Stick Horse Cowgirls

What is your comfort food?  (I have, oh, so many).  Mine tend toward the heavy-carb side: mac ‘n’ cheese, chicken and dumplings, you get the drift.  But it has occurred to me recently that sometimes comfort food is defined not so much by the food itself or its taste, but by comfort associations with that food.  We  have a Brazilian restaurant near our office, one of our favorite places to eat.  Occasionally ( verrrrrry occasionally) we will send out for lunch there.  It is way too pricey to make this place a lunch (or even dinner) habit.  But the food is stupendous. It has some fancy-schmancy dishes on the menu—heck, they all look fancy-schmancy to me—but one that I love for lunch is a lovely chicken salad type of thing they call SALPICAO.  It is a warm dish, not the cold Southern chicken salad.  The menu describes it as: Finger-shredded chicken breast, Fuji apples, carrots, sweet peas, fresh herbs batata palha (potato shoestrings...

OH, THE PLACES YOU'LL GO! "Today is your day. You're off to Great Places! You're off and away! Oh! The Places You'll Go! ...You'll be on your way up! You'll be seeing great sights! You'll join the high fliers who soar to high heights." I couldn't help but think of this wonderful book by the incomparable Dr. Seuss when I began writing this post. I spent many years working with preschool children in the classroom, so Dr. Seuss is a favorite! Being by nature a tentative (to put it mildly) person, I love the "safety" of home with my feet on solid ground! Of course I know that familiarity and routine implies a false notion of "safety". No one ever knows what lies ahead (and that is a blessing), but it's only my deep desire to see new places that compels me to climb aboard an airplane (clammy palms gripping the armrest), or to spend an entire week aboard a ship, feeling the immense power of the sea bel...

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodders in the shock... When the "frost is on the punkin" is when I get in the mood to bake breads and desserts and cook savory broth-based soups and stews. Winter settles heavily on my spirit with the chill in the air and lack of sunlight, so these last days of autumn when the leaves have already fallen from the trees is when I begin gather in to hibernate. If I didn't have to get up and go to work, I could stay in my nightgown all day, sipping my favorite English Breakfast tea, reading, cooking and perhaps a little needlework. To compensate for the lack of sunshine, I light candles and oil lamps to help dispel the gloom of long dreary days. I do love my fireplace, and this season is when we begin to light a fire every night and on Saturday mornings. Thank heavens for our woodburning fireplace--it's truly the heart of our home! In the ten years we've lived in this country house, we've never had to purchase firewood. ...

V and I had planned to get her granddaughter, Julia, and my youngest niece, Ellie, together to make Christmas gifts and do a little baking...oh, we had big plans! We set the date and began gathering materials/ingredients. As I look back, I laugh at our ambition! We gathered enough for three days work, let alone a day with two little girls! Our group grew. My mother, never one to be left out where her children are grandchildren are concerned, came over Friday night to spend the night with Ellie and me. Mother-in-law joined us as well, and Julia's mother came to witness the festivities. So we had a nice little inter-generational group! Friends, all, who were also eager to catch up with each other's news and exchange a little innocuous gossip. I put a pot of beef barley soup on the stove and dragged out the panini machine so we could enjoy soup and gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. V, the girls and I went to work. The rest of the women sipped coffee, offered a...

At Easter my sister-in-law brought a dessert that was a huge success. It was so good that one of my health-conscious friends exclaimed, " You can NEVER bring this again!" Yesterday two of my friends came over for dinner and an evening of conversation on the porch. We budget-splurged on steaks, which is a treat but simple enough, and had some tasty appetizers out of the usual (you know, to fuel conversation). To end this simple meal, I had dreams of making some gourmet dessert. But, reality hit. My house was a wreck after a long week of work. It became apparent that my energies had be spent on making it presentable--not necessarily clean , mind you, but presentable. This reality dawned on me Friday afternoon as the day was ending, the weekend approaching and I took stock of all I had to do to get ready. Plans switched. I called my sister-in-law for the "recipe," such as it is. So, yesterday morning early, I got up and threw this together for the evening meal...