With the weather getting cooler and the first frost of the season predicted for tonight, my mind is on getting the remaining herbs in from the pots outside, including chives. Here’s an easy to make ’country’ recipe for cheddar-chive biscuits courtesy of my mom. Perfect as a side with a bowl of veggie soup or hot out of the oven on a crisp October day. Use good aged cheddar to give it an extra kick. I like Hooks 3 year old Cheddar from Mineral Point.
I spent some time this weekend with my cousins and goddaughter picking out pumpkins and apples at Appleberry Farms in Cross Plains, Wisconsin. It was one of those picture perfect crisp fall days in Wisconsin that makes you remember what makes the midwest so special. We all ate one too many caramel apples and apple cider doughnuts and bought far more pumpkins than we need. It was a great reminder of how important it is to spend time with family celebrating the seasons. We all get busy, but a perfect fall afternoon, spent sipping hot apple cider with people you love, doesn’t come around very often. We have to grasp those moments when we can and enjoy them to the fullest. So grab someone you love, go for a walk and listen to the sound of leaves crunching underfoot. Light a fire and make hot apple cider. Be a kid again and eat a caramel apple. Remember to slow down enough to drink in these last perfect days of fall.
One of the highlights of the afternoon was the apple cider brats. Made for Appleberry Farms by local favorite Bavarian Sausage Kitchen. They are are made with cider in the mix then grilled and simmered in more apple cider. For even more apple deliciousness, they top them with a homemade apple-onion relish….definitely a Wisconsin classic! Click HERE for the video
The last sunny days of fall are the time to prepare for winter. For my grandmother this means filling up the cellar with preserves and pickles of all kinds. Here is my mom’s easy interpretation of a grape jam inspired by the concord grapes that seem to be growing in all of our family member’s backyards this fall. Easier than true canning or jarring, this recipe is a great way to use up backyard grapes. It’s meant to be kept in the refrigerator and will hold for 4-5 months. Although I doubt it will last that long!
There is something to be said for doing things the old-fashioned way. In our rush to keep up with our busy lives we take shortcuts. We grab something prepared for dinner as we rush home from work and we lose the joy of hearing a stew simmering away on the stove. We buy bread at the grocery store and never experience the feeling of our hands kneading dough or the taste of bread just out of the oven. In other words, modern life makes things easy & convenient in a million little ways but, does something important get lost along the way? For all our modern conveniences are we better off than our grandparents or great-grandparents? (more…)
“The true harvest of my life is intangible–a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow that I have clutched.” – Henry David Thoreau
It’s harvest time in wine regions across the Northern hemisphere. From Napa to Burgundy, rows and rows of grapes are paitently ripening and waiting to be turned into wine. It’s a great time of year to think about what you are harvesting from your own life. Will you harvest the little joys? Like Thoreau, will you slow down enough to tune into the seasons, the ’stardust’ and the simple moments that make life special? This fall—make a resolution to put down the smart phone and make some time to open up that bottle of wine that you have been saving, pick apples with your kids or just curl up in front of a crackling fire with someone you love. Life is short. What will you choose to harvest?
Fall is also the perfect time to start a home practice. Click HERE for a ‘Harvest Moon’ playlist that’s perfect for a home practice!
“Optimist; Daydreamer more elegantly spelled”- Mark Twain
This weekend I had the pleasure to attend a 70th wedding anniversary party. Statistically, getting to 70 years of marriage has to be about as likely as getting struck by lightning. In today’s world it is nothing short of a miracle. So when you see two happy, healthy people in their 90s, getting decked out in corsages and boutonnieres, to celebrate a milestone like a 70th wedding anniversary you have to stop and take notice. (more…)
“We live in a river of change, and a river of change lives within us. Every day we’re given a choice: We can relax and float in the direction that the water flows, or we can swim hard against it. If we go with the river, the energy of a thousand streams will be with us, filling our hearts with courage and enthusiasm. If we resist the river, we will feel rankled and tired as we tread water, stuck in the same place”- Elizabeth Lesser (more…)
I am seriously obssesed with gelato. To me strolling around a piazza with a gelato in my hand is the quintessential Italian experience. If you aren’t able to hop on a plane, you can still recreate a bit of that experience at home. (more…)
When it’s this hot, it’s hard to do much of anything. Instead I’m daydreaming about a day at the beach with some of my favorite pics of beaches around the world. I’m imagining cool water, the sound of waves and a salty breeze. Can’t get away for a beach vacation this summer? Click HERE for a playlist designed to help you find your inner beach!
Picture perfect beach on the island of Phu Quoc off the coast of Vietnam
One of the most important words in understanding how Italians view food is ‘tipico’ or typical. Want to learn how to pronounce it? Click HERE
In Italy, each region, each town and sometimes each family has recipes that are ‘typical’ of that area and based on traditions passed down through generations. In reality, Italian food doesn’t exist. Instead there is the food of Sardinia or Rome or Piedmont. In a world where food traditions are disappearing and the same fast food is available from Kansas City to Cairo, I find it comforting to know that food that speaks of a place, that is typical of a region, still exists. (more…)
