Beautiful, Harriet! Thank you.

Beautiful, Harriet! Thank you.

Thanks, Harriet. Beautiful writing, and peaches are my favorite.

Glad you’re back!

My “Cousin Jenny” (miner’s slang for a Cornish woman) grandmother made pasties with chunks of turnips and potatoes (never mashed). Pasties were a staple in our house when I was a kid, and when I visited Cornwall, I was happy to see her recipe wasn’t that much different from the sturdy meat pies you find there today. Thanks. Nice memories of my grandmother’s kitchen.

Way to go, Emma! And thank you for sharing your recipe.

My sister gave me a copy of Rosalea Murphy’s In The Pink many years ago. I still use it once in a while, and the Lobster Salad Fabulosa is always a big hit for picnics and potlucks. It’s a little book commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Pink Adobe restaurant in Santa Fe and contains many of Murphy’s paintings as well as menus and recipes. You can’t go wrong with art and food.

I ask each of my guests to let me know what one food (besides the turkey) makes their Thanksgiving. I then make sure I have at least a little of that food to serve. In past years, it’s meant mashed potatoes, meatballs and sauce, and pasta, (a combination I wouldn’t have created on my own to go with turkey and stuffing) but everyone feels honored and loved and it’s all lots of fun. We end up talking about our family traditions and it reminds everyone that we have so much to be thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

Three of the best things about Colorado in the summertime: Western Slope peaches, Olathe sweet corn, and Rocky Ford melons.

A beautiful story. Thanks for sharing.

We used to eat Spam a lot (sorry, couldn’t resist) when I was a kid. It was cheap and great with lots of ketchup.

And Kim, thanks for the Monty Python video. I think I ate in that particular British diner -- the only difference was that the woman behind the counter held a cigarette in her spatula hand and the ashes fell in the eggs as she scrambled them. Oh, and I don’t think they had Spam.

Great post! Thanks.

Thanks, Kim. We have another meeting this Saturday, and it looks like we’ll have almost twenty people there. The word is spreading...

I love your descriptions of your days in class. Good work! I can hardly wait for the next installment.

It’s so easy to get bogged down in all of the serious issues around food these days -- thanks for reminding me to laugh.

I used to make these all the time, but somehow they disappeared from my cookie repertoire. Thanks for the reminder, and thanks to all of you who commented with your “nutty” suggestions.

I use lemon extract in the dough and I also use a buttercream icing (butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and a little milk) instead of the standard water and powdered sugar. The cookies are beautiful and they taste good too.

This recipe is a Christmas standard in our family. My mom makes them by the hundreds from the recipe my grandmother passed down. I make them, and so do both of my grown kids. We give them away for gifts and take them to any holiday cookie exchanges we might be going to. If you want to dress them up a bit, flatten the balls and add a pecan half. Tightly sealed, they keep for weeks.

I just made a batch of buffalo chili the other night. I used organic fire roasted crushed tomatoes, left out the cumin, and used green pepper and celery. It was great. We almost never eat beef any more -- buffalo is much healthier and tastes better, and for chili it’s great because it’s not greasy.

For a spicy Southwestern twist, add about a quarter to a half teaspoon of habanero powder (depending on your heat tolerance). If you don’t like really spicy food, add pure chile powder instead. The smooth chocolate with just a little bite to it is a non-traditional treat, especially if you replace the nuts with toasted pinons. It’s a favorite around my house.

When I was in college many moons ago, I didn’t have much money for ornaments for my humble little tree, so I made salt dough ornaments. Over the years they’ve succumbed to the hazards of being packed away in mouse-infested basements and crushed in boxes, but I still have about six careworn Santas left. Every year I hang them on the tree and remember those fun days. I’ve even passed some of them on to my kids, who are now adults and have their own trees. The ornaments are older than they are, which makes them even more meaningful.