Category: Cooking and Recipes

  • Pissy Attitude Successfully Adjusted

    Okay, so the temperatures here in Tucson since my arrival last week have been cooler than normal, and the sunshine has been intermittent at best. Maybe not what I was counting on, but still, I’ve had hours-long stretches of sunshine to bask in on several occasions—which is way more than I was getting at home—and…

  • The Giant Chocolate Boob

    This past weekend, we celebrated my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday with a luau-themed open house. It was a terrific party. Friends and family came from all over the country to help her celebrate and to raise their glasses in toast to her. Weeks before the party, one of my sisters-in-law  suggested the luau theme as a nod to my mother-in-law…

  • Chopping and Dicing and Slicing…Oh My!

    “Hi, I’m calling to enroll in the Basic Cooking Skills classes—all four of them. I’d like to enroll my husband, too.” “Great! Have either of you taken classes here before?” “Well, my husband hasn’t, but I took a cookie baking class about a year ago.” “So neither of you has taken the Basic Knife Skills…

  • Making Cheese

    Years ago, shortly after advanced age forced Tom’s grandmother from her beloved farm and into town, the women in the family descended upon Grandma’s three-story brick farmhouse to pack her belongings and deep-clean every inch of the house from baseboard to ceiling. I was assigned to the kitchen, starting with the cabinet under the kitchen…

  • Recipe for Sticky Date Pudding

    At the request of several friends and a recent reader, I’m posting the recipe I’ve been using to make Sticky Date Pudding. I hope you enjoy it (and the moaning from your guests) as much as I do!  Sticky Date Pudding Pudding (serves eight): 250g (1 cup) pitted dates, chopped 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda 1½ cups…

  • Food, Family, and Friends

    I’m pleased to report that the Sticky Date Pudding I served to my book club Thursday night once again elicited moans. I have to be honest, not as many as the last few times I’ve served it, but moans nonetheless. It was a tough crowd. Six of my friends were gathered around the table, juggling at least…

  • Sticky Date Pudding

    As the self-anointed Sticky Date Pudding ambassador in this part of the world, I have made a solemn vow to spread the Sticky Date Pudding love whenever and wherever I can. To that end, I’m serving it tonight at my Book Club. I can’t wait! For the uninitiated, Sticky Date Pudding–at least the version I’ve…