Strawberry Glazed Pie – Baking With Mom

"A slice of Strawberry Glazed Pie"

As long as I can remember I have been a huge fan of pie.  It’s likely I was weaned on it right from mother’s milk since it seems there was always one being pulled from our oven.  I can remember spending summers as a young girl practicing different crusts recipes.  They rarely ended up in a finished pie,  rather, I would cut out shapes from the dough,  sprinkle them with sugar and cinnamon, and then bake them until the sugar just began to caramelize around the edges – a treat I had learned to make from my Grandmother.  I was mesmerized by how a few simple ingredients could produce something so perfect and satisfying.  To this day, pie is my dessert of choice to both make and eat – primarily because of the crust.  The filling is simply ancillary. Continue reading




A Visit Home

"Sign hanging from pole over top of a shop in red letters says That Shop In Milford"
Thomas Wolfe’s  novel published in 1940 made famous the saying “You can’t go home again.”  Although his novel was aptly named based on the story it told, I believe you can indeed go home again, and I have done so many, many times over the past 25 years.  When my husband proposed to me nearly 24 years ago, there wasn’t a moment’s hesitation before I squealed an enthusiastic yes.  Although I was flying high with the excitement of being engaged, soon the reality of settling permanently in Los Angeles began to sink in.  At that time I had already been living in L.A. for a couple of years and homesickness was creeping further and more deeply into my bones by the day.  Marriage meant that L.A. would become my permanent residence – far from the Bluegrass state of Kentucky where I had lived all my life up until then.  I was young and in love, and both overshadowed any concept of what forever really meant.  Although I couldn’t imagine living so far from my family, fate had other plans.  So ensued  years of travel back and forth over the three thousand mile divide between my history, family and roots, and my life in California.  I have made more than a hundred trips back to KY over the past two and a half decades.  As often as I go, it is never often enough.  And after all these years, I still get homesick. Continue reading




Petite Lemon Cupcakes

"Mini lemon cupcake in a pink and orange tulip lined paper on a glass plate"

The bright, perky and fragrant juice and zest of the ubiquitous lemon.  What would we do without it?  I shudder to think.  As the workhorse of the citrus family, seafood comes alive with a mere mist of it’s liquid and at the same time it can pack a serious wallop of cheek puckering power in a lemon meringue pie.  I sing its praises and give it star billing in these lemony perfumed bites of lighter than air sweetness. Continue reading




Going Retro with Pecan-Chocolate-Espresso Coffee Cake

"Moist and buttery cake with Pecans, Chocolate, and Espresso perfectly balanced in a crumb topping"
What’s old is new again – and since I’m in love with everything retro and vintage I am very happy about that.  In the past couple of years there has been a wave of dessert and baking books with a focus on good ole, all American, baked goods.  I think I probably own every one of them.  When given a choice of sweets to eat or bake my preference will always be pie, cake, cookies, brownies or bars.  My taste for desserts certainly stretches beyond these things but this is where my sweet tooth finds the most comfort. Continue reading




Chocolate Fudge Cake and Happy Birthday Dad!

"Simply divine Chocolate Fudge Layer Cake"Birthdays were pretty special events when I was growing up.  They were usually simple family celebrations and a cake and candles were always at the center.  Occasionally we were allowed to invite a few of our neighborhood friends, however, elaborate field trips to amusement parks, bowling alleys, or restaurants with a full roster of classmates in tow would have been unthinkable. Nevertheless, I have happy memories of being “Queen for the Day”, and the elevated status among a sea of siblings that came with it. Continue reading