Monthly Archives: December 2011

Postcard from Up North

Harbor clock BW POST

There is no past that we can bring back by longing for it. There is only an eternally new now that builds and creates itself out of the Best, as the past withdraws. ~Joahann Wolfgang Von Goethe (Happy New Year … Continue reading

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Caramel Corn to help you ring in the New Year

Caramel corn on waxed paper POST

Every year around the holidays, memories of the times I’ve spent up north at Christmas and New Year’s inevitably surface. I’ve never been much of a New Year’s Eve fan, at least not once I started going out for parties … Continue reading

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Postcard from Up North

Christmas tree on Main Street

Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas. ~ Calvin Coolidge (Twinkling lights on Main Street, in … Continue reading

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Postcard from Up North

Fudge shop POST

I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. ~Anne Frank (The good-hearted–and huge–Howse family has been satisfying many a sweet tooth here for generations, and fudge is just the … Continue reading

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Lebanese Baklawa. Do you hear what I hear?

Baklawa Bernadaud plate large POST

The role baklawa plays in the repertoire of the Lebanese home cook is formidable. Most every Lebanese woman of my parents’ generation makes her baklawa for special occasions, especially Christmas. We swoon over baklawa to such a degree that it’s … Continue reading

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Technique: How to clarify butter for Lebanese baklawa

Butter clarified 3 POST

I have become such close friends with butter over the last year that this post makes me feel right at home in butter’s lovin’ arms. I didn’t used to be so free and easy about butter. In fact, I shunned … Continue reading

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Ingredient: Phyllo dough

Phyllo dough layer POST

Perhaps it’s my love of paper that inspires my fascination with phyllo dough. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Either way, phyllo dough is a beautiful, delicate pastry that requires a lot of tender loving care when handled. Made … Continue reading

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Postcard from Up North

Berry tree first snow POST

If you have made mistakes, even serious mistakes, you may have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call “failure” is not the falling down, but the staying down. ~ Mary Pickford (First snow on Main … Continue reading

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Lebanese Hushwe, and from the kitchen, a family farewell for my father

Hushwi plate POST

The Lebanese cook their grief. Illness and death call the Lebanese to their kitchens, to their lists on the fridge, to their huge pots and pans that they can lean on, sighing, stirring, spicing, clicking their tongues over the need … Continue reading

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Technique: How to roast chicken for Lebanese hushwe

Hushwi in a bowl POST

We’re cooking something very special this week here on Main Street, and hopefully in your kitchen too. Hushwe is the ultimate Lebanese comfort food. A cinnamon-scented rice pilaf with beef, chicken, and nuts, hushwe packs a punch on the nutrition … Continue reading

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Postcard from Down South

Naples lit palms Bay Colony POST

The appearance of things changes according to the emotions, and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves. ~Kahlil Gibran (Royal Palm trees, in holiday finery. These were so fun I … Continue reading

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Candied Orange Peel begins with the letter “C”

Candied peel in jar POST

When my mother moved out of the home she lived in for 40 years, the home where she raised five children, a husband, many vegetable and flower gardens, and 50 pine trees, there was plenty of accumulated stuff to sort … Continue reading

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