Posted in 25 Things, Bones, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Holidays, Personal, Place, tagged black-eyed peas, end of the year rituals, family traditions, Good Luck rituals, history of black-eyed peas, New Year's Day, Southern cooking on January 1, 2008 | 27 Comments »
It’s New Year’s Day. And it wouldn’t be New Year’s without black-eyed peas. Black-eyed peas aren’t peas at all but legumes, a member of the trusty bean family.
My family makes Traditional Black-eyed Peas every New Year’s Day for good luck. And black-eyed peas are also the prime ingredient in Hoppin’ John which spices up the [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Holidays, Home, Photography, tagged Amelia's kitchen, baking Rocks, Holiday recipes, passing down family recipes, Southern cooking on December 23, 2007 | 12 Comments »
Baking rocks for the Holidays is a tradition in our family. The name “Rocks” sounds kind of iffy. But trust me, they are delicious.
Liz had never had them before. I turned off the computer, turned up the Christmas music, and convinced her to bake up a batch to take to Solstice. I was the [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Home, Laughing, Life, Memoir, Personal, Place, Relationships, tagged Amish foods, history of food, how the Whoopie Pie got its name, how to make Whoopie Pies, Labadies Bakery, Lancaster County, Maine Whoopie Pies, passing down family recipes, Pennsylvania Dutch Country, Red Velvet Whoopie Pies, tradition on December 14, 2007 | 33 Comments »
Whoopie Pies, Falmouth, Maine, photo by alcinoe, 2006, image released to public domain.
I’m having way too much fun with these old family recipes. The comfort foods we grew up with connect to memories. And memories connect to family stories. In a comment on Memories, Writing, & Family Recipes, Mom mentioned the delectable Whoopie Pie and my [...]
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Posted in Family, Family Recipes, Food, Gratitude, Holidays, Home, Love, Memoir, Personal, Photography, Practice, Seasons, Writing Topics, tagged Family, Food, memories in food & cooking, Meringue-Topped Southern Banana Pudding, Original Nilla Banana Pudding, passing down family recipes, Practice, Southern banana pudding, Thanksgiving, traditions, writing about food, writing practice & food on November 23, 2007 | 38 Comments »
Stirring the steaming, liquid vanilla pudding as it warms on the stove is kind of Zen for me. The silver spoon gleams and swirls through currents of milk and cornstarch. I stare, mesmerized.
Liz was bustling around the kitchen, dicing and dashing, mixing the Dijon, OJ, and honey basting sauce, chopping bananas, basting the naked Cornish [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Growing Older, Holidays, Home, Life, Love, Memoir, Personal, Place, tagged Amelia's kitchen, Family Recipes, Food, passing down family recipes, R3, Southern banana pudding, Southern cooking, Thanksgiving, traditions on November 21, 2007 | 24 Comments »
Old family recipes remind me of the good parts of childhood. The smells are familar and warm, enveloping me in a giant culinary hug. The tastes are like ancestral footprints, distinct to each family, passed down for generations. (They don’t call it comfort food for nothin’!)
My 5 siblings and I have started pulling together Mom’s [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Growing Older, Holidays, Home, Memoir, Personal, Photography, Place, tagged Amelia's kitchen, dumplings, favorite cookware, Food, passing down family recipes, Southern cooking, Thanksgiving, traditions, turkey on November 18, 2007 | 24 Comments »
I was sitting in Amelia’s kitchen with the smell of Southern style chicken and dumplings pouring through my nostrils, when it occurred to me I should be writing her recipes down. I’ve never been much of a cook. But all of my siblings carry on the tradition of Mom’s cooking. That was in mouthwatering evidence [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Body, Bones, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Gratitude, Growing Older, Home, Laughing, Life, Love, Personal, Photography, Relationships, tagged birthdays, daughters, Family, Food, Gratitude, home & hearth, Mom's 70th Birthday, mothers, surprises on November 14, 2007 | 46 Comments »
Cutting The Cake, Amelia’s hands cutting the cake on the day she turned 70, Central Pennsylvania, November 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
I’m sitting in Amelia’s kitchen. The smell of homemade chicken and dumplings spins across the room. My brother and sister-in-law stopped over for breakfast. Amelia made Canadian bacon, grits with [...]
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Posted in 25 Things, Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Home, Life, Love, Memoir, On the Road, Personal, Photography, Place, Relationships, Travel, Writing, tagged Amelia's kitchen, food and culture, GRITS, passing down family recipes, Southern breakfasts on May 30, 2007 | 8 Comments »
-Breakfast at Amelia’s, May 30th, 2007, photo © 2007 by QuoinMonkey. All rights reserved.
What could be better than fresh grits, hot from the stove (smothered in butter and cheese), scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, and French Roast? For lunch we had pimento cheese sandwiches, peanut butter pie, and sweet iced tea.
For the family gathering tonight, my [...]
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Posted in Culture, Family, Family Recipes, Food, Maps, On the Road, Place, Random, Secrets, Travel, tagged Amelia's cherry pie, Betty's Pies, Minnesota, Pies Across America, places to find great pie, Two Harbors on May 17, 2007 | 13 Comments »
I love homemade cherry pie. I remember when I was growing up, there was nothing like the smell of Amelia’s homemade cherry pie with the criss-cross lattice, cooling in the kitchen window.
When Liz and I were up at Lake Superior in Duluth a few months ago, we were longing for the extra energy to take [...]
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