Aunt Lura (in seasonal headband) poses with the cranberry apple pie.
Like most Americans, my family can’t imagine Thanksgiving without pie. My Aunt Lura volunteered to bring a pumpkin creation to our table Thursday so our side of [...]Aunt Lura (in seasonal headband) poses with the cranberry apple pie.
Like most Americans, my family can’t imagine Thanksgiving without pie. My Aunt Lura volunteered to bring a pumpkin creation to our table Thursday so our side of [...]
As I type this Tuesday evening I am surrounded by red. I’ve been playing with cranberries today. I can’t resist their deep, rich color and their sweet/tart flavor.
I tried making cranberry vinegar (NOT a success–I’ll try again next Thanksgiving).
I made jellied cranberry sauce for the cranberry cream puffs [...] 
As a child I was the only member of my family who didn’t gravitate toward pumpkin pie on Thanksgiving. The custard filling was just … so … smooth.
As a grown up I am more enthusiastic, although the consistency still tends to flummox me. The recipe below [...] 
You will eat bye and bye
Johnny Mercer was born 100 years ago tomorrow, on November 18, 1909. A statue of the lyricist will be unveiled in his hometown, Savannah Georgia, on his birthday.
Tributes have been going on all year and will continue, including my own show “Blues in the Night,” [...] 
The Winner!
I know! I’ve been posting TOO MANY SWEET RECIPES lately. But I haven’t yet written about this year’s Pudding Hollow Pudding Festival. So here’s a brief report for pudding fans along with the winning recipe, a (gulp!) sweet pudding. Save it for Thanksgiving when the calories will [...]
Cider Days are over, but I still have cider on the brain–and in the refrigerator. So I baked a cider cake.
This recipe makes A LOT of cake; it’s great for a brunch or a coffee party. I was lucky enough to have the new Williams-Sonoma “Autumn Leaf” [...] 
I recently picked up a gorgeous stem of Brussels sprouts at M&M Green Valley Produce in South Deerfield, Massachusetts. These little cabbage relatives perk up the farm stand at this time of year, particularly when still on their stems: varying shades of warm green blend [...] 
After I published my Huckleberry Friend post about Johnny Mercer the other day one of my readers expressed her disappointment that I hadn’t included a huckleberry recipe.
Amazingly, I had been so busy expressing myself as a chanteuse that the cook part of me had failed to make [...] 
Lyricist Johnny Mercer (Savannah Morning News)
A Johnny Mercer lyric is all the wit you wish you had and all the love you ever lost. So said Frank Sinatra, one of the great interpreters of American song. The lyricist John Herndon Mercer (1909-1976) would have [...]
Life slows down in early November here in western Massachusetts. Our leaves have begun their steep decline: the bright colors of the local landscape are fast giving way to the grays and silvers that foretell winter’s whites.
I’m always in the mood for salad–particularly after a weekend dominated by pudding! This fruity dressing works beautifully with greens plus such seasonal add-ons as red onion, apple, dried cranberries, and/or toasted nuts. (A little local cheese doesn’t go amiss, either!)
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons cider vinegar (I like the vinegar from [...] 
Before I get to today’s recipe, I’d like to remind readers about my beloved Pudding Hollow Pudding Festival, scheduled for TOMORRROW—Halloween!
Anyone within shouting distance of western Massachusetts should definitely come (and perhaps enter the festival’s pudding contest). This event offers food, music, and lots' [...] 
At this time of year I like to put apples in just about everything. So I decided to try baking an apple pizza.
My family was skeptical about the idea and made me order a traditional tomato pie as a backup just in case the apple [...] 
This moist, sweet bread makes a better bribe than a plain old apple. I was going to try it with raisins or dried cranberries (which you may certainly do), but my nephew Michael cast his vote for apricots.
The bread we made together goes perfectly with mulled cider.
[...] 
I am FINALLY back to apples, thanks to my friends at the West County Independent. My apple recipes and photos were lost in the most recent Great Tinky Computer Debacle, but the wonderful Ginny and Kim have retrieved some of them from an article [...] 
The atmosphere in the Night Kitchen is serene.
Perhaps the Sawmill River calms the owner/chef, Max Brody, and his colleagues. The restaurant is perched above the water in an old gristmill in Montague, Massachusetts.
Perhaps Max is just a peaceful sort of person. The colors he has [...] 
With LESS THAN TWO WEEKS to go before the Pudding Hollow Pudding Festival, I thought I’d post another pudding recipe. I hope it inspires readers to enter the festival’s gala pudding contest.
This year’s festival falls on October 31 so I’m offering a recipe from [...] 
Last weekend we celebrated not only Labor Day but the Corn Moon–the golden September full moon that marks the height of the corn harvest.
Corn is the perfect late-summer vegetable. Its color reflects the hues of the sun and the goldenrod-filled fields. Its subtly sweet taste reminds us [...] 
My roses have gone by so I had to serve Bread and Roses of Sharon!
I sang “Bread and Roses” in church yesterday in honor of Labor Day. The words to this song came from [...]
How do I love zucchini? Let me count the ways….
I know zucchini don’t always come in for a lot of praise. In fact, I tend to think of them as the fruitcake of summer.
At Christmas the fruitcake bashers jest that fruitcake is so heavy it can [...] 
Truffle's new "do" makes her feel a little cold (but never nippy!) in September.
September has arrived. A little nip has arrived in the air here in the hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. My dog Truffle [...]
My neighbor Jack, who read my recent 