For this year's Thanksgiving gathering, my assignment is desserts, of which one must, according to Thanksgiving law or something, be a pumpkin pie. Pumpkin pie is not my favorite pie, but to others, it's not Thanksgiving without it. And since I'm in a crowd-pleasing mood, I'll bake one.

In searching...

Friday is National Doughnut Day and as a doughnut devotee, I am in celebration mode.

I'm not alone in my love of doughnuts. According to one of my favorite little pamphlets, published in 1945 by the Doughnut Corp. of America, the doughnut is a symbol of fellowship, friendliness and...

There was a time when the home telephone was a big deal and a long-distance telephone call an event. With the cost of long distance by the minute, conversation was expensive and strictly for the adults -- unless it was your birthday; then, of the three-minute call from far-away grandparents,...

What's Joy to the World without the J? Oy, which is Yiddish for woe, headache or pain in the patootee, which is what Christmas is to a lot of people.

But not to me. For whether more Oy-ful than Joyful depends on whether you're an insider to the...

In its 69th year, the USO continues its mission to deliver a touch of home to those serving in the military in a faraway place.

Organized in 1941 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as a "Home Away from Home" for U.S. troops, the United Service Organizations (USO) is a non-governmental...

My family is certifiably sports crazy. A testosterone trio, they relate through baseball's statistics, Hail Mary passes, 140-mph serves, the World Wrestling Federation and college basketball. I never shared their obsession. Following years of dropping my sons off at fields and gyms...

I cook and bake by the book. Literally. Which explains rows of spice jars occupying an entire cabinet: if a recipe calls for a particular spice, I buy it and it remains shelved until called for in another recipe.

For my recent birthday I chose to bake a macaroon...

Every morning, I open the front door and retrieve the day's newspapers. We subscribe to two, the local paper to keep up with what's going down in southeastern Colorado, and the Denver Post, so we know what's up in the big city. Our third subscription expired a year ago, when...

I'm not a snow person, which explains why one of my happiest days was our relocation 29 years ago from a home in the Colorado mountains to the High Plains. More than a change in altitude and attitude, the winter out here is more like Arizona's than Aspen - sunny...

At almost 12 years old, the highlight of my week was spending Saturday morning at the Carolina Theatre's Circle K Club with my girlfriends.

"Bussy" McGill, whose daddy owned the Carolina, saved the best seats for our clique - the first...

Poor Santa. Today is IT for him to get it right. Imagine the stress!

In this Christmas advertisement from 1936, Santa takes times from his hectic delivery schedule to enjoy a calming smoke.

Oh, that a bit of vice would provide us the gift...

I was interviewed on The Recipe Box about National Tie One On Day. During the show, the host read an email from a listener that basically said, I don't cook, I open cans, which I took for her excuse to not participate in NTOOD. "You'll have to do better,"...

Setting a festive table can be the most, or least, enjoyable part of hosting the Thanksgiving gathering.

Some hostesses see the dining table as a blank canvas awaiting heirlooms of Damask, polished silver, sparkling crystal and china, while an expanse of naked tabletop puts others into a tailspin of anxiety.

One of the joys in growing up during the Fifties was watching the children's programming on television. Every afternoon we would sit inches from the screen and watch one show after the next until Daddy came home for supper and turned the TV off. There was Pinky Lee, Winky Dink,...

The last weekend of August, we traveled to Houston to celebrate the marriage of our dear friends' youngest son. Houston in August. The last time Prince Charming and I ventured to such a drippy, hot locale in the summertime was to our own wedding in Greensboro, North Carolina.

In...

Recently, we received news the most wonderful company was paying us an overnight visit. On their arrival day, I got up super early and baked this two layer yellow pudding cake.

With each step of its preparation -- from opening the boxed...

When my youngest child left for college, I knew my full-time, 24-year homemaking career was over. I'd always wanted to be a writer, but I knew nothing about writing professionally. So in 2000, I attended the Santa Barbara Writer's Conference, chosen because I'd heard SB was a really pretty place.

Arriving twenty minutes early for my interview with Julia Child, I bided time snapping pictures of her front door with my new camera. Satisfied the flash was working and the film advancing, I thought to read the manual on setting the self-timer, but dismissed any need-to-know, figuring whoever answers the...

On June 22, 2002, I interviewed Julia Child about her apron memory. How I came to be seated at a cloth covered patio table across from America's most beloved cook is a whole other blog (tags: serendipity, friendship, largess).

I came bearing two gifts: an apron I'd sewn especially for...