1. Cy the Cardinal, Iowa State University Cyclones. I have to put this one in here, ‘cause I’m an ISU alum and still like to tailgate it up during football season. So why is a cardinal the mascot of a team named after a force of nature? Because it’s kind of hard to make a mascot out of a torna...

BREAKFAST: not pictured: black coffee and half a (very large) lemon-poppyseed muffin that I ate at work, before I decided to come home sick. (Coming home had nothing to do with the muffin.) LUNCH: Yummy leftovers. Not pictured: vitamin. (Forgot it at breakfast.) SNACK: I only ate about half the muff...

Filed under: Vegetables, New Year's I was around five years old the first time I had a steamed artichoke for dinner. They were a favorite of my parents' and so we'd often eat them for dinner, dipping the leaves in melted butter and then finishing the meal up with some salad. However, sometime around...

Teenager missing from NC, details here: http://narniarose.livejournal.com/63920.html So I've been planning dinner. I made new rice, and I have a can of black beans, a can of "southwestern corn", which adds some black beans, red peppers, and onions to the corn, and a can of diced tomatoes. Also gonna...

I managed to cram in a few more cooking projects before the end of the weekend, and I'm so glad I did! It's supposed to be awfully hot again this week, and I'm so glad I have a fridge full of food and won't need to turn on the oven or stove AT ALL. Breakfast Sunday morning: Homemade bread, toasted, ...

A few weeks ago, as I began hearing about people’s plans for Father’s Day, it occurred to me that ever since my father passed away in 2001, we’ve been spending Father’s Day in our own special way. Now neither Father’s Day nor Mother’s Day were ever huge days in my...

I put on 6 more pounds, for a total gain right now of 17. Not bad. I'll be totally happy as long as I stay under 25 total, and we seem on track for that. My BP was 112/78 and the baby's heartbeat was 150, so all spiffy. Had to see my non-regular doc 'cause the regular one was sick. Now that I'm past...

Filed under: Tastings, Wine, Beer, Vegetables, Fruit, Festivals, Local Eating, Artisan Foods We're back in business this weekend, with food festivals from coast to coast (actually just on both coasts). And since it's finally beautiful outside, there's no excuse to shy away from amazing opportunities...

On root vegetables I am, I have realised, a middle-class Guardian reader. How do I know this? Once a fortnight, a bloke in a van turns up and delivers a box of seasonal organic fruit and veg, for rather more than you'd probably pay in your local supermarket. We'd shop in Waitrose, but our town isn't...

We are still working with artichokes and brown butter.  As a child one of my very favorite treats was stuffed artichokes.  I could only get them from my Aunt Lucy, who happened to be an amazing Italian cook. When we would go to see her for the holidays or whenever she would come to visit us, if th...