When it’s August in Minnesota, eat tomatoes…..or my version of When in Rome….
 
Pizza Night
When my husband, Jerry, and I are exhausted at the end of a busy week, we have Pizza Night. I start with a large frozen pizza and simply doctor it up a bit. I’ll see what’s interesting in the cheese drawer (goat cheese is a favorite) and sometimes I cut up olives or sun-dried tomatoes. But for the last weekend in August, I halved cute yellow and orange cherry tomatoes and sprinkled lots of dried oregano. The fragrant, bubbly pizza was perfect with our house red wine.

Salade Nicoise
This Julia Child recipe has been in my repertoire for years—as evidenced by the many stains and drips. I usually don’t follow the recipe exactly and instead exclude or substitute ingredients as necessary. I do, however, always make her Oil and Lemon Dressing, a key component of the dish. Composed salads can be time consuming but are fun to prepare and look so pretty on the plate. This evening I included hard-boiled eggs (sprinkled with salt and freshly ground black pepper), canned Italian tuna, juicy chunks of tomato, olives and capers. Bon appétit!

No-Cook Tomato Sauce (Salsa Cruda)
This is so easy! Mix freshly cut tomatoes with olive oil, parsley, basil, thyme, garlic, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper in a bowl. Toss hot, cooked penne pasta with the sauce, let rest a minute or two, season and serve. As I said, so easy!

For Sandwich Night Alone:  Parmigiano Reggiano, Tomato and Basil on Baguette
This sandwich was inspired by a larger-than-life photograph in a magazine ad…and it’s delicious. Place thick slices of Parmigiano Reggiano, thick slices of tomato (sprinkled with salt and freshly ground black pepper) and basil leaves on a hunk of baguette that’s been cut in half and dabbed with olive oil. Since my aperitif included a crisp white wine, I simply poured a little more into my glass.

For Sandwich Night with Jerry:  BLT
How can one go wrong? This sandwich just might be the ideal combination of flavors and textures. Crisp, thick bacon slices are first placed on toasted bread spread with plenty of good mayonnaise. Thick slices of tomato, sprinkled with salt and freshly ground pepper, are next followed by ample amounts of fresh greens. Another piece of toasted bread spread with more mayonnaise goes on top. I always press down gently on the sandwich so all gets blended—the creamy mayonnaise with the salty, crumbly bacon and the juicy tomato. Cut the sandwich in half and serve with a nice lager.

Eggs a la Betsy
My preferred way of eating eggs lately has been to fry them over easy and then sprinkle on suitable cheese, herbs and other morsels. It’s easier than an omelette and, besides, I love runny yolks (and I’m not worried since I know the provenance of my local eggs). On a recent Sunday morning, I broiled grape tomatoes (thank you, Jill!) with olive oil, salt and Herbes de Provence until they were soft and the skins were charred and split. After the fried eggs were gently placed on the plate, I sprinkled crumbled feta, dried oregano and the broiled tomatoes over the eggs and finished with a touch of salt and freshly ground black pepper.  Since one needs something to sop up all the tasty tidbits from the plate, I had plenty of good bread.

“You ought to have seen what I saw on my way
To the village, through Patterson’s pasture today:
Blueberries as big as the end of your thumb,
Real sky-blue, and heavy, and ready to drum
In the cavernous pail of the first one to come!”
~ Blueberries, by Robert Frost

Blueberries are synonymous with Minnesota. These sweet-tart little fruits have won the hearts and stomachs of our residents. The blueberry muffin is our official state muffin and Park Rapids and Ely host big blueberry festivals each summer. Most tourist trinkets feature, if not a loon or a moose, a blueberry.

Both wild and cultivated blueberries have been in season for several weeks now and, like a good Minnesotan, my refrigerator is filled with many pints. 

My favorite way to eat blueberries is simply a big bowl of fresh berries every morning. But the cook in me had to try more complex preparations.

Blueberry Buttermilk Coffee Cake
This is a recipe with two parts—the topping and the cake. Pecans, cinnamon and nutmeg went into the topping; buttermilk, eggs, flour, sugar and blueberries were the main ingredients for the cake. After an hour in the oven, this warm, buttery, crunchy coffee cake was divine. Feeling munificent, I cut generous portions and shared them with employees and neighbors.

Blueberry Pecan Bread
My husband, Jerry, and I love good bread and have been known to drive 100 miles for a loaf. In addition to hearty grainy types, baguettes and ciabatta, we are especially fond of tea breads. As a quick breakfast they are fabulous and more appealing, we think, than muffins.

I couldn’t find any tea bread recipes specific to blueberries but cobbled my own from several sources. In addition to the standard ingredients, mine had pecans, cinnamon and maple syrup. While it won’t win any blue ribbons at the county fair, come winter, when a thick slice is pulled from the freezer and warmed in the oven, it will be mighty tasty.

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes
How quintessential are these? An old Gourmet magazine recipe sounded deliciously moist with both buttermilk and sour cream. I added so many blueberries to each pancake that they oozed out the underside. I wasn’t sure of the outcome but Jerry said, “With enough butter and maple syrup, they’ll taste great.” And they did.

This also appears in the Askov American, Askov, Minnesota.

…I could still smell the meaty perfume of the morels, these fleshy buttons of protein popping out of the dead earth, this seemingly spontaneous combustion of food…Oh, it can be hard work, hunting and gathering, but…this felt like something for nothing, a wondrous and unaccountable gift.
~ Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma

The back story.
Dave Kolter is my brother-in-law and my supplier of morels. He lives in a picturesque town on the banks of the Minnesota River, known also as the Land of the Jolly Green Giant. ("Ho, Ho, Ho!")

Glacial action left extremely fertile soil in this valley which in turn proved to be a perfect spot for a canning company. During the heyday of the Green Giant Company, surrounding fields yielded bumper crops and summer days positively hummed as acres of early June peas and Niblets sweet corn were picked and trucked to the huge processing plant in Le Seuer.

Dave has spent his entire life in the area and has always spent time outdoors. As a child he hunted the woods and fields and fished in the river. For many years, he earned extra income by trapping fox, mink, muskrat, raccoon and beaver and selling the fur. Dave became thoroughly and intimately knowledgeable of the valley's hills, dales, fields and streams.

One can imagine, then, that Dave knows precisely where to look each spring for that intriguing combination of soil, plants and fungi that will yield morels. He commented, "Some years are better than others. It mostly depends on moisture."

This was a good year and with much gratitude and ceremony, my husband, Jerry, and I recently received our fix.

What is a morel?
Morels are members of a group of organisms known as fungi which, for decades, was considered part of the Plant Kingdom along with Angiosperms (flowering plants) and Gymnosperms (plants forming seeds in exposed positions). Taxonomy is somewhat of an ever-evolving science, however, and now taxonomists have awarded fungi their own kingdom, separate from both plants and animals.

Fungi aren't like plants for key reasons. They don't have chloroplasts to produce chlorophyll and so are unable to carry out the process of photosynthesis and produce their own food. Fungi must rely on other things–soil, plants and other organic materials–for sustenance. In the big scheme, fungi perform a vital role in decomposition and nutrient recycling.

Fungi generally have an extensive network of underground fibers called mycelium (plural is mycelia), some of which live for decades and even centuries. These mycelia remain dormant until beneficial conditions exist for production of fruiting bodies–or mushrooms–at the tips of each mycelium. Mushrooms then produce spores which are spread by the wind. If a spore lands in a favorable spot, mycelia will advance and the cycle is replicated.

Fungi represent two of the foodie world's delicacies: truffles and morels.

In our region, black (Morchella angusticeps) and white (M. esculenta) morels are common. The caps of both are somewhat cone-shaped and stem and head are hollow. The surfaces of the caps appear pitted and gouged. While morels seem to prefer an alkaline soil they also grow in acidic conditions. They can be found in forests, old orchards and disturbed and burned areas. Some foragers are guided by the acronym PETSBASH–pine, elm, tulip tree, sassafras, beech, ash, sycamore, hickory.

Dave Kolter has winnowed his search to dying elm trees: "when the bark first starts peeling off the tree trunk and falls to the ground is the best time."

The morel meals.
Jerry and I have been equally savoring and hoarding our stash of morels. Some, of course, we ate immediately. But morels will keep nicely for several weeks when stored in a paper bag in the refrigerator. If they dry out, simply soak in water and within a minute or two they will completely rehydrate.

One evening I prepared a pasta dish adapted from a Melissa Clark recipe, Creamed Morels on Chive Butter Toast, from The New York Times. The simple sauce contains morels, butter, shallots, white wine, cream and chives. Similar ingredients were used for a delicious weekend breakfast of softly scrambled eggs, sautéed morels and chives.

For the final morel meal, we gorged on our favorite, down-home preparation which really has no name. Morels are dipped in an egg wash, rolled in crushed Saltine crackers and sautéed in butter until crunchy and golden brown. We paired them with fresh crappy fillets and opened bottles of Schell's Maifest for an ideal spring dinner.

This also appears in the Askov American, Askov, Minnesota. Photo above by Dave Kolter.

Ah, cheese. I love cheese.

Two of my earlier, fonder recollections of food are grilled cheese sandwiches and macaroni and cheese. No doubt both were made with Velveeta, a pasteurized cheese product which was de rigeur in the 50s and 60s.

Grilled cheese is still a favorite dish and is regularly on the menu for our Sunday Night/Sandwich Nights. Now, though, the sandwiches are made with a cave-aged Gruyere or perhaps a Comte, real cheeses made from milk, salt and little else.

Lately, cheese has been featured in several meals.

Pasta with Walnuts, Parmigiano-Reggiano and Cream. This is an old stand-by from Patricia Wells, my pasta-making guru, and made with ingredients usually in the pantry. The walnuts are first roasted and then blended with cream and a small amount of garlic. That sauce is mixed with the cooked pasta and then freshly-grated cheese is added and gently tossed. Sometimes Wells' pasta recipes state "Cover and let rest for 1 minute to allow the pasta to absorb the sauce," but for this dish she advises "…serve immediately, passing the pepper mill."

Sandwiches with Roast Beef and Stilton. What a traditional and unbeatable combination…and a perfect accompaniment to the Super Bowl. I spread thick slices of good bread with mayonnaise, added generous slices of meat (real roast beef–not lunch meat) and cheese and topped with a handful of baby greens. The scrumptious sandwich was served with pickles, chips and cold beer.

Salad of Roquefort, Walnuts and Baby Greens. This recipe is from another Patricia Wells' cookbook and has similar ingredients to the pasta dish (very handy!). The dressing is a refreshing blend of Roquefort, cream, lemon juice and pepper. The greens are tossed in the bowl with the dressing and then nuts and additional cheese are sprinkled on top.

Scrambed Eggs with Cream Cheese and Fines Herbes. If you deem cream cheese plebian, you are missing a wonderful cheese. This is my own riff on a Shellagh Connelly (talented chef of the now defunct Mildred Pierce Café in St. Paul) recipe called Luxury Scrambled Eggs. Cream cheese is rich and luscious when paired with softly scrambled eggs and delicate, fresh herbs.

*** In fact, Velveeta, although it does contain milk, is barely cheese. Look at these ingredients: milk, water, milkfat, whey, whey protein concentrate, sodium phosphate, milk protein concentrate, alginate, sodium citrate, apocarotenal (color), annatto (color), enzymes, cheese culture.

Plus remember those big, foil-wrapped rectangles? Kraft manufactured Velveeta by heating those ingredients until liquified, packaging and then cooling.

Since it is the winter holiday season, my husband, Jerry, and I have been part of several celebrations and, therefore, munching lots of appetizers and sampling many cocktails. Here is a (another!) list of our favorites.

Cheese Plates are an easy but delicious appetizer as long as you know where to shop for excellent cheese. Serve your selections (labeled with cheese name, dairy and geographic origin) with thin slices of fresh baguettes and big olives.

Gizzies are a holiday tradition that date to my childhood. My own recipe is oil-stained and worn and I can hardly read my mom's writing anymore. But it doesn't matter. After decades of mixing up batches every December, I know the recipe by heart.

Rosemary Cashews. Who doesn't love cashews? And when roasted with chopped fresh rosemary, some spices and a bit of brown sugar, they're irresistible.

Cosmopolitans are lovely any time of the year but especially now due to their pretty red color and festive presentation.

Hot Buttered Rum is a perfect drink for snowy, wintery weather. It is strong and warm and intoxicating due to the sublime combination of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice and rum. We've discovered also that the drinks make soothing night caps.

Mimosas are the favorite brunch libation. It's worth the effort to use freshly squeezed orange juice and to add a bit of Triple Sec to the bottom of the flute before adding the champagne.

Cheers!

This also appeared in the Askov American, Askov, Minnesota.

No apologies to Michael Pollan are necessary for my recent indulgences of corn. None was grown on factory farms. None was processed by Cargill or ADM. In addition, none of these dishes contained high-fructose corn syrup or any other of the 11,250 products made from corn. Instead the only corn used was real corn.

Fried Cornbread. I fried thickly sliced, day-old, savory cornbread until crispy and crusty. Served with warm, real maple syrup and a handful of fresh blueberries, my breakfast was reminiscent of John Thorne, the Outlaw Cook.

Corn on the Cob. Freshly shucked ears of corn were boiled quickly and served with extra virgin olive oil for brushing and sea salt for dusting. While I adore butter and use it laviously on toast, caramel rolls and baked potatoes, the olive oil was lighter and allowed the full flavor of the corn to shine. (Thanks to Lynn Rossetto Kasper's radio show, The Splendid Table, for the idea.)

Corn Salad. This room-temperature salad was made with corn cut fresh from the cob, finely diced red onion, zucchini and red pepper and dressed with a subtle vinaigrette.

Corn Pudding. I'm not normally a big pudding fan (not enough English blood, I guess!) but this was irresistible when I spied the generous servings–decorated with long pieces of chive–at a take-out place known for using local, organic ingredients.

As an antidote to serious issues we've encountered lately, such as emerald ash borer and hard labor in the garden, let's switch gears and discuss cookies.

I love cookies and usually can't get through the day without one. My preference is for crispy cookies over chewy cookies, but I'm flexible. After many years of exhaustive, self-sacrificing cookie research, my list of sources for the best cookies is complete and I regularly make the rounds to stock up.

Since I'm always on the prowl, though, lately I've tried cookies from fresh places.
• Frosted Sugar Cookies from the new Keys Café in Forest Lake. Perfection!
• Toffee Cookies from Whole Foods Co-op in Duluth. A little chewy for me but quite tasty.
• Shortbread and Jam Cookies from The Bikery Bakery in Stillwater. The best shortbread I've ever had.
• Sugar Cookies (huge) from Barnes & Noble. Good…and I almost ate the whole thing.
• Peanut Butter Cookies with Reese's Pieces from Holiday gas stations. (Who knew?) These cookies are a decadent combination of peanut butter and chocolate and are amazing.

I'm still mourning last year's closing of the local bakery, Our Daily Bread. I was a regular buyer of their outstanding Toffee Cookies.

Our house cookie is a freshly baked Chocolate Chip Cookie. We even serve a plateful with coffee for parties. No one can resist their warmth and sweetness and those partially melted chocolate chips. Delicious!

For a holiday meal in spring, our meat of choice is ham. This year the shopping was easy because all I had to do was reach into the freezer.

Last fall my husband and I purchased half a pig from an excellent, local organic farm, Edge of the Earth Farm. Their pigs have fresh air, plenty of exercise, a nice barn and good feed…and it shows in the meat. We've never had better pork chops, ribs or roasts.

Meal #1: Baked Ham with Madeira
With top quality ingredients, the simplest preparation is often the best. I wasn't in the mood for a glaze of brown sugar, honey, mustard, pineapple or chutney. All those sounded too sweet. I wanted something different for my fresh ham.

I found a recipe from an old Gourmet magazine which sounded perfect. Rub softened butter over ham and then sprinkle ground nutmeg over ham. Pour a whole bottle Madeira into the pan. Frequently baste the ham with pan juices.

Our ham was beautiful! It was deeply colored and well glazed and smelled delicious. I served slices of the ham with Rosti potatoes and a green salad with mustard vinaigrette. We toasted the meal with our first chilled rose of the season.

On a January night in Minnesota after a nasty cold snap with several days that never got above zero, my husband, Jerry, and I shared a memorable meal–and one quite suitable for us as we also own a bird dog breeding and training business.

Earlier in the day, Jerry had removed two grouse from the freezer. These birds were noteworthy in that each was pointed by a favorite in our kennel–one by Oscar, a strapping orange-and-white setter male and another by our beautiful and graceful yet fierce, young pointer female, Maggie.

A big part of traveling, for me, is eating. By that I mean eating out at new coffee shops, cafes and evening spots and eating in after buying food at local groceries and markets.

Even though much of America is homogenized to the point that one can't differentiate between the main streets of Ankeny, Kansas City, or Santa Rosa, my mission is always to search for good, local food.

My husband, Jerry, and I recently returned from a wonderful adventure to the Tucson area of southeastern Arizona. Not more than a mile from our lodging, we discovered The Steak Out. The rather trite exterior of the restaurant (resembling part of a quintessential movie set for a cowboy Western, complete with faded wooden siding, wide porch, and sturdy door) belied the skill of the staff inside and their expertise at cooking excellent-quality meat over a massive, open mesquite grill. The interior was also warm, bustling and friendly.

Even though I've never been to Munich and can't dance the polka, timing is perfect for celebrating Oktoberfest. Sounds jolly and boisterous, doesn't it? At our house, we've been eating German-inspired dishes of pork, cabbage and apples and drinking excellent beer.

My husband and I both raved about a new recipe for a salad of red leaf lettuce, sliced apples and Camembert-topped, toasted baguette slices. The simple dressing mixed sherry vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper. No doubt the success of the salad was boosted by its paring with one of our favorite dishes–sage-dressing stuffed, thick, bone-in pork chops.

I also pulled a simple recipe from the archives. This sort-of casserole with the catchy name of Sausage 'n' Kraut Skillet calls for sautéed onions, diced apples and sauerkraut to be simmered together and then function as the bed for big chunks of smoked sausage. On a dank evening in front of the fire, this dish was delicious served with hearty bread and pints of German beer.

On another evening, my husband grilled local, organic pork loin chops while I was inside preparing a slaw made with purple cabbage, apples and blue cheese. Very tasty! Do I need to mention we quaffed beer?

Usually, I love the entire meal planning and preparing process…dreaming up menus, shopping for ingredients (really!), cooking the dishes and, ultimately, presenting the food on a nicely laid table. But sometimes time and energy are in short supply and I resort to take-out food.

I recently hit the jackpot, or else I was very hungry and bought one of everything! Either way, my husband, Jerry, and I have had some fabulous meals from cobbled-together sources.

Meal #1
A late summer salad of yellow beans, chunks of corn-on-the-cob and radishes which had been quickly cooked and seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper was paired with a rack of BBQ ribs (grab extra sauce packets!) and corn muffins. An indulgence not to be resisted was a slice of my favorite dessert, key lime pie.

Meal #2
For Pizza Night, individual pies which were made with uneven, hand-thrown crusts of dough redolent of rosemary and oregano and topped with arugula, smoked mozzarella and caramelized onions.

Meal #3
Rotisserie chicken was served with delicious Mango Lime Salsa, roasted new potatoes (jazzed up with freshly snipped herbs) and cute, mini loaves of ciabatta.

Breakfast Scores
Wild mushroom bread pudding made with hearty, chewy flax-millet bread, maple scone with brown sugar glaze, thick slices of citrus cranberry bread.

Snacks
Toffee sugar cookies, chocolate mint cookies, granola cookies, pecan pie.

I'm eating herbs…and lots of them! Even though June wasn't a great herb-growing month for me (too wet and cold is my guess), my plants seem to be much happier now.

These dishes have been on our menu recently.
--Mayonnaise with Green Herbs. As a dip for a plate of fresh crudités, I consulted an old standby, The Joy of Cooking, and mixed chervil, dill, chives and parsley into good mayonnaise and added salt and pepper to taste. You'll never buy pre-made dip again.
--Roast Chicken with Herbs and Butter. This is an old recipe by Mark Bittman. Gently spread a mixture of softened, unsalted butter and freshly snipped tarragon under the skin of chicken. Sprinkle skin with salt and pepper and roast. Delicious!
--New Potatoes with Butter, Shallots & Chervil. This is a very simple but very tasty Fine Cooking recipe using my new favorite herb, chervil.
--Avocado-Salami Wraps. This dish is a variation on a variation of a recipe shared by Jan Streiff and should be renamed Avocado-Shrimp Wrap. (Jan also shares her books with me. See What I'm reading now from Columns, July 14, 2008.) I was inspired to create a Mexican menu for the obscure reasons that the day was very hot, I wanted a margarita and Stephanie Hansen (see Delphiniums from Columns, July 14, 2008) had very generously shared a big bunch of cilantro with me. Jan had substituted shrimp for the salami and I subbed cilantro for the basil.

For various reasons, I've been eating lots of eggs. I love eggs for both breakfast and dinner, and since my husband has been out of town, I've indulged myself utterly.

Eggs are versatile and a breeze to prepare. Not only are they an excellent source of protein but also an economical one. Finally, since the Organic Carrot in Sandstone stocks first-rate local eggs, I have an endless supply.

The most basic way to prepare eggs is to fry them and last week I did just that, but instead of the usual fat choices, I fried my eggs in olive oil. Very good! The edges got crispy and brown and were done–over easy–in a flash.

Hard-boiling eggs is easy and adds another dimension to egg eating. A standby recipe–splotched here and there with spilled ingredients–is Julia Child's Nicoise Salad. Hard-boiled eggs, halved lengthwise, are artfully arranged around the edge of this main course, composed salad.

Another Julia Child-inspired dish came via an Amanda Hesser piece in The New York Times from many years ago. As I recall, the pair met in France for a late lunch that was memorable to Hesser because Julia Child, despite her accomplishments and expertise, was plebian at heart. What did Child order that day in the French bistro? To start, a cold beer poured into a chilled pilsner and to follow, a dish called Oeufs Mayonnaise, another composed salad which pairs hard-boiled eggs and radishes on red-leaf lettuce and is served with a large dollop of good mayonnaise for dipping. When dinner is late and I'm tired, Oeufs Mayonnaise is perfect…served, of course, with a cold beer.

I'm also crazy about Sort of Frisee Lardon, another bistro-influenced recipe from Nancy Silverton's Sandwich Book. Silverton combines frisee greens, poached eggs, bacon, garlic-toasted croutons and mustard vinaigrette. (As a favorite murder mystery hero, J.W. Jackson, would say, Delish!)

In addition to all this egg-eating at home, I recently shared a very memorable breakfast with gardening friends at a sunny window table in a favorite restaurant. After sipping mimosas, Cathy and I both decided on the frittata special, which, on that day, was a custard-y, flavorful frittata filled with salmon, scallions and cream cheese. It just might have been the best egg dish we've ever eaten.

Bon Appetit!

Recently, our household suffered a Syrup Emergency. My husband and I were all set to enjoy our Sunday morning tradition of homemade Belgian waffles smothered with real maple syrup when we found only a few drops in the bottom of the syrup bottle. Rats!

We have endured other Food Emergencies in the past but the original was perhaps the most disastrous. One hot, summer Sunday evening after a long day of chores, it was finally time for cocktails. Our favorite is Rum and Tonic…what a refreshing drink! After the ice, rum and tonic are in the glass, big chunks of fresh lime are cut, squeezed into the drinks, rubbed around the rim of the glasses and lastly tossed into the drinks. But that evening, there was just a trickle of rum in the bottom of the bottle. We had a Rum Emergency!

Back to the Syrup Emergency…I contacted a favorite local supplier, Edge of the Earth Farm. Gene had some big quart jars, we set up a meeting and our Emergency was assuaged. Since I now feel so flush, we're enjoying it at many meals.

• Real maple syrup is the epitome on waffles. After warming on the stovetop, the syrup is the perfect foil–thick and sweet–for the light, crisp waffles.
• I tried a new recipe, Cornmeal Johnnycakes, and again, heated maple syrup was the ideal topping.
• On a recommendation from Gene, it's fabulous on good vanilla ice cream (the brand with the flecks of vanilla bean).
• Maple syrup is perfect over bowls of hot cereal in the morning. My husband prefers oatmeal with raisins while I love a porridge of leftover wild rice, dried cranberries, cinnamon and cream.
• To glaze a big baked ham, I combined maple syrup, mango chutney, Dijon mustard and orange juice.
• Finally, maple syrup is the key ingredient of a new cocktail. (Rum and tonic is strictly a summer drink in our home.) Called the Maple Leaf, this lowball contains whiskey, freshly squeezed lemon juice and maple syrup.

I can't bake. My mom is a wonderful baker but she didn't pass on the trait to me. As mentioned previously, I love to cook and can spend many happy hours in the kitchen experimenting with new recipes and banging pots and pans around.

I've read that baking is a science and cooking is more of an art. To be successful in baking, measurements must be precise because chemical reactions need to occur among ingredients. Whatever. I've attempted countless recipes over the years and failed so miserably that I don't even try anymore.

But I do adore eating sweet things like cookies, cakes, pies and bars–and often the sweeter and gooier the better. One of my favorite cookies is a frosted sugar cookie. (Topping an already-sweet cookie with sweet frosting…is that gilding the lily just a bit?)

Of course, it's not my fault, and again, the blame is on genetics. It's often been said in family gatherings that I inherited my maternal grandfather's enormous sweet tooth. Gigi (isn't that a sweet name?) had little self-restraint when it came to baked goodies and always indulged his cravings. Luckily for me, I was often the benefactor of his frequent trips to the bakery for bismarks, caramel rolls and cookies.

Recently, I've discovered an abundance of yummy, autumn-inspired baked things–made with apples and pumpkins and redolent of cinnamon, clove, ginger and nutmeg–from bakeries near and far. Don't these sound divine?

Pumpkin Spice Muffins: Huge, streusel-topped muffins, fragrant with spices and studded with apple chunks.
Walnut Spice Cake: Moist, delicious, thick slices of bundt cake.
Apple Pie Bars: Similar to fabulous apple pie but the flaky top crust was glazed with a light, cinnamon-y icing. (Gilding the lily?)
Pumpkin Walnut Bread: Dense, spicy, pumpkin-y tea bread full of walnuts.
Pumpkin Spice Bundt Cake: Individually sized, rich-tasting cake, again with a cinnamon glaze.
Ginger Pear Muffins: Dark and pungent muffins dotted with warm chunks of fresh pears.

Fortunately, this particular, baked-treat season is far from over. With Thanksgiving in the not-too-distant future, I can continue my indulgence with, among other things, the traditional pies of apple, pumpkin and pecan, maybe topped with cinnamon ice cream or maple-laced whipped cream. Yum!

Is it the cooler weather? Or the plethora of options? Or perhaps a wee bit of the Irish heritage that my husband and I share? Whatever the reason, we're eating potatoes!

From reds to russets to Yukon golds, we're buying and preparing a lot of potatoes and, because they're so versatile, we never get bored.

I've rubbed medium-sized red potatoes with olive oil and then my husband has roasted them on the grill. For a classic meal, we've baked russets to serve with grilled sirloin steaks. I've boiled small reds and then tossed them with butter, salt, pepper and fresh parsley. A favorite preparation method is to quarter red or yellow potatoes, toss with olive oil and chopped, fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme and then roast in the oven.

This year I discovered a new, fun way to serve potatoes–smashed. Literally, smashed! I had learned of this method from two different sources, Fine Cooking magazine and The New York Times. Boil baby red or yellow potatoes until just tender. Remove from the water and when cool enough to handle, gently flatten each potato with the palm of the hand until "smashed" to a thickness of about ¬? inch. Fry in hot oil on the stovetop or roast in olive oil in the oven. Sprinkle with sea salt. Distinctive and delicious!

We're in the midst of the summer harvest and it's bonanza time for me. I'm eating plants, or rather, parts of plants, and I'm eating lots of them. Three of my all-time favorite foods are in abundance–blueberries, corn and tomatoes–and all have been available at the Sandstone Area Farmers Market.

I've eaten big bowls of blueberries for breakfast, either alone or with cereal, and handfuls on homemade waffles on Sunday.

Prior to this year, my only preparation method for corn was husked and boiled and then served with lots of real butter and salt. This year, though, I'm venturing beyond that bona fide approach. Roasting whole cobs on the grill is very easy and tasty and imparts a rich, nutty flavor to the corn. Plus, for the first time ever, I've cut corn off the cob (blaspheme!) and made two delicious cold salads.

I've also been eating tomatoes. The preparation options for tomatoes are seemingly endless and I've tried many of them. But you can't beat a BLT, a Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato sandwich.

Ingredients are the key to any dish and I start with the best: good quality bacon, ripe tomatoes (always kept at room temperature), fresh lettuce (this is one of about three recipes where iceberg is the preferred green due to its crispness but lately I've been using romaine), good, firm white bread, real mayonnaise (best brand is Hellman's…please don't substitute cheap salad dressing) and finally, a sprinkling of good salt and freshly ground pepper.

Last year after reading a newspaper story about BLTs, I copied a restaurant's idea of using garlic-flavored mayonnaise, similar to aioli. It was fabulous and now it's standard to simply press a garlic clove and mix with the mayonnaise.

This sandwich is not the place to be stingy (as in bulb purchasing). Use many slices of tomato, lots of bacon and slather on the mayonnaise. Live it up! You can't eat BLTs in January.

There's so much going on in this seemingly plebian sandwich: dry, crunchy toast vs. soft, moist tomatoes, hot bacon vs. cold, crisp lettuce, creamy mayonnaise vs. salty bacon. When my husband and I sit down to our Sandwich Night dinner, that sandwich is the meal. No pickles. No fries. Besides our big BLTs, the only thing on the table is ice-cold beer.

A true sandwich is a joy.
--James Beard

My husband and I recently returned from a too-short-but-still-wonderful vacation. After we unpacked and checked on the dogs, I scrounged around the kitchen looking for dinner ideas.

The cupboards were rather bare but I had good organic eggs and a piece of goat cheese (left over from a garlic/chive/goat cheese spread I made for a vacation Happy Hour) in the refrigerator. Outside, among the other container-grown herbs, I had tarragon, chives and parsley. I remembered a line from a book by a favorite food author, Elizabeth David. "Let's just have an omelette and a glass of wine."

I lightly whisked the eggs with salt and pepper, added the freshly chopped herbs and, within minutes, we each had a sizzling, fragrant omelette on our plates. To be true to David, my husband poured us each a glass of our house white wine.

Ever notice the connection between gardening and eating? Horticulture and haute cuisine? Flowers and food?

One night last week as my husband and I were finishing a delectable dinner of Creamed Morels on Chive Butter Toast (see below), we were discussing the notion of eating what's in season and of knowing where our food comes from. He mentioned that I should start a section on "What I'm eating now."

Voila!

Thanks to my brother-in-law, Dave, we have been eating morel mushrooms since Mother's Day weekend. Dave has some super secret foraging spots near his home in southern Minnesota and always supplies us with a grocery bag-full of morels. After experimenting with various storage methods–dehydrating in a dehydrator, oven drying and freezing–we now just eat them all right away. The mushrooms store nicely in a brown paper bag in the refrigerator for about a month.

Since we enjoy the earthy smell, taste and texture of the morels, we don't prepare dishes with too many fussy ingredients. Simplicity is best in many things. Morels are delicious sautéed in butter and added to omelets or scrambled eggs. Another favorite and old-fashioned preparation method is to dip them in an egg wash and crushed crackers and then sauté in butter. When served with a green salad, it makes a nice spring meal.

But then I found a recipe that is, we think, unsurpassable. The recipe, Creamed Morels on Chive Butter Toast, is by Melissa Clark from the May 16 issue of The New York Times. Morels and shallots are sautéed in butter. A little wine is added (Clark writes, "I did what cooks all over the world often do in these situations: I tilted my wine glass over the pan, letting a drizzle of my nice, crisp Sancerre lubricate the contents.") and then some cream. Spread that mixture on good white bread which has been toasted, buttered and topped with chopped chives and sea salt.

For this meal, we bypassed the green salad and just had more white wine.