Taco soup your way, either fast or slow
Two recipes for taco soup: one in the slow cooker and one quick and easy. Both delicious and great family meals.
Fiction for foodies: Baking Cakes in Kigali
Every now and then I read a book that just perfectly illustrates how food as a theme unites all the people of the world. Baking Cakes in Kigali is one of those books. It’s most likely not a novel you’ve heard of; at least I hadn’t, although author...
The Kids are alright
Here is another reason my kids rock – not just because they wash the dishes – they also entertain me with their interesting views on the world and play Canasta. Best of all, they also give me handmade birthday and Christmas cards and gifts. Check out this year’s gift:
Geometry, guacamole-style
My Kids are pretty good at finding the fun things on YouTube – I never would have known about Magical Trevor or Gangnam Style on my own. It’s not that I don’t have the time; I’m really just not clued in enough. The newest YouTube discovery is...
The edible cell
With only one or two exceptions, I love every single one of the teachers my kids have had. They’ve embraced experiential learning, largely abandoning lectures and rote memorization in favor of group projects, individual presentations, skits, and songs. It works....
Old school backyard foodie: Oysters Rockefeller
The oysters smelled like the air on still, foggy mornings when the tide is low and kelp is heaped on the sand and the only footprints are from marauding nighttime snails – an ancient smell of brine and salty tears.
Oatmeal muffin magic and recipes for happiness
You certainly have a recipe for a perfect roasted chicken or chocolate chip cookies – for some dish that makes you and your family smile – but have you ever considered your recipe for happiness? It’s a little bit harder to describe, hmm? That’s...
Fruit of your labor
This Labor Day weekend, the Cabrillo College Farmer’s Market was ripe with summer’s bounty, baskets overflowing with tomatoes, oranges, eggplants, peppers, strawberries, as well as a sneak peak at fall’s flavors, the first local apples of the season...
Homegrown tomatoes
Only two things that money can’t buy That’s true love and home grown tomatoes LL and I used to listen to Guy Clark’s song “Homegrown Tomatoes” from the 30-foot sailboat that was our first home, the first years of our true love but before...
Dog menu on the puppy patio (everything eats)
Downtown dogs definitely don’t have any trouble finding food in Santa Cruz. If not for our pup, though, I probably never would have known; Koah has opened my eyes to an animal-lovers dog-eat-food world. Kid Two and I saw that we can take pup to Cafe...
What’s your million-dollar a year dream job?
My sister-in-law once posed the question, during a family dinner: If you could get paid a million dollar a year salary to have any job you wanted, what would it be? We went around the table and answered that we’d be presidents and novelists, brain surgeons and...
Photographs and memories
The first good digital camera I had was a Sony Mavica, an unwieldy dinosaur that stored photos on 3.5″ floppy disks. One floppy held ten high-quality photos, and at the rate I took photos, I usually needed quite a few. On our weekend family hikes I’d stuff...Welcome to my skillet!
I'm Maggie, a food-loving, curiosity-seeking, nature-loving mom. I'm here serving up bite-sized recipes, raves, and reviews about food and family, food and culture, food and the environment, and food and travel. Thanks for stopping by!