We set out to mark Robert Burns’ Day, But made the food in our own way: Haggis for meat, Wouldn’t menu be neat, If all puddings were on the buffet. Several puddings each guest did provide; Mushroom leek and corn first arrived, We made Yorkshire pud, Oh my was that good. Indian carrot completed the sides. Sup’ ended with three fine desserts; Chilled chocolate for the young squirts, J.C.‘s plum pud stuck, Our only bad [...]

When Slow Food USA issued their $5 Meal Challenge, I pledged to participate right away. I love a real food cooking challenge! I hesitated which way to go with the meal. I could test myself to be as local as possible, or as cheap as I could get. As I often do in times of culinary indecision, I considered WWJD? What Would Julia Do? Mrs. Child, with her easy-going and fun-loving manner in the kitchen [...]

Oh, Julia Child, you dear pink tomato.  Your blushing beauty covers your spicy inside, tempting gardeners for decades. Cherokee Chocolate, dark enchantress of the bunch.  That Christmas colored skin of yours yields to a dark juicy flesh, dripping with sunlight transformed to sweetness. Then there’s you, Rutgers.  Your pleats, your bulbous inundations, inspire a thousand delicious thoughts. All together, you are a brothel of diversity, a color, size, and flavor for every preference. Sliced raw, [...]