Apples — Part One

With many thanks to Helmut and Christel for sharing this information.  What’s the connection between apples and your local Council? Plenty, if you happen to live in Rheinstetten, Germany.  Our friend Helmut has a buddy-buddy relationship with his town council – a very forward thinking lot, those people. Their public land is dotted with apple… Continue reading Apples — Part One

Don’t start your diet yet

Most of us have had cook books given to us, and one I love was presented to me back when I was a penniless and new  to England, trying to grasp the fact that I would never understand English English, and coping with its wonderfully weird horizon-opening customs.  At this time a friend we’d met in… Continue reading Don’t start your diet yet

Christmas Eve…..

….is a very lonely time for some people. I had to have this explained to me because Christmas Eve to me is the longest, busiest day in the calendar year.  But, I was told, in the world  there are those who are so organised that they have nothing left to do, and those who have… Continue reading Christmas Eve…..

Cookies for Hallowe’en

There are occasions when I want to go back to the age of innocence. Hallowe’en is one of them.  When I was growing up, Hallowe’en was a beautiful time to be someone different – to dress up in any costume I felt like, to be anyone I wanted to be. Goblin or princess or cowgirl,… Continue reading Cookies for Hallowe’en

Yorkshire Pudding — Celebrating British Food Fortnight

check out my blog on lovebritishfood.co.uk.  It’s called: Brussels Sprout Tops, the Buried Treasure. “Now I will teach you how to make Yorkshire Pudding,” said Dora Robinson, my soon-to-be mother-in-law. “And you can be sure it’s right, because you have been taught by a real Yorkshire lass.”  My American heart sank.  “This will be a… Continue reading Yorkshire Pudding — Celebrating British Food Fortnight

A Community of Bravery

Admiring Life’s Strong Ones I am sitting in a roof restaurant in Kensington on a warm August night. The balcony is framed in flower boxes.  Between them I see the tops of red double decker buses flick by in the street below.  Whiffs of specialty pizza, gnocchi, and polpetto di meinzo caress my nose as… Continue reading A Community of Bravery

A Community of Communities

What is the tie that binds people together? The Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), an underground/overground system of transport for San Francisco and surrounding towns, runs smack dab through a whole set of long-established out-skirted communities of Berkeley. Instead of a searing scar of uprooted houses, friends wrenched apart from friends, shops from shoppers and… Continue reading A Community of Communities

A Community of Tasters

Maybe it’s my sheer joy in any aspect of Community that warms my heart and blossoms into a greater humanity than the sum of the individuals taking part. Or maybe it’s sheer under-confidence in my cooking.  Whatever the reason, I do like sharing the things I cook.  So, whenever a new recipe emerges I snuffle… Continue reading A Community of Tasters

God Save Their Gracious Queen

Delighting in a monarch is no bad thing.  The Queen of England turned 90 recently. At the age of 21 she promised her people that, no matter how short or how long she lived, she would serve them until the end of her life. She has kept her promise. On her 90th birthday she walked… Continue reading God Save Their Gracious Queen

I’d rather be Quilting

Tap into the wealth of ideas from your nearest and dearest.   Whee! Just back from a jaw-droppingly amazing  Family Reunion  in Florida.  Six of us brothers and sisters, talking and talking.  More next month when the photos get sorted. For now, let me introduce my younger sister Vicki. She’s the sixth and last child in… Continue reading I’d rather be Quilting