Jack decided that we should take Blake, our 15-month old grandson, to the state fair this year and we invited his parents to join us. We started out early in the day because that’s the best time to go to the animal barns. Blake liked the animals well enough but what he really liked was sitting on the tractors, motorcycles, and four-wheelers—just like his grandpa. As I began to think about where we would have lunch, Jason said to me, “Mom you don’t stop for lunch; you eat all day long”.  With that decided, we worked our way through the foot-long pronto pups and fried cheese curds to Buffalo shrimp on a skewer and deep-fried turkey wings (called Fl...

Tags: Chocolate Covered Bacon, Fair Food, Minnesota State Fair, Roasted Corn-on-the-Cob

I love trying new recipes. In fact, there are so many recipes out there that I’d never have to make the same one again. Jack, on the other hand, likes the old ones best. He recently asked why I never make “that good chicken salad” any more. He then described the mayonnaise-based salad with curry powder, grapes and celery. I had to look a long time for this simple recipe and finally found it. I’ve now made it twice already this month—I like it too. (I used red grapes instead of the green ones because they were sweeter and I like the contrast in color.) ...

Tags: Chicken Salad, Curried Chicken and Grape Salad, Favorite Recipes

When my professional organization, Les Dames d’Escoffier, wanted to raise money for charity, a couple of members came up with the idea to have a Culinary Yard Sale. The night before the sale, members were asked to drop off gently used culinary items including: cooking equipment, cookbooks, tabletop items and any other food & wine related items.  Since we were ...

Tags: garage sale, Pâté, pork and veal pâté, yard sale

My friend Kathy is a master at cooking for a crowd. She has often had pool parties in their backyard with guests numbering in 50s and 60s – can you imagine? We all bring a dish to share but still, there have been times when we run out of food. Now I know better and usually bring three dishes to share and then I double or triple each one. Kathy recently had a Sunday afternoon party to celebrate the wedding of her daughter.  Many of the guests were from out of town and so I knew that they wouldn’t be able to bring anything. I told Kathy that I’d make four batches of a tortellini salad that would serve around 50 guests. I prepared all of the ingredients in ...

Tags: party, salad, wedding

After blogging about Swedish open-faced sandwiches, I started longing for a typical Swedish breakfast of Flatbrod (flat bread) with slices of cheese and sausage on top.   The flatbrod are thin crisps that look like big crackers. They are usually made with rye flour, but some are made with wheat, barley or potato flour. Some are quite thick while others are very t...

Tags: flat bread, flatbrod, rye, soft-cooked eggs, Swedish breakfast

We had Shrimp, Sweet Corn and New Potato Boil for dinner last night.   ...

Tags: corn on the cob, farm stands, Farmers' Markets

I've been sorting through old recipe cards and getting hungry just reading them. One recipe for Bulgogi (grilled beef strips on skewers) was a favorite appetizer that I often made for friends. Another was a recipe for an Asian salad from an old restaurant in downtown Minneapolis, now closed. I decided to make a dinner one night, using some of these recipes. To round out the menu, I made a half recipe of Peanut Noodle Salad and still had some left for lunch, the next day. (I used up all of my green onions in the marinade and didn't have any to use in...

Tags: Asian Salad, boneless country ribs, bulgogi, Peantu Noodle Salad, recipe cards

Ever since I was a college student, one of my favorite food magazines has been Bon Appetit—and it still is. I've been waiting to share a yummy summer dessert recipe for Strawberry Sundaes with Prosecco Sabayon with you (from the July 2008 issue) but decided to wait until it was no longer fo...

Tags: Betty Crocker magazines, Bon Appetit magazine, Prosecco, Sabayon, Strawberry Sundaes