CAN I PLEASE HAVE MORE POTATOES? These are words I like to hear. Especially when the alternatives are, “Her touching me!” or the newest installment in sass, “I don’t care”. Arms folded. None of that last night though, which was a welcome blessing because Paul worked a little later than usual, leaving me with the […]
Rotisserie style roast chicken from Gwyneth Paltrow
IT DIDN’T START WELL. First of all the book took ages to arrive, three weeks after I ordered it from the usually trusty Amazon UK. Then there was the matter of buying a whole chicken. I’ve had poultry trouble before. But today I went to the butcher’s counter directly. Go to the source, I said. […]
Spice muffins with cream cheese frosting…and a secret ingredient
THESE MUFFINS STARTED OUT AS Pumpkin Bars from Paula Deen. In their second life they became a healthier version of pumpkin mini-muffins. Now they’re carrot muffins. And they’re delicious. Canned pumpkin is virtually non-existent in Rome and I’m not sure which Italian variety of zucca would work well enough to go through the cooking and […]
15 gift ideas for mini foodies in the making
IT’S HERE, THAT SPECIAL TIME OF YEAR when kids start asking for everything and the only thing that makes it tolerable is your ability to threaten them with Santa’s List. Ah, Christmas. Actually ours are still too little to have gimme fever–just wait until next year–but I’ve still got lots of great ideas to foster […]
a garden birthday party with low sugar “dirt cups”: happy 2nd birthday phoebe!
THE DIRT CUPS WERE a process. For Phoebe’s second birthday I set out to create a garden party in Villa Ada, Rome’s largest park. And the star of the show, other than the birthday girl’s pretty fabulous tutu, was the “dirt cups”, aka, brownies and pudding mixed together in tiny terra cotta pots with worms, […]