As a 14-year-old groupie of comedian George Carlin — thanks to my summer friend, Kathy Fay — I could not wait for 11:30 p.m. on Oct. 11, 1975. The Hippy Dippy Weatherman was the host of this new TV comedy show called, “NBC Saturday Night” and I was staying up to watch, dammit. By 1 […]
Jan. 10, 2022 Delivered at St. Elizabeth’s Church, Bristol, RI Spider-Man may be ruling the box office right now, but today we gather to honor another superhero, my brother, John. John, with his sense of duty, intelligence, physical strength and hard-to-read face, emulated…Batman. Think about it. Anytime any one of us flashed the Bat Signal, […]
I’m mathphobic. Numbers make me completely nuts, especially when I have to scale up or down a recipe. “Who left this long division on the bench,” asked Flour baker Keith Brooks, waving a paper towel with calculations written on it. I ‘fessed up. Sheepishly. “What? I’m impressed. It’s so old school. Everyone else here uses […]
I spent what little time I had in New York last Sunday morning scoping out — and sampling the offerings — at various Big Apple bakeries. Because that’s just what I do. It’s really not my fault. My husband is still peeved that our family spent most of our time in Lisbon at Casa Pasteis […]
I thought I was done. Not only with the 3-feet-plus of snow piled up on my lawn, but with my kitchen. After yet another weekend hunkered down in the house where I baked, seared, sautéed, slow-cooked and fired up my dishwasher every 2 hours, I couldn’t bear to re-enter the kitchen today. Besides, I think […]
I got a kick out of Thrillist.com’s “22 Things You’ve Definitely Eaten If You Grew Up In New England” post the other day. All the usual suspects were there – Fluffernutters, NECCO Wafers, Hoodsie Cups… But I learned something, too. Apparently, American Chop Suey is a New England thing. I was shocked. Just shocked, I […]
It hit me when I walked in the door of the kitchen: the smell of eggs boiling on the stove. My stomach flipped. If this was how I was to begin my Tuesday cooking stint at Paraclete Academy, I was in for quite a ride. As readers of this blog are well aware, eggs are […]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is of the opinion I’m a menace to the road. In fact, I’m such a threat to man and beast when I get behind the wheel, the Registry of Motor Vehicles threatened to pull my license if I didn’t pony up $125 to attend a day-long, re-education seminar called “Attitudinal Dynamics […]
I haven’t lived or gone to school in Rhode Island in 100 35 years, but the sight of a Del’s Lemonade sign or a bottle of Autocrat coffee syrup on a grocery store shelf makes me wistful. I grew up on coffee syrup in my milk, spinach pies and pizza from the bakery, Korb’s rye […]
I don’t have a vegetable garden, but this summer I found myself with an overabundance of tomatoes — tri-color cherry tomatoes, beefy beefsteaks and hearty heirlooms. I bought a plethora of pints at local farmers’ markets. And recently, one of Colleen‘s organic farm friends off-loaded a crate of cherry tomatoes amongst other veggies at Goat […]