CUORE FELICE

Once my father married my stepmother, Columbus Day was spent at an unsuspecting "resort" in West Virginia. Yes, I heard it - " resort in West Virginia ." Some of the main events included the flag raising and anthem every morning at 7 am right before the breakfast bell, a large community room with metal puzzles, cider, and snacks right before the dinner bell, and a nightly bonfire with camp songs and roasted hot dogs. (It cracks me up remembering Uncle Craig acting out the mot

My Bread and Butter has been tweaked both by my shock at how much sugar was in the original recipe and by a dear memory of my grandmother. Between 10 and 12 years old, I was shipped off to my grandmother's for spring break. "Shipped off" has a negative connotation, but who could complain about spending time with your namesake one on one in Winter Park, Florida of all places. It turned disastrous one year when it was the week my boyfriend dropped me for my best friend, but the

In the middle of June, I found myself with 10 lbs. of peaches, 5 cups of basil, and 7 cups of mint (Some beans and new potatoes too!). I knew I would make basil pesto since I am curing all the garlic that I grew. But what to do with 10 lbs. of peaches??? PEACH MINT JAM! Three years ago, my neighbor brought me her homemade strawberry jam, and it was the best jam I've ever had. She offhandedly texted, "It's made the old-fashioned way - without pectin." I had NO idea what she w

Greeting cards have all been sent, but the Christmas rush certainly isn't through. After a whirlwind trip to Southampton, England hours after giving my exams, a near brush with Eclare Cassidy Stoot and her boys, and then boarding the Queen Mary 2 for a cross-Atlantic voyage, there was a day walking my old NYC haunts and Hugh Jackman in Music Man on Broadway. All this, only to have a flight cancelled and a train to Philly to catch a flight home for Christmas . It's ok, of co