"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
Feeding body and soul
Our friend Darrell celebrated his 59th birthday with us last night. Here we are at the dining room table: So here’s to Darrell, and good friends! I’m feeling especially fond of Frank (2nd from left in the photo). Frank, like Donna and Mary Anne, is Italian-American. After tasting the sauce and polenta I cooked, he pronounced […]
This is the real stuff, a meat sauce recipe from the Veneto region of Italy, handed down through generations of my wife’s family. I’m sure the recipe changed as it adapted to life in the United States, but when Donna and I visited the old folks in Vittorio Veneto back in the 1980s, we thought their sauce tasted just […]
Since there have been so many cooking entries on this blog lately (it being the season for cooking and eating), I thought I’d post one more. In an earlier entry I mentioned smoking a brisket of beef for Christmas dinner. We did, and it was good . . . really good. Here’s how we did […]
We enjoyed a mellow Christmas Eve with our daughter and two friends. I took a few photos to share with you: Our splendiferous table, with a pot of Dad’s Clam Chowder in the middle. Our friend Mary Anne trying to restrain an excited and wiggly Schatzi. Donna and Polly decided they couldn’t bear a treeless […]
We had a crowd last night for a pre-Christmas Eve fish fry. Here are a couple of photos: I know that shot’s poorly composed, but I wanted to show you our new flat screen TV . . . yes, one of these days I’ll get around to hiding the wires. Our cajun cook, Don (wearing the LSU shirt) […]
This is a second-generation Woodford family recipe, passed down by my father. He made clam chowder every Christmas Eve and we’re going to carry on the tradition. Ingredients 1/2 lb bacon 4 carrots 1 med onion 3 or 4 potatoes 1 cup celery 12 oz frozen shrimp (51/60 or 41/50 count, peeled & deveined, no tail) […]
I think it only fair that bloggers read other blogger’s blogs, and I’m nothing if not fair. Too fair, because sometimes I read things I’d rather not have read. Like this, from a blog called The View Through the Windshield, written by a charming fellow named Joe Sherlock: While I have problems with Romney’s positions on issues […]
Thanksgiving. Yeah, it was almost like that. Except Donna and I aren’t that old (oh my God, are we?), and our guests weren’t flashing pod people grins. Our kids and grandkids were here, along with a few friends. Donna borrowed tables and chairs and we were all able to sit down together for soup, salad, […]