Savannah, Georgia; December 13, 2017: For the past few weeks, I have been harvesting big, orange-sized Meyer lemons from my tree. I first wrote on the blog about Meyer lemons almost exactly 10 years ago, in a piece about Christmas, which included recipes for Lemon Squares. (You can read the blog here.) I was living in Washington, DC, at the time, but the couple who had bought our house in Charleston continued to send me lemons from my tree...

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Savannh, Georgia; October 30, 2017: Pasta with Chanterelles I am loving the cool weather which just began yesterday – though daytime highs will approach 80° F  by the end of the week. I have probably foraged the last of the chanterelles for the season, so I wanted to have a dish that featured them. I had just enough for a hearty pasta dish for one, but I am including a recipe for four. I am not particularly fond of grocery store mushrooms...

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October 19, 2017; Savannah, Georgia. The written history of the flourless chocolate cake is full of exaggerations, suppositions, and just plain bad history. I’ve seen it linked to Vienna’s famous Sachertorte – never mind that the Austrian cake contains flour and is coated with both an apricot and a chocolate glaze. Some claim that Torta Caprese from the storied Italian isle of Capri is its antecedent, though it is held together with ground...

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Savannah, Georgia. August 16, 2017: It’s hot as hell and humid as a steam bath outdoors, but cooking is my sole comfort in these maddening times. It’s as though we — the majority of Americans — have been slighted by our newly elected officials who do not represent us or our profoundly patriotic values. So what are we, chopped liver? I have been out of town and have not been shopping. I look in the refrigerator and freezer...

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Savannah, Georgia; July 23, 2017: I don’t blog much any more. I’m in my late 60s and am pretty much retired, though my yard keeps me busy. or, rather, it did until we put in an irrigation system, allowing me the freedom to travel. I’ve been to North Carolina twice recently, each time for a week; to Florida for a week at the beach with my best friend; and to Washington to be with my husband, Mikel, for 10 days. He works for the...

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February 24, 2017; Savannah, Georgia: I had some old friends visiting for a few days. They wanted to take me out to some of the hot new restaurants in Savannah, but we ended up having all our meals here at home — shad roe with a bacon/butter/lemon/caper sauce one night (accompanied by grits and okra — see photo), pasta with the first of the green peas (cipollini melted in chanterelle butter, dried porcini soaked in hot water, the...

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