Corn Chowder

Car rides to Maine to visit my grandparents always ended the same. We'd pull into the driveway, the tall red barn standing sentinel on one side of the driveway and the light beckoning welcome from the breezeway on the other. We'd pile out of the car and pass through the porch into the kitchen, usually eyeing a pie or two that sat on the washer to keep cool. Hugs would be given all around, car trip woes related and then we'd sit down for a bite, despite the late hour. 

Really Good French Toast

Decadent. 

I think that's the best word to describe this recipe. Definitely delicious. Definitely Amazing. But mostly, decadent. 

My mom started making this recipe when I was in high school and we all immediately fell in love with it. We would often have it for birthday breakfasts, or let's face it, weeknight suppers. 

Orange Jello Salad

I am fortunate to remember knowing three of my great-grandparents, all on my mom's side. Grandma Tippie-Toes, mom's paternal grandmother lived to be 101 and died when I was a teenager. I have many memories of laughing at her quirky ways and funny sayings. Grandpa Armond and Grandma Dorothy, mom's maternal grandparents, died when I was four, so my memories of them are few, but vivid. 

How To: Freezer Corn

A few weeks ago, I drove out to Amish country and met my mother-in-law at the local farmer's market. It's an enormous sprawling thing with vendors selling anything and everything that can be homemade or grown on the farm. Here someone is selling candies, red fireballs and sugar-dusted gummies and proud looking chocolates, smartly decorated. A lady calls out to look at her fresh baked bread, oatmeal and wheat and cinnamon raisin. The smell of yeast is hard to resist as you pass her by. Another proudly shows her canned goods, peach preserves and raspberry jams standing at attention, tempting you to buy a jar and revisit the baked goods. And then there is the produce. Rows of green and red peppers, bins of green beans and snap peas, peaches and plums carefully placed in baskets, and buckets of unshucked corn.