn’t close, a tile floor that could never be made to look clean, and a daily view of ceramic 3-D cherubs poised in flight on the backsplash.  I have nothing against cherubs in general, but cleaning the kitchen gunk out of every nook and cranny of their chubby little bodies got old after a while.  The remodel was a big job; it took a long time, but the […]

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