Eggs! And, eggs. Eight or nine eggs each day. It's the two-sided coin of owning 11 chickens. On one side, I'm thrilled to have fresh eggs always available. On the other, the stream of eggs is so steady at this time of the year,...

My Sicilian great-grandfather, an immigrant to this country, was always making do. My grandfather would laughingly recount how at meal times, his dad would look at the family and say, "You take five bites of bread, and one bite of meat." That was the ratio that would make sure everyone...

Several years ago, a friend volunteered to keep my oldest daughter while I went to an appointment. When I came back, we debriefed on what they'd done, whether she'd eaten, etc. My friend said to me, "I gave her a Pop Tart...

My father-in-law showed up the other day with a garbage bag full of pink grapefruit that he'd picked from one of his trees. What was I going to do with a garbage bag full of grapefruit? There are six of us...

The beginning of a new year is upon us making it a great time to re-evaluate, set goals (some we'll keep and some we already haven't), and think about all that this coming year could be. It's an optimistic time, with the...

By now, you're most likely feeling the holiday crunch: presents to buy, parties to attend, preparations to make for travel. It's stressful, this time of joy and celebration. I've noticed a big part of a smooth holiday month for me is knowing what we...

I have a recipe journal that I started several years ago (2002). I thought, at the beginning, that I would only put "special" recipes in it, like, say, what I made for my first dinner party (San Francisco, pork tenderloin, berry Napoleons for dessert)....

For the last few years, finances have been pretty uncertain for our family. And when I say uncertain, I don't mean we've been asking questions like "Will we still be able to take our family vacation this year?" No. The uncertainty has been more like "Mommy? Are we going to...