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Blogging 101
There is rarely a perfect time to do anything.
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Indian-spiced Grilled Chicken with Fresh Tomato Chutney
Springtime for me means that it’s time for ripe tomatoes, fresh herbs, grilling and dining alfresco. We’ve had warm, sunny days but chilly nights for weeks now. Nice enough to grill some nights, but too cool to eat on the deck. This past weekend, I took a chance and planted my herb garden. And last…
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Escape to the Big City: 36 hours in Asheville
I should escape to Asheville more often. It is about 5 times as large (population of around 87,000 compared to 18,000) and feels like a big city compared to Boone. But mostly it feels bigger to me because it has lots more great restaurants! While there are a handful of restaurants in this area that…
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Lunch at Phoenicia Gourmet
A couple of weeks ago while on the Gulf coast, I had a lovely lunch with a friend at Phoenicia Gourmet, a Mediterranean restaurant in downtown Ocean Springs, Mississippi which my sister had suggested. Had I known how good it was going to be I would have taken pictures, made note of our charming waiter’s name, and…
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Dinner
I could have written this post on Motherlode about family dinner. I especially like this: But still, there we will be, with children too small to yet hunt, forage and gather for themselves, perpetually wanting to eat, particularly around dinner time, day after day after day. Although mine are not. At first I could not remember…
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Zucchini Squash Fritters
Its transition time at Farmer’s Market and roadside stands. Mine still has an abundance of beautiful heirloom tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini and a colorful variety of peppers. But the apples, sweet potatoes, pumpkins and butternut squash are quickly muscling them out of the way. I’ve been wanting to make these savory zucchini fritters all summer long…
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Back to school and meal planning
The kids and I have been back to school for about a week now. I had this vision that all in life would immediately settle into a new routine as the over-business of my summer magically turned to mist and evaporated. Sadly, that is not how it is going. Take Two. I made a meal…
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Pan-grilled Salmon with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Parmesan Grits
This time of the year, I make a lot of what I call “One-Pot Wonders”. This is not one of those recipes. My recipe for Pan-grilled Salmon with Roasted Chery Tomatoes and Parmesan Grits messes up some pans, but comes together pretty easily with a company-worthy presentation. It is a lovely meal to serve when…
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Kick-Booty Pork Chili
The Super Bowl is tomorrow and lots of my friends are getting all geared and up and cooking up a storm. We’re not much into football around here so if we venture out to a party it will only be for the food. I mentioned to a friend at my Celebration of Chinese New Year…
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Beef, Root Vegatable & Barley Soup
Rare snow has fallen in various places around the South today. My Facebook feed has been full of pictures of empty grocery store shelves in Columbia, South Carolina, Rhonda Faye’s weather updates from Raceland, Louisiana, and stories of friends making the best of it by scraping together enough snow for a snowball fight and sliding…