delectablediction

New Mexico on My Mind…

I am so excited to be going back to New Mexico for the holidays, that I am creating all the Christmas classics in my temporary Idaho kitchen today! I have pork stewing in roasted Hatch chilies for my green pork tamales, and I’m about to get started on Biscochito, that delicious, anise-kissed, cinnamon and sugar…

Shokupan with Tangzhong

The magic of light, delicious homemade sandwich bread is the Tangzhong method; a type of roux made with either milk and flour (milk bread) or water and flour for a simple sandwich loaf called Shokupan in Japanese. If you’ve not yet tried it, read further and give it a try… don’t get discouraged by the…

Going to the Farm

I have had the good fortune of getting to spend the last 10 days with our daughter at Foghino Farm. We’ve been preparing for winter, cleaning out the old, and breathing new life into this century-old farm. There’s something to be said about days of hard work, meals with fresh, farm-raised foods, quiet nights by…

Reflections from a Pizza Oven

I walked out this morning to appreciate the amazing sunrise, and caught the reflections from our trusty, slightly battered pizza oven. 15 years, 8 military moves (3 overseas), thousands of pizzas, almost as many people, and hundreds of pizza parties celebrating holidays, birthdays, retirements and life. If you’ve been at our home during one of…

Reflections of a Mom

When the kids started leaving home, making their own ways in this world, I would wake early in the morning and quietly celebrate them on their birth day. I still do this for each of our [adult] children’s birthdays. This morning I wake to reflect on Andre’s life. What gifts can a Mom possibly give…

Tomato Sauce

Homemade tomato sauce really enhances any recipe its used for. Although these aren’t my daughter’s tomatoes (@foghinofarm), I have to make due with what I have at the ready. If you have a farmer’s market near you, do yourself a favor and visit it; you’ll not only be helping a farmer or market gardener, but…

Scenes From a Sicilian Village

Scenes from a Sicilian village • when my husband and his family left their beloved Sicilian home, it was in hopes of finding that sweet American dream ~ more than forty years later, we are looking at a quiet sweet dream of our own, returning part-time to Galati Mamertino, to live out our “Godfather”-like days,…

Pistachio Au Lait

Oh, Family Mart, what will I do without you? From the friendly greeting upon walking in, to the always delicious fare you offer (honest-to-goodness jammy eggs), not to mention NOT having to take out a loan for bread and milk, as is often the case at the American second cousin, twice removed. The Japanese shops,…

New Mexico Red Chile Sauce

You can take the girl out of New Mexico, but you will never take New Mexico out of the girl! Whether cooking for the holidays or a birthday, or just because it’s taco Tuesday (or Wednesday, Thursday, Friday…), one of my favorite cuisines is and will always be, New Mexico style Mexican food…and yes, there…

Cranberry-Peach Cream Scones

In today’s episode of Cleaning Out the Pantry, I reached for a bag of unsweetened, dried cranberries and some delicious dried white peaches from Trader Joe’s, courtesy of Mik❣️ For an explosion of flavor, I soaked the dried cranberries and peaches in one cup of warmed apple cider with a tablespoon of Braggs Apple Cider…

Cinnamon-Pecan Crunch Scones

It’s that PCS-hurry-and-use-all-the-ingredients time in the house. Today’s bake was inspired by the lone bag of cinnamon chips and pecans I had in the fridge…and the quarter bag of Nilla wafers that were lurking in the pantry. Yeah, I asked the same question – why do I have a quarter bag of Nilla wafers? Surely…

10 Days in Vietnam

We are nearing the end of our Okinawa Chapter of this military life. And like many others in our position, we are soaking up the extraordinary travel opportunities while on this side of the world before we leave. In January, we were fortunate enough to have our daughter visit one last time. Besides luxuriating in…