The early morning sun casts an ethereal, timeless glow across the taupe and buff-dappled fields of Grassland Farms in Shelbyville, Tennessee.Thanksgiving morning is a moment of serenity. There is only the distant clang of a cowbell, the soft mewing of a cat, or the flutter of a bird to be heard.The regal, white antebellum manor house sits majestically on a slight ridge. There is no actual
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Happy Thanksgiving – I Swear I Didn’t Steal the Pie
Happy Thanksgiving! I’m heading to Tennessee for an old-fashioned Southern holiday meal, but before leaving, I thought I’d serve up this cautionary tale. If somebody offers you a free pie, you might want to think twice. Last week, a group in the office throws a late afternoon happy hour. On the menu – beer, cupcakes and pie. Don’t look at me. I didn’t plan the menu. Maybe the pairing of
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A Small Publishing Milestone for T.W.
Somebody once said, “Good things come to those who wait” (Was it Shakespeare, or Hillary Clinton?). It has certainly tested my patience at times to wait for the publication of “Entertaining from Ancient Rome to the Super Bowl – An Encyclopedia,” but it has finally arrived. “Entertaining…” is a two-volume encyclopedia published by Greenwood Press which contains 120 entries that explore the
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Pie for All Seasons
Pie is messy. It doesn't slice very neatly, the crust fractures easily, and the filling eventually becomes a soupy glop on the plate. Yet it is somehow comforting. Pie is familiar, flexible and always ready to adapt. Just like a big, sloppy, wet kiss, pie emanates home, hearth and love.Winter weather has arrived in New York and a frosty wind pummels me as I hurry along Lexington Avenue. The
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Twilight at Sophia Garden: The CSA Experiment Concludes
The crescent moon looks like a sliver of fingernail – thumbs down – against the blackened sky as I approach Sophia Garden on foot. It is a cool night. The volunteers are huddled under the canopy and a propane lantern casts a beacon of light across the remaining bins of vegetables.It is my last pickup at Sophia Garden, the heavenly organic farm run by a group of Dominican Sisters on suburban Long
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A Cocoa Kiss Meme for Freya
I swear I’m only doing this because I’m so happy Freya is back in the blogosphere as the proprietress of The Cocoa Lounge. I’m not much of a master at memes. When I first started blogging, I didn’t even know what they were. Now, the word seems to come up every other day. I’m also hyperlink-challenged so this could take all afternoon …But, Freya has tagged me and showered me with some lovely
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A Tower of Cupcakes Celebrating 80 Years
We celebrated my Dad’s 80th birthday this weekend with family, friends and a tower of cupcakes. Everyone pitched in to choreograph the surprise, and of course, I was on cake duty. Cupcakes seem the appropriate chose for someone who is 80 years young, and we kind of liked the Halloween palette since Dad first arrived in this world on October 31, 1928.And, what a different world it must have been
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Cast Your Vote to Bring Back Election Cake
You may not realize that cake has long-standing political connotations.Of course, there’s the infamous “Let them eat cake,” comment from Marie Antoinette. (Remember what happened to her?) Some key political figures have had pastries named in their honor, including the Washington Pie and the Abraham Lincoln Cake. There’s also the highly politicized, national debate on obesity where snack cake is
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