Here are the tastingspoons players. I’m in the middle (Carolyn). Daughter Sara on the right, and daughter-in-law Karen on the left. I started the blog in 2007, as a way to share recipes with my family. I’m still doing 99% of the blogging and holding out hope that these two lovely and excellent cooks will participate. They both lead very busy lives, so we’ll see.
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BOOK READING (from Carolyn):
Music of Bees, Eileen Garvin. Absolutely charming book about a woman in midlife, lonely, who raises bees, also makes unlikely friends. Heart-warming and very interesting about beekeeping.
A Postcard from Paris, Alex Brown. Really cute story. Dual time line, 1940s and present day about renovating an old apartment in Paris, things discovered.
Time of the Child, Niall Williams. Oh such a good book. Very small village in Ireland, 1960s. A baby is left on the doorstep. The town all whispers and helps. I listened to an interview of the author, which made me like him and his books even more.
Sipsworth, Simon Van Booy. If you like animals you’ll swoon. An old woman who really wants to die finds a tiny mouse in her house and befriends it and finds a reason to live. Utterly charming book.
The Forger’s Spell, Edward Dolnick. True story. For seven years a no-account painter named Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his paintings as those of Johannes Vermeer.
If You Lived Here, You’d be Home by Now, Christopher Ingraham. Could hardly put it down – about a journalist who takes on a challenge to move to small town in Minnesota and write about it. He expects to hate it and the people and place, but he doesn’t. Absolutely wonderful true story.
The River We Remember, William Kent Kreuger. 1950s, Minnesota. A murder and the aftermath. Could hardly put it down. Kreuger has such a vivid imagination and writing style.
How the Lights Gets In, Joyce Maynard. An older woman returns to New Hampshire to help care for her brain-injured son. Siblings and family, lots of angst and resentments.
The Filling Station, Vanessa Miller. Every American should read this book. A novelized retelling of the Tulsa massacre in 1921. Absolutely riveting.
The Story She Left Behind, Patti Callahan Henry. Love this author. Based on a true story. A famous author simply vanishes, leaving her husband and daughter behind. She had invented a mystical language no one could translate. Present day, someone thinks he’s solved the riddle, contacts the family. Really interesting read.
The Girl from Berlin, Ronald Balson. Love anything about Tuscany. An elderly woman is being evicted from a villa there, with odd deed provenance. Two young folks go there to help unravel the mystery. Loved it.
The Island of the Colorblind, Oliver Sacks, M.D. Nonfiction. The dr is intrigued by a remote Pacific island where most of the inhabitants are colorblind. He also unravels a mystery on Guam of people born with a strange neurological problem. Medical mysteries unveiled. Very interesting.
The Bookbinder, Pip Williams. Post 1914 London. Two sisters work at a bookbindery. They’re told to not read the books. One does and one doesn’t. One has visions beyond her narrow world; the other does not. Eventually the one gets into Oxford. Lovely story.
The Paris Express, Emma Donoghue. 1895 on a train to Paris, a disaster happens. You’ll delve into the lives of many people who survived and died in the crash.
A Race to the Bottom of Crazy, Richard Grant. This is about Arizona. Author, wife and child move back to Arizona where they once lived. Part memoir, research, and reporting in a quest to understand what makes Arizona such a confounding and irresistible place.
The Scarlet Thread, Francine Rivers. A woman’s life turned upside down when she discovers the handcrafted quilt and journal of her ancestor Mary Kathryn McMurray, a young woman who was uprooted from her home only to endure harsh frontier conditions on the Oregon Trail.
A Place to Hide, Ronald Balson. 1939 Amsterdam, an ambassador has the ability to save the lives of many Jewish children. Heartwarming.
Homeseeking, Karissa Chen. Two young Chinese teens are deeply in love, but in China. Then their families are separated. Jump to current day and the two meet again in Los Angeles.
North River, Pete Hammill. He always writes such a good story. A doctor works diligently healing people from all walks of life. His wife and daughter left him years before. One day his 3-yr old grandson arrives on his doorstep.
A Very Typical Family, Sierra Godfrey. A very messed-up family. Three adult children are given a home in Santa Cruz, Calif, but only if the siblings meet up and live in the house together. A very untypical scenario but makes for lots of messes.
Three Days in June, Anne Tyler. The usual Anne Tyler grit. Family angst. This wasn’t one of my favorites, but it was entertaining and very short.
Saved, Benjamin Hall. Author is a veteran war reporter. Ukraine, 2022, he nearly loses his life to a Russian strike. Riveting story – he survives, barely.
Grey Wolf, Louise Penny. Another Inspector Gamache mystery in Quebec. She is such an incredible mystery writer.
All the Colors of the Dark, Chris Whitaker. A missing person mystery, a serial killer thriller, a love story, a unique twist on each. Could hardly put it down.
Orbital, Samantha Harvey. Winner of 2024 Booker Prize. I don’t usually like those, but I heard the author interviewed and she hooked me. This is not a normal book with a beginning, a story and an end. It’s several chapters of the day in the life of various astronauts at the ISS (Int’l Space Station). All fictional. She’s been praised by several real astronauts for “getting it” about space station everyday life.
The Blue Hour, Paula Hawkins. An island off Scotland. Inaccessible except when the tide is out. Weird goings on. An artist. A present day mystery too.
Iron Lake, William Kent Krueger. A judge is murdered and a boy is missing. Riveting mystery.
Tell the Wolves I’m Home, Carol Ricks Brunt. 1980s. A 14-yr old girl loses her beloved uncle. Yet a new friendship arises, someone she never knew about.
Four Treasures of the Sky, Jenny Zhang. 1880s, a young girl is kidnapped in China and brought to the United States. She survives with many hurdles in the path.
The Boy Who Fell out of the Sky, Ken Dornstein. Memoir, 1988. The author’s brother died in the PanAm flight that went down in Lockerbie, Scotland. A decade later he tries to solve “the riddle of his older brother’s life.”
Worse Care Scenario, T.J. Newman. Oh my. Interesting analysis of what could/might happen if a jet crashed into a nuclear plant. Un-put-downable.
Song of the Lark, Willa Cather. Complicated weave of a story about a young woman in about 1900, who has a gifted voice (singing) and about her journey to success, not without its ups and downs.
Crow Talk, Eileen Garvin. Charming story which takes place at a remote lake in Washington State, about a few people who inhabit it, the friendships made, but also revolving around the rescue of a baby crow.
The Story Collector, Evie Woods. Sweet story about some dark secrets from an area in Ireland, a bit magical, faerie life, but solving a mystery too.
A Sea of Unspoken Things, Adrienne Young. A woman investigates her twin brother’s mysterious death. She goes to a small town in California to figure it out, to figure HIM out.
The King’s Messenger, Susanna Kearsley. 1600s England, King James. About one of his trusted “messengers,” and his relationship with a young woman also of “the court.” Lots of intrigue.
In the Shadow of the Greenbrier, Emily Matchar. Interesting mystery in/around the area of the famous resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.
Isola, Allegra Goodman. Hard to describe, survival story on an island in the 1600s.
Save the Date, Allison Raskin. Rom-com, witty, LOL funny. Clever.
The Sirens, Emilia Hart. Numerous time-lines, Australia. Mysteries abound, nightmares, abandoned baby, weird allergies.
Red Clay, Charles Fancher. LOVED this book. Mostly post-Civil War story about the lives of slaves in Alabama during Reconstruction.
Stars in an Italian Sky, Jill Santopolo. Dual time line, 1946 and recent time. Love stories and a mystery.
Battle Mountain, C.J. Box. Another one of Box’s riveting mysteries. Love his descriptions of the land.
Something Beautiful Happened, Yvette Corporon. A memoir of sorts in Greece, tiny island of Erikousa, where the locals hid Jews during WWII. All elusive stories told by the author’s grandmother.
The Jackal’s Mistress, Chris Bohjalian. 1860s Virginia, about a woman who saves the life of a Union soldier. Really good story.
Song of the Magpie, Louise Mayberry. Really interesting story about Australia back in the days when it was mostly a penal colony. Gritty strength of a woman trying to thrive with her farm.
The Boomerang, Robert Bailey. A thriller that will have you gripping the book. About a lot of secrets surrounding the president (fictional novel, remember) and his chief of staff and about cancer. A cure. Such a good story.
Care and Feeding, Laurie Woolever. Really interesting memoir of a woman driven to succeed in the restaurant business. She worked for Mario Batali and then Anthony Bourdain. Gritty stories.
Everything is Tuberculosis, John Green. Maybe not a book for everyone. A real deep dive into the deadly tuberculosis infection, its history. I heard the author interviewed and found the book very interesting.
The Book Lovers Library, Madeline Martin. Fascinating read about Boots’ drug stores’ lending library. And the people who worked in them.
The Arrivals, Meg Mitchell Moore. LOL funny, about a middle-aged couple whose children (and their various family members) return to the family home and the chaos that ensues.
My Life as a Silent Movie, Jesse Lee Kercheval. About grief. A big move to Paris, finding herself a new life with a new set of real blood family.
Escape, Carolyn Jessop. Another memoir about a woman really in bondage in Utah, Mormon plural marriage.
My blog's namesake - small, old and some very dented engraved silver plated tea spoons that belonged to my mother-in-law, and I use them to taste my food as I'm cooking.
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Posted in Uncategorized, on June 26th, 2009.
Some of the rolling foothills NE of Lodi, California
It was after dinner last night as we headed NE on Hwy. 88 out of Lodi (pronounced low-dye). It was so beautiful I stopped the car and grabbed the camera. We stopped in Clements (a wide spot in the road) for dinner at the Feed & Fuel. A place we’d never noticed before. We both had really good dinners (calamari). It’s going to be close to 100 today in Placerville. Tomorrow I’ll have some more pictures.
Posted in Uncategorized, on June 25th, 2009.
It’s been about a year since we took a vacation, what with the current state of the economy, etc. We’re retired, and certainly don’t rely on Social Security to live (ha!), but we’ve been watching our pennies and dollars this past year. So when prices for Alaska cruises dive-bombed, we took advantage. We decided to drive (I do most of the driving) instead of fly to our destination, so we’re visiting our daughter and family in Placerville, then on up through Oregon to Hood River to wine taste, over to Walla Walla for some wine tasting, then into the Yakima Valley (about a 50-mile long valley with loads of new wineries).
So, I’ll be blogging along the way. Maybe not recipes, but at least some photos. With all my gadgets. With my new SLR camera and its 2 lenses, and big camera bag. And my brand, spanking new iphone. And my new baby netbook computer. And my Kindle (loaded with several new books). Oh, and my ipod too. (I haven’t yet loaded all my music and podcasts onto the iphone.) I’ve become a tech-gadget queen lately. I had to line up out all of my tech toys on the kitchen counter, and place next to each the accompanying cables, cords, power adapters, charging cords, etc. Can’t forget one of them, for heaven’s sake! I almost need a separate suitcase for all this STUFF. My DH is very accommodating (thank GOODness). Since we’re driving, I can use more space if I need it. Normally I pack light. Really light, so this is a whole new arena for me. Really I don’t WANT to have to cart another bag in and out of hotels, etc., but if I want to have my hookup to the ‘net, gotta do it. So, eventually I may shop just for a traveling technology bag. Hmmm.
At the Apple store last week, I stood in the short line (because I made an advance appointment) to buy the new iphone and once it was set up correctly, it works like a dream. And I bought one of the new Acer mini-laptops (that’s the netbook) for $329 at Costco. I don’t have roaming internet access, but will need to use wi-fi hotspots. My iphone has a neat app on it with a GPS (Google) which will tell me where I am (where the iphone is) and I can ask it to tell me what’s around me – like restaurants or a laundromat, or a tourist office. Or a winery. Or a wine bar maybe?
A year ago: Steak Diane Flambe
Two years ago: Cha Cha Cha Jerk Chicken
photo courtesy of freephoto.com
Posted in Uncategorized, on June 24th, 2009.
The only real stumbling block is the fear of failure. In cooking, you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude. . . . Julia Child
Posted in Uncategorized, on June 21st, 2009.
I think I missed giving a head’s up with some recipe ideas for Father’s Day. Nothing else to do now except tell you what WE had for dinner today. It was at our house and our son and grandson were the only family here because our daughter-in-law Karen is sick with a bad cold. We thank her profusely for not sharing the cold with us. I sent a little care package home with her with some of the Garbanzo Bean Salad with Feta, Onions and Cilantro. I made a new batch of it yesterday.
At my DH’s request, here’s what we had for dinner:
Grilled Salmon on Watercress Salad with grilled red, yellow and orange bell peppers and poblano chiles. I posted this recipe back in 2007, and it remains one of our family favorites. That’s a mound of watercress (in a delish Asian dressing) peeking through the salmon steaks there. With the peppers surrounding it.
I also made some Baked Onions with Thyme and Red Wine, another big family favorite. Normally we grill the onions for this, but because my DH is having a problem with his prosthetic legs this weekend, I offered to bake the onions (since they take SO long on the grill). He prefers them this way anyway! All of the Noonday onions are gone, so I bought red onions, which is normally what I use in this recipe anyway.
Our nearly 2-year old grandson was getting very tired toward the end of dinner, so I quickly whipped out the combo of leftover desserts I had on hand. One generous serving of a bread pudding I just made with vanilla sauce (recipe will be up tomorrow or Tuesday), a couple of leftover roasted peaches along with the roasted peach ice cream I made a couple of weeks ago. The ice cream went on top of the roasted peaches. Our grandson Vaughan is just learning to speak in short sentences and his comment was “more ice cream.” He said it over . . . and over . . . and over, while his daddy kept feeding him a little bite each time. He was SO cute! Nothing like making points with his grandma. He ate nearly an entire salmon steak. He said no to the watercress salad. No to the grilled onions. But he DID really like the grilled yellow bell peppers. He ate many, many pieces of that too. Hearty appetite for a little bitty guy.
So, I hope all of you had as nice a Father’s Day as we did around our house. My dad died in 1996 and I miss him. He would have enjoyed today’s dinner, particularly the roasted peach ice cream. Peach was one of his favorites.
Posted in Uncategorized, on June 2nd, 2009.
My friend Yvette is always on the lookout for interesting tidbits of foodie info – for me to use here on my blog. She sent me this list of movies many months ago. Movies with the focus around food. So fire up your Netflix queue or visit your local video store. If you click on the title, you’ll go to Netflix.
Babette’s Feast (1987), subtitled: This Danish/French production and Best-Foreign Language Oscar winner connects religious themes with gastronomical delights as the heroine pours lottery winnings into a magnificent banquet.
Big Night (1996): With mouthwatering footage of Italian dishes, this Indie dramedy centers on two immigrant brothers who gamble on a huge feast to save their struggling New Jersey restaurant.
Chocolat (2000): partially subtitled. Desserts takes center stage in this multi-Oscar-nominated English/French film about a single mom who opens a chocolate shop in a conservative Catholic town.
Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (1992), subtitled: Ang Lee nabbed a best foreign film Oscar nom for this affectionate exploration of Taiwanese gastronomical and generational dynamics through the story of a master chef and his three daughters.
Like Water for Chocolate (1992), subtitled: In this Mexican family drama, home-cooked cuisine does strange and mystical things to the characters.
Mostly Martha (2001), subtitled: “No Reservations” was inspired by this German tale of a top chef whose headstrong 8-year old niece comes to live with her.
No Reservations (2007): Based on the previous movie above, about the romance between a top restaurant chef and her sous chef with the complication of the 8-year old niece who comes to live with her when the child’s mother dies.
Ratatouille(2007): This Pixar comedy is about Remy, a young rat who lives in the walls of a fancy Paris restaurant and aspires to be a chef.
Soul Food (1997): The 40-year long ritual of a family’s Sunday dinners of sumptuous soul food is interrupted by the matriarch’s hospitalization.
Tampopo(1985), subtitled: This Japanese comedy centers on efforts to make a humdrum ramen bar into a three-star noodle restaurant.
Waitress (2007): Keri Russell plays a Southern pie-maker with pastry-centered daydreams and hopes of leaving her control-freak husband to start her own pie shop.
– – – most of the above information from the San Diego Union Tribune, Beth Wood, Staff Researcher
Posted in Uncategorized, on May 31st, 2009.
A stuffed rooster eyes the fresh eggs.
This is our oldest grandson, Logan, 15. He, his sister Taylor, and our daughter Dana arrived Friday from where they live in Placerville, California. They usually come to visit for a week or so every summer. Lots of swimming in the pool and spa, visits to friends, and visits with the newest young cousin, another of our grandsons, Vaughan, who is about 22 months old. Logan brought along the latest batch of eggs from his chickens. He’s taken up raising them, and is enjoying it a lot. He has 2 laying hens, 4 chicks, and one tiny baby chick. They’re a variety of types: 2 bantys (bantam), 1 baba rock (a layer), 2 reds stars (one of them a layer), and 1 banty rooster. The baby chick is an unknown variety so far.
We had lovely scrambled eggs and cheddar cheese. Delicious. Thanks, Logan.
Posted a year ago: Syrian Pita Bread Salad (oh, yummy, a regular around my house)
Posted in Uncategorized, on May 24th, 2009.
We're proud of this good-old flag in our backyard.
I hope all of you and yours are enjoying a pleasant day today. And that you’ve remembered to say a prayer for all of the soldiers, current and past, who have served our country, to protect us, our land, our flag, our democracy. Our freedoms.
Yesterday I “bit the bullet” and bought a digital SLR (that’s a single lens reflex – meaning a camera with interchangeable lenses – and not a point-and-shoot). A Canon Rebel Xsi. I’ve got a 50mm lens (the standard) and the smaller telephoto lens too (the EF-S 55-250). It came as a package at Costco, for a good price. It is one complicated camera to learn. I’m sure I’ll make lots of mistakes, will likely grumble and fuss, but overall I know I’ll be thrilled with the new addition. It’s for pictures like this one below that I bought the camera. This shot was taken in ambient light on my kitchen counter, with the telephoto lens. I wanted that narrow depth of field – so the apple front-and-center was in focus, but everything else was mostly out of focus. I succeeded.
In between some cooking, celebrating our daughter-in-law’s birthday, church and lots of nice quiet time, I’ve been snapping pictures everywhere I can. And enjoying our weekend. In a month we’re going to take a vacation, so I really want to know enough about the camera that I can take candid shots without having to read the manual. I’m like most people – impatient to get to the good stuff – and don’t enjoy reading a manual on anything. But this camera will have me in knots in no time if I don’t. So, I’m watching the video and reading the darned manual.
Posted in Uncategorized, on May 14th, 2009.
One of my friends said to me the other day . . . “You mentioned on your blog that you had a dinner party, but you didn’t tell us what was on the menu. Are you going to do that?” Sure I can – here’s what I fixed. All the recipes are on my blog (some old and some new). Click on the recipe title to go to the post about each one.
Black Bean Layered Dip with New Mexican Red Chile Salsa – I just posted this one earlier in the week – it was a real big hit at the dinner. My DH and I have been nibbling on the leftovers ever since, but now it’s all gone. (very sad face) It is a Phillis Carey recipe, from a recent cooking class.
Pasta a la Puttanesca – the one item our son requested for his birthday dinner. A dish I’ve been making for years and years from a recipe I got from Zov Karamardian, of Zov’s Bistro (a local restaurant), at a cooking class she offered about 20 years ago. Zov shared some of her family recipes. It’s vegetarian, although there is a tiny bit of anchovies (mashed up) in the sauce. You’d never know it, though. It’s a room temp sauce served on hot pasta (I used linguine), then sprinkled the top with Parmesan cheese.
Radicchio, Belgian Endive & Dried Cranberry Salad with Pecans – this is one I made a few months ago that suggests soaking the cranberries in bourbon. With grandchildren dining with us, I didn’t do that (although they didn’t eat one bite of it anyway because it wasn’t the kind of salad they like to eat – they like greens with ranch dressing – yuk – they didn’t eat any of the Puttanesca either because I answered truthfully when asked if there were anchovies in it). I made the salad with Peppered Pecans, another one of our family favorites (from a Cathy Thomas cooking class ages ago – she’s the Food Editor of the Orange County Register).
New Wave Garlic Bread – I posted this recipe back in ’07. It’s different, a tad spicy (hot pepper type), but is another one of our son’s favorites. He didn’t even remember it, it’s been that long since he’d had it. Recipe came from one of Hugh Carpenter’s cookbooks.
Lemon Cake with Limoncello Glaze and Yogurt-Lime Mousse– if you didn’t already read all the accolades about this dessert, I’ll repeat . . . our son thought this was the best-est cake he’d ever had. If you don’t like limoncello (a lemon liqueur), use lemon juice concentrate instead. But it was the yogurt-lime mousse that was the hit. I’m so sad it’s all gone (mixture of whipped cream, strained Greek yogurt, sugar and fresh lime juice). From Food & Wine.
And, do you want to know how many hours I worked in the kitchen to make all that? No, you probably don’t, but I’ll tell you anyway – about 6 1/2 hours. A labor of love, that’s all it was. The dinner was what our son requested of me/us as his birthday present.
Posted in Uncategorized, on May 1st, 2009.
Last week I went on the Tustin Garden Tour. As with lots of communities, I suppose, there are garden clubs here and there. Every year our local one offers up 4 or so home gardens to view. Always fun and interesting. Fun to see other people’s back yards (of course, it’s mostly about the plantings, but you get to see everybody’s outdoor patios of all shapes and sizes, from small to gigantic, humble and elaborate). You also know that for weeks prior the homeowners labored like slaves to get their yards looking the way they do on garden tour day.
Another view in the same garden - isn't that just beautiful?
At one of the homes, as we entered around the shady side of the house, what did we see but this lettuce garden (above photo). It’s a riddling rack – that’s a wine thing – vintners (champagne makers in France started it, I think) poke filled bottles of champagne in these racks and periodically the bottles are turned – which helps the sediment to drop into the neck – makes for easier removal before corking the bottle permanently. And here (right) was a doorway into a cottage (or maybe it was a garage) in the lovely backyard.
Back to the riddling rack – this gardener (Rosemary) had somehow fitted all the holes of an old rack with something (either draining cups or mesh and wire) to hold a small amount of soil. And she’s growing all kinds of lettuces in them. She bought small plants (not grown from seed) and they’d been growing to reach the state you see. She hadn’t yet harvested any of the lettuce. It looks SO pretty. So fresh and fun.
Sometimes you can find riddling racks at junk or antique stores. Most people wouldn’t even know what they are. Now you do, and maybe you too can grow your green salad in it.
A Year Ago: Lemon Oregano Vinaigrette
Two Years Ago: Caramelized Carnitas Tacos (part of a Cinco de Mayo celebration)
Posted in Uncategorized, on April 27th, 2009.
Here it is, my two-year blog anniversary and all, and I’m unveiling a new design. An all-new look. It’s been months in the making. I heard about Michael Martin from somebody else’s blog – he’d designed a new design for her food blog – I liked what I saw, so I emailed him. Sure enough, he said, Can Do. It’s taken awhile – a lot longer than I thought – but it’s now live and running. There are still a few tweaks left to do, but this is it. Hope you enjoy it.
The index of recipes is different than before – it was a pain in the behind to keep on top of that – I stopped updating it a couple of months ago when I knew I’d have a new design that would create it automatically for me (yippee). It’s a bit unwieldly at the moment, so something will change about how that works, but it’s now a cinch to use, for me. My blogroll is now down at the very bottom of the blog. Am still not sure I like that, but Michael felt my sidebar was wa-a-a-y too long. So, okay. He thinks I should post larger photos, so I’ll be playing with that, now that I have a slightly wider post window. Recipes will be enclosed in a red box to make them stand out a bit more. Mostly behind-the-scenes stuff that you don’t care much about, but makes the blog look “pretty.”
If you’re a blogger and have interest in a new design, contact Michael. Problogdesign is his website. Or email him at michael at problogdesign dot com. He was a joy to work with, but he’s one busy guy, designing blogs and websites. He’s a WordPress expert, and that helped too. Thanks, Michael.
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