I don’t usually read labels on food and when I do, words I can’t pronounce don’t scare me.  I do not require things to be organic, free-range, local or hormone-free (I like being tall).  I don’t really care (I probably should, but I just don’t) whether the chicken I’m eating was happy before it became [...]

A few people have asked for this bread recipe (pictured in this post). And since I was just mixing it up to have for Sunday dinner with friends tomorrow I thought I better post it before I forget again.

Have fun with this bread, the more you make it, the more you get acquainted with the [...]

 Tuesday night was a full moon. Did you notice?

I can’t say I ever noticed what the moon was doing when I lived in the city. Maybe because its  brightness paled in comparison to the towers of light all around us. But here, the moon is bigger, brighter and I’ve been counting off the [...]

Suddenly it hit me like a freight train and I have been in bed now for a week.  Everyday I wake up and discover, yep, still sick, then I slink into the bathroom, down my cocktail of drugs and go back to bed.  It has been this screeching halt to my life except for wedding [...]

One of the ways Valiant and I have been trying to beat the heat here in DC is by doing stuff indoors.  It’s too hot for man or beast (although apparently not tourists…) out there!   When the heat index is over 100 and it’s humid enough to swim down the sidewalk, we have taken to [...]

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I took these shots a long time ago with my film SLR but only recently got them developed.  I was curious to see how they turned out because I think the film I used was about as old as [...]

We have this wonderful, generous neighbor who has blessed us with as many figs from his garden as we can eat.  He brought them over one day in a tin and whenever we finish them off, we bring the tin back and he returns it full.

He’s from Norway and keeps an amazing yard, especially for this [...]

I'm pretty jazzed about figuring out how to use the "micro" setting on my camera. (finally)

Our visit last week with friends from Seattle left a very good taste in our mouth. They brought every imaginable delicacy and treat from across the mountains from hand-made cheeses and sour beer, to bavarian meats and fau gras (I [...]

I think it was Meghan I was talking to the other day and she said that she wanted to see more pictures of Valiant.  We actually had a little photo session the other day because I wanted to get some passport photos of him (there’s always a hope and a dream of travel for me.)  Taking [...]

Fresh basil and heirloom tomatoes

Here is a wonderful little summer recipe for you:
Bruschetta
1 3/4c. tomatoes
1/3c. kalamata olives
1T. capers
1/4c. basil
1T. olive oil
1T. balsamic vinegar
salt to taste
pepper
1/4c. red onion
Chop all ingredients finely and serve on buttered bread broiled in the oven sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. 

Makes a lovely lunch or appetizer.

Aren’t you glad somebody‘s using your money this summer for nice little vacation?  Since so many are downsizing our lives and watching our budgets, isn’t it nice to know when we pool all our money that Michelle can have a grand time on it?

“I don’t begrudge anyone rest and relaxation when they work hard. We [...]

Will there ever be enough stories written about World War II?

Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, was lent to me and I kept avoiding it.  I knew it was about WWII which instantly makes it tragic, and I just didn’t know if I was up to it.

Sarah and her family are taken from their arrondissement [...]