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Friday’s Fresh Five! (11/8/13)
The golden morning sun sneaks in through a kitchen window and kisses the autumn fruit. Three kisses to be exact. One, for being so sweet. Another, for being so perfect. And the third one . . . well,...
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Hearty Lentil Soup
“Can you stay for dinner?” an elementary schoolmate asked me decades ago. “We’re having lentil soup, she said. “What are lentils?” I asked. Being of Asian descent, lentils had never passed through my...
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Friday’s Fresh Five! (11/15/13)
Rainbow lint covers every imaginable surface in my home. T-shirt scarves tagged and waiting to be bagged lie in yard-high heaps on my dining room table. 344 scarves to be exact, an amount that far...
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Whopper Cookies: Baking with Halloween Candy
When Halloween has come and gone, but the Halloween candy has not, what do you do with the leftovers? Do you force yourself to eat them up one by one or do you spare yourself the calories and take...
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Friday’s Fresh Five! (11/22/13)
Shorter days and cooler air send signals to leaves to change their colors. As their veins constrict, leaves gradually loose their dominant green coloration, unmasking inherent yellow and orange...
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Saying Goodbye To My Dog Romeo
RomeoDecember 1998 to November 2013 As Romeo forces air into his lungs, his rib cage rattles and his entire body shivers. While I watch him breathe, tears roll down my cheeks. He lifts his head at the...
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Sugar and Spice Pecans
Do more ingredients and more steps make a recipe better? Not necessarily. Last week my daughter and I attempted to make an elaborate pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. The recipe involved more steps and...
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Friday’s Fresh Five! (12/6/13)
His eyes close as the sun shines on his face and the wind blows through his hair. My dog’s face reflects sheer bliss during a recent car ride. Dogs live in the present moment and savor all of life’s...
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Morocan Lamb Stew
Frosty cold days and nights call for hearty stews. Saffron, cumin, ginger, and orange zest are among the ingredients that add a wonderful depth of flavor to this lamb stew. The list of ingredients may...
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Friday’s Fresh Five! (12/13/13)
Like fog rolling in and stealing the sun, winter doldrums came and swept over me. Even though it’s not officially winter yet, I’ve been feeling kind of blue these last couple of weeks. Realizing this,...
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Gingerbread Pancakes With Maple Cream
Take a good look at these lightly-spiced caramel-colored pancakes. Better yet, click on the photo to enlarge it. They appear deliciously light and fluffy, but something is missing. Butter? No. Syrup?...
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Friday’s Fresh Five! (12/20/13)
Frost-tender plants wore coats of burlap and once-fluid water took on an other-worldly appearance. For several nights in a row, a hard frost hit my area. Like a child on Christmas morning, who runs...
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Appetizer Roundup: 6 Favorite Appetizers Revisted
“Ugh, I have to bring appetizers again! Any ideas on what I should make for the party next week?” grumbled my daughter. “Why don’t you check out the appetizer recipes on my blog?” I replied, trying...
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Friday’s Fresh Five! (1/3/14)
A near-leafless rose stem, cut from its mother bush, sits alone in a jar of water on a cold window sill. Even though the words “Don’t Forgetta” are embossed on the jar, time passes with little...
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Hungarian Rhapsody Coffee Cake
Cheesecake for breakfast? Coffee cake for dessert? Either way, the versatility of this impressive cake cannot be denied. With its cheesecake-like texture and egg-rich flavor, this cake stands out at...
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Friday’s Fresh Five! (1/10/14)
With his Santa’s hat askew, Buster, a black Lab, looks warily over at Ruca, his playful Corgi cousin from New York. “Is she still there?” one could only imagine him thinking as he tries to avoid eye...
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Hot and Sweet Vegetable and Tofu Soup
After nearly two months of holiday gluttony, I longed for a soothing and nutritious soup. With its balance of spicy, sweet, and sour, this soup fit the bill. Simple to make and delicious to eat, this...
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Friday’s Fresh Five! (1/17/14)
It freezes. It melts. It evaporates. Water exists in solid, liquid, and gaseous states and, given specific conditions, it transforms itself repeatedly throughout the course of time. It’s a wondrous...
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Chips, Dips, and Strips: Tasty Low-Fat Appetizers
So what if your favorite football team failed in its attempt to reach the Super Bowl? Plenty of other reasons exist in life for you to throw a get-together with friends! Start the festivities out with...
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Friday’s Fresh Five! (1/24/14)
The sum of all parts makes for an engaging whole. Buster, my grand-pup, tries to ignore me as I walk around him with my camera. I’m touching him but, worse than that, I’m in his face and I’m...
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