My dad is a master beekeeper. He builds his own box frames much to my mother's dismay. It causes a lot of clutter in the garage. But he looks awfully amusing in his bee suit. Rather like an astronaut.He gets his bees from Georgia, not me, the state. It's an exciting time when they arrive.…
When I was at Tulipwood last week, I took a trip to Gilberties Herb Farm with Grandma Pellegrini. She had been talking about this place for many months. Since early winter. She and my great-aunt used to go regularly she told me, they would get up early while it was still cool enough to be…
I’m 34,000 feet in the sky again. I seem to be up here a lot. I’m hoping to have a lull again this summer before I embark on a whole new book that I’m about to write, which will require travel which means many more posts from up here. Did I tell you about the…
I'm in New York this week, which was perhaps serendipitous since it's May Day, and with it, came a lesson in sweet woodruff from Grandma Pellegrini.Sweet woodruff, is also known as Master of the Woods. It is a perennial, with small white flowers that bloom in May and June and star-like leaves in circles of…
Grandma P. and I had a recent exchange via Gmail, as we are prone to do. We like to talk about projects. And radio programs. She tells me what Arthur Schwartz and Joan Hamburg are up to in New York and I tell her what the latest title of my book is. She has much…
I really dislike shopping. It brings out the worst in me. I become cranky and fatigued within 5 minutes of entering a store. I find this is particularly the case when shopping for clothing.There are a few exceptions... but it usually involves bribing me with a muffin, or promising me that a cream puff is…
A while ago I uncovered a recipe book from my great-great grandmother. It was full of recipes for brown bread. She was mildly obsessed with it I think. Maybe it tapped into her Puritan nature and she felt satisfied by its simplicity.Then a while after that, I got the latest edition of our family recipe…
In honor of spring, there was a hurricane at Tulipwood.Massive trees that have been around since my great grandfather went down like dominoes. One hit another, which hit another, which hit another... and down they went, and up came the roots.This one was outside the kitchen door. It was extremely tall.It was one of the…
I've been keeping secrets from you.Well, just one wonderful secret.This is the woman who is responsible for my love of food:She took care of me when I was young. She would pick me up from nursery school and bring me to her house and sit me at the end of her long wooden table so…