Chocolate and pecans: Made for each other, right? My Southern Chocolate Pound Cake delivers delight in every bite, even without this magnificent fudgy-pecan glaze. Enjoy it plain or embellished --- either way, it's do-able pound cake heaven. Valentine's Day Thoughts Flowers, candy, cards, candlelit dinners, chocolate: That's my word-association ...
Good Times and Special Events
Our Very Special Christmas Tree of 2016
Christmas is my favorite holiday for more reasons than I can count, and for once not even focused on the edible aspects of the celebrations. Don't get me wrong --- I adore the cookies (making/baking/eating/sharing) and the fruitcake (not ironic; I really do!) and the eggnog (even in an occasional over-the-top latte) and the signature confections ...
Pableaux Johnson and His Red Beans Road Show
Can you see how much fun we all had back in July of this year, getting in the kitchen with my friend Pableaux Johnson for his Red Beans Road Show, Crook's Corner Edition? My friend Kate Medley took this in the gloriously flower-filled herbaceous, and hubcap-blessed dooryard of Crook's, on the corner where Chapel Hill turns into Carrboro and ...
Deviled Eggs: The Party Perfect, People-Pleasing Food
Whenever I am starting a menu for a gathering at our home, be it dinner or snacks, family or company, sultry summer or chilly wintertime, the first thing on my list is deviled eggs. I love them, but I don't make them only for my own satisfaction. They are simple to make, beloved by guests of all ages, wonderful made ahead or at the last ...
Craftsy Class: Classic Pies Made Easy
Back in July, I had the good fortune to travel back to Craftsy.com 's Studio F in Denver to shoot my second online video cooking class with an amazing, talented and delightful Craftsy crew. It was a whirlwind week with clouds of flour, sprinkles of sugar, strawberries and syrup, buttermilk and butterscotch, all rolled out, stirred ...
Nancie’s Favorite Fourth of July Cake
Need an easy-to-make, easy-to-take cake for Fourth of July celebrations? Here's just what you need! My Red, White, and Blueberry 4th of July Cake, baked in a square cake pan, covered with vanilla frosting and decked out in the Red, White, and Blue! Fun, easy, and so delicious --- Ready, Set, BAKE! This Red White and Blueberry 4th of July Cake ...
Easy Strawberry Icebox Pie
Pretty, pink, party-ready: This easy strawberry icebox pie is simple to make and sure to delight you and yours! Use a graham cracker crust and serve it with whipped cream for a cool finishing touch. Easy as Pie, no-bake, do-ahead, and sure to please your people AND you! Icebox Pies and Why We Love Them: What is make-ahead, easy to prepare, ...
Thai Coconut Ice Cream with Caramelized Pineapple: A Sweet Vegan Treat!
This beautiful photograph graces my new cookbook, Simply Vegetarian Thai Cooking: 125 Real Thai Recipes, but I assure you it is not how I serve luscious coconut ice cream at home. I love the beautiful way professional food photographers and food stylists present food, just as I love the atmospheric travel scenes in fashion magazines, and the ...
Happy Pi-Day! 3-14-15 via Ronni Lundy’s Sorghum Pecan Pie
What a lucky week for me: I was pondering which pie to make in honor and celebration of National Pi Day 2015, and the answer arrived in my mail box. I received a review copy of the brand new book by my friend Ronni Lundy, entitled Sorghum's Savor. Published by University of Florida Press, this book lets Ronni share the story of this heirloom ...
Turkey Bone Gumbo: Leftovers as Pleasures and Treasures
Leftovers. A word with negative connotations to many, but not to me. To some folks, the fridge-filling presence of something as big and challengingas the rest of the Thanksgiving turkey, or remains of the ham, or a mostly-finished rotisserie chicken is a burden, but consider revising that attitude. I see such items as a head start on a brand-new ...
Pimento Cheese Crisps: “Pimento Cheese, The Cookbook” by Perre Coleman Magness
Just in time for holiday feasting, snacking, sharing, and celebrating, this smart, inviting new cookbook by my friend Perre Coleman Magness will be getting a workout all holiday season long. That will continue through the year, because it's not just for holiday occasions, but what a boon to have it here now. I've been enjoying ...
Summer Plum Torte, Easy and Elegant
What a treasure! One layer of luscious but simple plum-studded goodness, simple to make and a pleasure to share. No wonder it's the New York Times's most beloved and requested recipe! You need Summer Plum Torte in your repertoire, to vary and enjoy all year long! I love Lottie + Doof, a blog by a Chicago-based food writer and photographer named ...
Black History Month Cookbook Round-Up: A Feast for Cooks and Readers
Throughout February, I've been celebrating Black History Month on my Facebook page, with daily postings of cookbooks written by African American authors. I got the idea from my friend Nicole Taylor, who is always cooking up something fine: Check her out at Food Culturist , My Black Journey, @foodculturist, Facebook page, and ...
Lunar New Year Farewell: Mom’s Special Dish and Good-Luck Lettuce
Meet my friend Shirley Lin. She lives in San Francisco and just like me, she adores food, cooking, culture, and travel. With these common interests, I could have met her anywhere in the world, but the place I was lucky enough to meet her was Beijing. I traveled there last fall with my husband, who had a scientific conference to attend in ...
Lunar New Year: Remembering the Flavors of a Family Reunion
Happy New Year! Thursday evening was the beginning of Lunar New Year, a grand 15-day celebration particularly for people in China, Singapore, Vietnam, Taiwan, Korea, and Hong Kong, as well as in Asian communities all over the world. While eating together and eating special lucky foods remains a theme throughout the holiday season, that first dinner ...
Lunar New Year: Welcoming Spring and the Year of the Horse
Lunar New Year celebrations begin officially this coming Friday evening, when the new moon shows up in the wintry night sky. Unlikely as it may seem to those of us grew up associating the arrival of springtime with daffodils, tulips and the packing away of gloves, scarves and snow boots, this huge Asian cultural celebration welcomes spring. It's a ...
Banana Cream Pie from Beth M. Howard’s “Making Piece” on Leite’s Culinaria
Last week we went to heaven --- not the one-way ticket concept, or the Rewards for Good Behavior concept, but the Heaven on Earth concept, and it was lovely all around. My friends Dean and Joe have a beautiful farm up past Scranton, Pennsylvania, with all the transcendant beauty of an old-school dairy farm and none of the work. We sleep late, sit ...
Take a “Stand Against Racism” Today, with the Wonderful YWCA!
Way on back in 1970, when certain people were in the process of graduating from high school (High Point Central High School: Go, Bison!) the national organization of the YWCA took a look at where we are as a nation and a culture, and chose to put the elimination of racism at the top of its purpose in the world. This means they took the bold, ...
Dinner with “The Lee Bros. Charleston Kitchen”
Ever since I first heard about the Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue in which Matt and Ted Lee offer an abundance of Southern ingredients and foods both by mail order and online, I have been a big fan of Matt and Ted Lee. (About that catalog: It's simply wonderful. I adore it even though I live right here in the South. They actually ...
Rebecca Lang: Around the Southern Table and Sweet Potato Casserole
Holiday season is in full swing in my world, and while the food and cooking are not the only focus, they have always brought me great joy. For me, getting in the kitchen to cook and serve big holiday meals has always been a pleasure and a worthwhile gratifying form of work. Not everybody feels this way, and thank heavens for that! Those of us who ...
“Pretty Is as Pretty Does”: On Beauty and How We See It
On Beauty and How We See It I have many reasons to be grateful for the opportunity of following Shauna James Ahern via social media. She's the one in the middle in this photo, taken by fellow food writer Maria Minadeo Raynal of Fresh Eats At Home HERE, during a fantastic lunch at NOLA, one of Emeril Legasse's fine restaurants in ...
“Under the Tuscan Sun Dinner” at Fearrington House with Francis and Edward Mayes
"Under the Tuscan Sun Dinner" at Fearrington House with Francis and Edward Mayes Autumn nudges me toward reflection, and tonight I'm remembering a recent evening full of delights. The time was sunset, two weeks ago today; the setting, the lovely Fearrington House Restaurant, an extraordinary restaurant, inn, and residential community ...
Fearrington House “Under the Tuscan Sun Dinner” with Francis and Edward Mayes
Autumn nudges me toward reflection, and tonight I'm remembering a recent evening full of delights. The time was sunset, two weeks ago today; the setting, the lovely Fearrington House Restaurant, an extraordinary restaurant, inn, and residential community located just a few miles south of Chapel Hill. The occasion was irresistible for me: ...
September 11: Gratefully Remembering New York Times “Portraits of Grief”
Yesterday was serene and sunny here in North Carolina, an easy early-fall day. Schools opened three weeks ago, and summertime feels distant, even though it's barely a week since the heat and vacation-mood faded away. New York City feels distant too, in place and time. I thought about 9/11 now and then throughout the day, not because of ...
Happy 100th Birthday to the Hughes Family and Pine Knot Farms: A North Carolina Century Farm
I've been a fan and a customer of Mr. Stanley Hughes and Pine Knot Farms since we moved home to North Carolina from Southern California in 1999. His family farm out in Hurdle Mills, 12 miles north of Hillsborough, produces a marvelous organic harvest which he sells to area chefs and to the public at the Carrboro Farmers' Market. His justifiably ...
Midnight Snack on My First Night Back in Bangkok: Thai Rice Soup/kao tom
Arriving at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport long past 11:00 p.m. on a July evening, I transformed from a drowsy denizen of giant metal flying machines into a dazzled and grateful traveller, amazed to actually be standing on solid ground at my destination: Thailand. Like the magnificent red and gold doorway greeting placed to ...
Summer Farmer’s Market Vegetable Plate “Nicoise” with Spoonbread for #LetsLunch
Farmers' markets make me happy, always, anywhere, anytime of the year. They inspire cooks, attract all kinds of people, delight children, and decorate the world with produce, flowers, jams and hand-crafted many-things. One of the fine farmers' markets which are local for lucky me here in NC is the Carrboro Farmers' Market, whose tagline "Locally ...
Video Visit to a Great Little Cafe Near Bangkok’s Royal River Hotel
A tall cool Thai iced coffee, brought to my table at a small, delightful Bangkok cafe, one which became instant headquarters for many of the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers gathered at the Royal River Hotel during July for Peace Corps Thailand 50th Anniversary celebrations. Check my blogpost HERE about my first meal there, a fantastic lunch ...
Thai Lunch with Ellie and Paul
My first day back in Thailand (overview post HERE), my friends Ellie and Paul and I took a short walk out the door of the Royal River Hotel and down the lane to a small cafe recommended by Friends of Thailand leader and dear pal Carolyn Nickels-Cox. It's an open-air place with six or eight tables, turquoise-blue walls, and a beverage-making set-up ...
My Thailand Adventure, July 2012
This gilded red doorway loomed majestically before me when I stepped from a long, meandering jetway into the G Concourse of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport just before midnight on July 10th, 2012. What a glorious sight, soaring up twice as tall as me, placed to greet arriving passengers first thing. I felt perfectly, handsomely ...
Traveling to Thailand
That's me, 23-year old Peace Corps Trainee, working on an ESL lesson plan during practice teaching at a school in the northernmost Thai province of Chiang Rai. It was March of 1975, the beginning of my time in Thailand. I returned in 1989 to do research for my first cookbook. Now I am heading to Thailand again, this time to to join festivities ...
Foster’s Farm Dinners: A Chapel Hill Creamery Feast in June
Way on back in 1999, when we were in the process of moving from our Southern California home to Piedmont North Carolina, my husband Will came on ahead to begin his new job in RTP, the high tech-biotech research centered business park created back in the 50's, on land between Durham, Raleigh, and Chapel Hill. I stayed behind in Carlsbad to finish ...