Secret Ingredient

Here is yet another post from years ago, and well-worth a reread for anyone who likes to cook, or eat, or just feed their guests something fabulous! #summerwins #picnictime

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IMG_5901Secret drawers were a must-have growing up in my mother’s house, and I passed the tradition on to our children, who filled theirs with every memento and tidbit of those fast years. Looking back, isn’t it those very secrets that define our individuality? Cooking is no different. Any cook willing to play a bit will stumble onto something uniquely theirs and quite often keep this ingredient a secret.

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Feel the Freedom

As illusive and fleeting as youth, summer days come rippling through our lives, but we panic. What to do with a sunny Saturday? That one long weekend in July? Quickly, family gatherings, backyard barbecues, tasks only completed in warm weather, and much more, fill our calendar. Can I request we all collectively push the pause button? Stop for a moment? Take a look at green? And blue? Listen to the cardinal’s song and walk along the water’s edge? Exhale America, here comes our Independence Day. A time to feel the freedom.

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Enough is enough, right Washington?

Maybe it’s the hundreds of poetry essays moving in red folders across my table in the AP Literature scoring room, or the company of hundreds of English teachers, all equally obsessed over words, but as soon as I saw this morning’s headline on a discarded newspaper on the conference center cafeteria table, my mind flooded with questions and outrage about gun violence. I don’t want to minimize this latest shooting (prayers to all involved) but… this is what will cause Washington to become stunned over the  epidemic that has been spreading like wildfire in our communities?

headline on recent gun shooting

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