Stephanie says

I happened across the app before a trip to Baja. It promised a fast track through US Customs and had great reviews so I downloaded it prior to leaving. It was easy to install on my phone, very systematic.  There was only one issue.  I was startled when all of a sudden a woman appeared on my screen - first impression she was of a certain age - and I realized she was me when she gave a little "ackkk" the exact moment I did.  Damn I look old.  That's right, I am old (by some standards anyway...) I booked all my flight information on my phone so on the return flight I completed the standard US Customs Declaration questions (and didn't complete the paper form handed out on the flight!) from my seat while the plane taxied into San Francisco.  Pushed "Submit" and I was done. Quite a line had queued when I reached Customs.  An airline employee was walking alongside the queue asking "Mobile Passport?" and I was on my way, the only one,   whisked ...

After loading up grocery shopping at Eugene’s Grocery Outlet, I had to search for pantry space.   Everything is overflowing, from the freezers to the dry goods storage.   Maybe it’s subconscious preparation for a weather emergency or the Cascadian Fault Line quaking us the big one.   Even with that in mind, it’s absurd to keep buying food, because everything in the freezers would require cooking or rot.   But that store had so many new organic products I just couldn’t resist. I hereby vow not to buy anything else until I’ve cooked up what’s here.   The exception being some hypothetical missing ingredient desperately needed for a recipe on the menu and in the works. In an inspired moment I came up with a totally new recipe:   Chicken, gnocchi, and marinated artichokes.   I typed those ingredients into a search engine, and guess what?   It was not an original thought.   Okay, new to me works.   I’ll name this after it come...

I so love this PBS show.   I get this warm, fuzzy feeling watching Chef Vivian Howard with general manager (and husband) Ben Knight make their North Carolina restaurant a success.  This show is a testament to the localvore movement but goes beyond local ingredients - creative cooking interspersed with a glimpse of family life with small children, and the occasional side-trip to Vivian’s league of Southern ladies who cook in the old ways.   They are earnest and charming and eager to share their knowledge.   Delightful.     And a source of inspiration to Vivian.   She goes back to the restaurant and tweaks the recipes into another level of delicious.  This is the third season and I so enjoy watching.   I don’t have occasion to cook much these days and I miss it. The daily grind of working in a restaurant is brutally hard labor, (okay, I’ve never worked in one, but can imagine.)  A wonderful spirit of creativity and camarade...

I'm studying botany; the terminology jostles my memory from Botany 101 some 40 years ago as I fondly invoke the words:  dicot, monocot, stigma, stamen, anther, xylem.  Oh dweeb indeed.  I'm enrolled in a Master Gardener program, all day each and every Tuesday for the next 13 weeks.  Sustainable gardening is the focus.  I envision a riot of vegetables and a profusion of flowers in my garden this season.  I actually imagine that every season but this is the one that will succeed! Oregon State Extension Service provides this training as one of many educational services, for example: 4H, Food Preservation, Animal Husbandry, Trees and Woodlands.   Take this link to visit OSU Extension website  My grandfather, Elmer O Post graduated from Oregon Ag, College ( for a bit about him, click this link) in 1917 and the OAC Extension was already going strong providing education to improve rural life. Along the way, OAC became Oregon State University and OS...

Nearly 20 years ago on a road trip with cousins, the two of us without grandchildren were embarrassed by the behavior of the two with.  I witnessed each of them stop perfect strangers to show off photos of the children.  Jeanne and I declared a vow at that time that if and when either of us had grandchildren, we would NOT carry photos in our wallets, or behave in that manner.  She has two granddaughters, ages 9 and 10, and she may well have school photos tucked into her wallet but I've never caught her flashing photos of them to strangers. I have 18-month Henry and don't have a single photo in my wallet.  However, I do have an I-Phone.  Does that change the playing field?  Herewith, a video clip of him calling me "Grandma." We're not strangers, right?

As evidenced by today’s Christmas shopping trip into the metropolis of Eugene, (It’s all subjective.)   Drain’s population hovers around 1000 souls; Yoncalla has just about the same.   Eugene has a whopping 160,000 AND traffic signals.   Just so you know, red means stop.   Teresa drove today and must have maddened the traffic-light deity because at each and every intersection, the light turned red as we approached.   I didn’t notice this particularly until after our stop at Harbor Freight to pick up a gift for her husband, (an electric wood splitter of all things.   They have been married a very long time…   Wait, wait, is there a “Fargo” joke lurking in there?)   This was a virgin visit for me and I purchased an assortment of flashlights for stocking stuffers, a long-running favorite of my daughter.   I bought a hammer and tape measure for Bonnie – who is closing on a fixer-upper house next week.   She’s gonna need tools. ...

I scored a whole lot of bones today.  Beef bones.  Terry stopped by with skeletal mass from a recently butchered cow, (to the delight of Miss Rose Petal, who adores Terry, peeing on his foot in excitement every time he appears.  She loves any form of meat ever so much more however, "please leave the kitchen.  I won't jump up on the counter and eat the meat.  Really, I won't.  Leave now.) Back to the old cow whose time on this earth was over.  We are utilizing her remains fully.  We are making beef stock. I roasted bones in the oven at a high temperature, turned now and then to brown evenly, then tossed into the stock pot.  Rosie scored a meaty bone, just because she didn't snatch any from the counter, although I know full well that she would have, had she the opportunity.  Dogs.  Predictable.      Bones simmering on the rear burner.  Onions nearing caramelization on the other burner (because I only have two w...