Minestrone Soup with Tortellini

There is nothing better than soup for supper! With fresh bread alongside, it just can't be beat for the end of a busy day. And the kicker is ... when you make a big pot of soup, you can have leftovers for lunch for the next couple days ... mmm! Am I right? Huh? Huh?

Tapas - Sunday Lunch

A Sunday luncheon party with friends makes for fun nibbling. Making a few tapas platters is the perfect way to let those who are hungry knosh and those who are dieting nibble. Enough said. There's a bit of the decadent and a bit of the conservative here - roasted potatoes with shallots, garlic, rosemary and alioli for dipping, salmon in a roasted red pepper sauce, a cool chicken salad with raisins and pignoli, a platter of black olives and Manchego served with a flatbread bedecked with artichokes, onions, pimientos, and bits of black olive, Spanish Rioja and beers ... and that Coconut Lane Cake for dessert with tea or coffee.

Snap Shot Saturday - Up North

Silent Bob and I took a jaunt this past week Up North ... we drove up through the northern section of New Hampshire ... an area known as The Great North Woods. Towns like Dixville Notch, Colebrook, Stewartstown, Wentworth Location ... all of them isolated and quiet, dot the region. This shot was taken from the rest area along Rt 91 just before coming into New Hampshire from Vermont. The shot looks east toward the Franconia Range of the White Mountains ... Mounts Lafayette, Lincoln, and Liberty are the likely suspects  ... the clouds are spectacular ... yes?

Normally, there is a bustle of outdoor sportsmen at this time of year ... skiers, snowmobile enthusiasts, and winter hikers. This winter has been a bleak one for the North Woods folk, though. There has been very little snow and record warm temperatures.  Hence, the tourists are few and far between ... we had no trouble getting tables in the local diners, finding parking spots at the local sporting goods store or driving into the gas queue at the local pit stop. My heart goes out to the locals, as the economy is slow and it's showing around the towns.

So why, Snapshot Saturday? I found this neat photo share on Debbie's blog , The Friday Friends. Debbie is taking a photography course right now (lucky girl!). She has another blogging friend who hosts a Saturday photo share ... and I thought it would be fun to participate. I DO love taking snapshots!  What about you?


So check out everyone's Saturday Snapshot posts at Alyce's blog at home with books  !

50 Woman Game-Changers - Edna Lewis

"Edna Lewis" - oil painting by Elayna Shakur

There is nothing like a beautiful cake and Edna Lewis's Famous Coconut Lane Cake is just that! This cake attests to the rich tradition of Southern cooking and Ms. Lewis's place in preserving it.

This is a cake that is rich with eggs, butter and sugar, coconut, pecans, and chopped raisins - three layers of confection worthy of gracing a table at a garden party with big jugs of iced tea served on the side. I made it to share with friends at a small weekend dinner party. Folks will certainly be 'wowed', don't you think?

A New Look ...

After you've done a thing the same way for two years, look it over carefully. After five years, look at it with suspicion. And after ten years, throw it away and start all over. ~Alfred Edward Perlman, New York Times, 3 July 1958

Perhaps it's 'cabin fever'. Perhaps it's the change of the season coming on. Perhaps it's internal restlessness. Perhaps it's just that I got sick of the color brown ... this winter has been inordinately brown. Between looking out the kitchen windows and looking at The Spice Garden's format, I've had my fill ... and so I have spent the afternoon playing with a new and streamlined look for The Spice Garden.

Right now, I'm feeling like one does when one gets a radically new haircut. My head feels lighter. My heart is a bit fluttery when I 'view the blog'. I'm not sure I like it, but feel like it needs time to settle. Like all things new and changed, it feels strange, but change is good and the process of change pulls up the roots, shakes off the dirt, and leaves room for new things to grow ... and that's what this little garden is all about.

I hope you can cope. I'm trying. Springtime's coming on and new things are growing. I'm holding on to that and waiting for crocus!

Irish Coffee Blondies

Oh, how I wish I could take credit for this recipe ... but I can't. I can only take credit for changing up the sweet drizzle atop this 'killer blondie recipe' and changing up the coffee factor in the batter. Martha Stewart Living magazine gets the rest of the credit here. The March issue came in the mail earlier in the week and I zeroed right on on these babies!

Peruvian Quinoa Stew

And now, for a little something different ... for me, that is. Quinoa.

50 Woman Game-Changers - Delia Smith

I had never heard of Delia Smith until reading Gourmet Live's article on 50 Woman Game-Changers. It  just goes to show that we tend to pay attention to the media and TV shows on our particular continents and that cross-over is a rare and wonderful thing. Now, if Delia had a role in one of the BBC Masterpiece Theatre productions or in one of the Brit comedies or dramas that are becoming increasingly popular state-side, I might have had a chance.  Instead, she's big on cooking shows, in cookbook publishing, and in football (go figure!) - things that don't often make the cut on our US television cable systems. The Internet, however, is alive with information about her! I have added her official website to my list of  'favorites', so that I can get to know her recipes (boy, there are a lot of them!). I've been reading archives of her posts and making links to media articles written about her. She seems to be the Betty Crocker of modern day British society.