Fried Egg Sandwiches

I had the delight of a mother-daughter day last week. I had a vacation day, only part of which was devoted to a session at Write by the Lake at UW-Madison. So, I took my daughter with me, planning to spend time at the Henry Vilas Zoo and then my company’s family picnic. As we [...]

Partaking of the Picadillo

When I was a little girl I used to refuse to eat the Picadillo my mother would make because it contained raisins. It was sort of an unreasonable kid thing to do, but I could steadfastly refuse, so I did. If you aren’t familiar with Picadillo it is a traditional Spanish dish, a kind of [...]

The Legend of the Taganu, A Folk Tale

“Six dozen eggs?! Grandma, are you sure that is right? What are you making? Where did you get this recipe?” “Taganu [Ta-ah-noo] D’Aragona.” Grandma started pulling cartons of eggs from the refrigerator. “This recipe came across the Atlantic on the S.S. SanGiovanni when your Great Grandmother Emanuella Cacciatore immigrated to the United States. It’s the [...]

The Cream Puff Milestone

This Saturday my daughter achieved one of her most important developmental milestones as a Wisconsinite: She had her first Cream Puff at the Wisconsin State Fair. My husband had an unexpected day off this past Saturday, so we assembled a well packed diaper backpack, loaded the “all-terrain” Radio Flyer wagon into the back of the [...]

Of Love, Laughter and a Varnished Rolling Pin

I took my grandmother’s 1941 Westinghouse cookbook from its hallowed place on the top shelf of the china cabinet (also my grandmother’s) and carefully turned to page 104 where I found the recipe for baking powder biscuits. This is the recipe that my grandmother used, the one that my mother used, and the one that [...]