Oh, that sounds absolutely marvelous. I love talking with older folks about food--I always learn something interesting.

Ruth--Real Food by Nina Planck compares the composition of various traditional cooking fats.

Soup is one of the things I love about cooking during the cold months. It’s not only economical, but for me, a very lazy way to turn leftovers into dinner, fast. This week, I had leftover roast chicken, steamed rice, breakfast potatoes, steamed broccoli. I started stock with chicken carcass in the morning, then chicken & rice soup and cheddar-bacon chowder with broccoli for dinner that night (daughter doesn’t like potatoes, so see gets chicken & rice)...and lunches the next day and the next. Between the bit of chopping and heating, it took me maybe 30 minutes to make two soups? Oh, and because broccoli overcooks so easily, we just added it to our bowls and poured the hot soup on top.

This is totally making my mouth water! And I know you have a whole book on puff pastry, but I’m trying to avoid that (the pastry, that is) and think I will try this topped with thinly sliced potatoes, brushed with olive oil, instead.

I was there last night as well. The story of Kevin, boy who died from E coli tainted burger, really haunted me. His mom’s strength astounds me. I wish I could get my Green Revolution dad to go see the movie.

Since all-purpose flour is a combination of pastry flour and bread flour, you shouldn’t need all-purpose flour if you have the other two (or four, if you’re keeping whole and white versions). I use bread flour (white whole wheat or unbleached white) for yeasted baked goods and pastry flour for most everything else.

I recently bought a peppermill specifically for grinding small amounts of spices on the fly--I use if for grinding corianders, cloves. It’s easier and quieter than getting out the coffee grinder just to grind 1/2 tsp of spices.

I find ginger keeps in the fridge for a month or more. I store it in in paper bag in the crisper.

We just enjoyed our first taste of asparagus from our garden this year. Blanched and lighted salted...just amazing. Once we start harvesting 3-4 times a week, we eat the tips fresh and freeze the stalks for soups, quiche, and my favorite, twice-baked potatoes.

Such a lovely article, Harriet. My plan is to make lots of fried chicken this summer for taking on picnics...I’ll be pestering you for Hattie’s recipe.