The Culinary Cellar

      It’s been a tough year all over the country with the high heat, but there are still some orchards where the apples are available for picking.  Since the weather has been so extreme, harvest time has varied.  Search the internet to find an orchard near you and see what they have available at the […]

  It never fails.  Anytime I enter a book store or library, my heart skips a little beat and I feel an excitement in my stomach because I know I will find something to read or buy.  As far back as grade school, I loved the crackly sound of opening the new books for class.  It […]

As many of you know, my basement is still in the process of a much-needed update.  It was shoved aside the past few months, but now it’s going to begin again.  I have been wondering what kind of chair would be good, and my daughter found this one.  I need to get a least one, […]

  Here is a quote from Catherine Hernandez whose father died on 9-11:   “My father, Norberto, was a pastry chef at Windows on the World in Tower One.  For ten years, he made many fancy and famous desserts, but the sweetest dessert he made was the marble cake he made for us at home.  […]

  Happy Birthday to my beautiful girl!  When Kristina was born, she came out with her eyes wide open and looked around, liked what she saw, and has pretty much kept those gorgeous baby blues open since.  Kristina is a traveler and likes exploring everything.  Her first plane ride was at 5 months and now […]

  One of my first blogs was about my favorite vintage food magazine, Sphere, which began publication in February of 1972.  It also is the blog that people still find in Google and are so excited to learn that there are other die hard fans of the magazine to this day.  There has never been a time since […]

  Don’t get me wrong when I say I didn’t leave my heart in one of America’s most beloved and beautiful cities.  I love San Francisco.  There is still a piece of my heart there; it’s just that I couldn’t live there.  Maybe it was the times.  I lived a few miles across the Golden Gate […]

  I am a firm believer that one can never have too many canning and preserving books.  Not only are there endless food items to preserve, home canned items taste better, use local fresh items, and make wonderful gifts.  There is no better gift than something you made with your own hands.  Canning is so […]