Traverse City Record-Eagle

In the Kitchen: Potluck dishes have stories
Good luck, bad luck, in an American summer, it's often potluck. We hear "potluck" and a long table laden with slow cookers and salads comes to mind. It's funny, isn't it? Common words do have specific meanings, but we hear them so often that the words are reduced to just a label. "Potluck?" Gotcha.
In the Kitchen: Love stories around food
One June some years ago, He-Who-Must-Be-Fed made reservations for dinner at Ellsworth's Tapawingo, asking for our favorite table because it was our anniversary. When the menu arrived, the line across the top read "Happy Anniversary Ketchums!" Happy memories flooded back at the unexpected message printed on such an impressive menu. Call it true love, call it looking at love through rose-colored classes or naïve romanticism, but that dinner is part of a love story.
In the Kitchen: Cooking shows you care
The cook has concern, even worry, about target diners. Cooking for yourself is easiest. Then, you might, as He-Who-Must-Be-Fed does, spoon chili from can to mouth over the sink. In this case, "fine dining" then means the right brand, with beans. My friend Glenn says that good cooks cook best for those they love.
In the Kitchen: Spring brings light & fancy
These are the days, the warm days of May and June, when women get spring fever of a feminine kind. It's a spring fever different from the lustier urge that men feel. In spring, men yearn to cast lines into cold waters, hear the crack of baseball bats, linger at motorcycle showrooms and bring out well-worn, but bright, short-sleeved shirts. But women yearn for gentler things.
In the Kitchen: Oil & water a delightful combo
If you put Republicans and Democrats at the same dinner table, you might be apt to say that oil and water don't mix, as the old adage predicts. But then, there is also the saying, "Politics makes strange bedfellows." The handy thing about the old saws is that there seems to be one for every point of view.
In the Kitchen: Spring thoughts of asparagus
The sun is bright today, so bright that the light reflecting off the snow is glaring -- a case for sunglasses. The fishery next door brought in heavy equipment this week, the kind needed to move the snow from the pier, and this morning I saw a truck going up and down the pier. These are signs of spring in far northern Michigan.
In the Kitchen: Might be manners, or education
I suppose we all pretty much watch what we eat. Certainly food writers are especially aware of their Peas and Quick breads. Most folks watch intelligently, not compulsively. Seems like common sense to me. But, sometimes, I like to extend "the watch" to watching other people eat, what they eat, and how they eat.
In the Kitchen: Go green with brussels sprouts
March seems to have something for everyone; pessimists cite the Ides of March, optimists stretch to claim even a small amount of Irish luck. (He-Who-Must-Be-Fed claims his Welsh is close enough, and he champions leeks, the national flower-vegetable of Wales).
In the Kitchen: What mom didn't know
My focus today is "niggles." I think of a niggle as something like a half-emerging idea that won't emerge fully. Frustrating. In some dictionaries, "niggle" means some sort of a peeve or complaint. Yes, my niggles are slightly peevish, but closer to annoying.
In the Kitchen: Family tales of fish
The first fish I recall seeing was a glowing red neon sign, a simply outlined lake fish, clearly a perch. I was about 4 or 5. Its head pointed to U.S. 23, near Bay City, northbound lane. Its tail pointed to Mike's, a popular roadhouse across the gravel parking lot.
In the Kitchen: Onion has many possibilities
For me, a Detroit child, the greatest of adventures were in the magnificent dime stores on Woodward Avenue. The most exciting of all pleasures were the live demonstrations of cookware, which comes to mind with the advent of TV infomercials and catalogs that hawk devices to make "onion flowers."
In the Kitchen: King crab a delight
With the exception of the Christmas tree, which stays up until Valentine's Day, the holidays are over. What is left, besides my son's green sweatshirt with a strange logo and a half-knit sock, is the memory of the holiday. As I write on a fogged-in day, these are the things I remember most:
In the Kitchen: Promising new year
Here we go again! New Year's resolutions time. Oh, promises, promises! What happened to those that I made last year? Time flies and, often, so do New Year's resolutions. I've been listing my resolutions in my last column each year, and I do so again, with other looks at my year, mostly connected with kitchen, cooking and eating.
In The Kitchen: Kitchens make memories
Oh, the Christmas kitchens! I remember many fondly, but for different reasons. Of course, I know what my Christmas kitchen is apt to be soon -- barring unexpected adventures or misadventures (as when someone in the merry crowd put the plastic container of chopped liver on the burner of the Mr. Coffee).
In the Kitchen: It's the little things
I got to thinking about the various menus for Christmas Eve, Christmas dinner, and perhaps a brunch in between, the prep work, cooking and the table setting itself. Though it's early, I have a hunch you readers already have a basic plan in place.
In the Kitchen: Blessings are in cooking
Thanksgiving wasn't around in Thomas Jefferson's time, but being a connoisseur of just about everything fine from wine to herbs, Jefferson's meals were an assortment of astounding kinds of dishes. I'm not certain that he cooked. I'll have to look into that. I don't think there is a portrait of the man with pan in an apron.
In the Kitchen: Desserts made from broken pecans
Between politics and international bad news, we sure can use good news. So I was delighted when Jane Willson wrote that the pecan harvest in Albany, Ga., is very good this year. I'm into that news since I always buy pecans from Jane's family's Sunnyland Farms. In its 59th year in business, the farm is large and well run.
Sally Ketchum: Uncle Bolumco, Columbus and me
Happy Columbus Day! Columbus has always interested me. He was a good guy to write school reports about and remembering the names of his three ships impressed fifth grade teachers. Of course, there is the story of why we are called America and not Columbia, Columbus Land, or Columbiana, as one scholar notes.
Sally Ketchum: A 'Dangerous' book needed for both boys and cooks
My apologies, Dear Reader, for starting off the subject of food, but I feel I ought to recommend an outstanding book, "The Dangerous Book for Boys."