doing just peachy

As Erica noted at the end of her last post, I’m no longer in Miami. With the end of the summer came my return to college in St. Louis, where I trade mango trees and snorkeling adventures for apple orchards and trips to the Mississippi. But fear not. In my humble abode (dorm, [...]

calm before the storm

I write this beneath a window being pounded by squalls of wind and rain from Tropical Storm Fay.  In these bunkered down conditions it’s hard to imagine that I spent the weekend in a swim suit bouncing from pool to grill.  I also faced another one of my culinary fears: whole fish.

Tucked between the freshwater [...]

summer strawberries

Today we came back from our annual family vacation in Marco Island. While there, we indulged in fresh seafood dinners, hours of reading by the waves, and “3 o’clock snacktime,” where the beach attendants would bring around frosty cups of sorbet to clean our salty, sandy palettes. We may be back into the [...]

double the sweetness

Both of us undertook a baking project this weekend and left our kitchen with a lingering aroma of butter and sugar that lulled us into the week.
Joanna. On Thursday my baking business received its latest customer! She requested a fruity cake for a Sunday brunch. I capitalized on the recent plethora of plump blueberries [...]

green pea risotto

This is such an elegant one-dish meal that looks and tastes like a lot of work went into it. Risotto isn’t as intimidating as it seems; and once you’ve mastered the recipe, it’s hard not to dream up a thousand variations for the relatively blank slate of buttery rice and cheese. I feel [...]