Two years ago, finally tired of always losing the precious bounty of our fruit trees to wandering animals, we finally put a fence around a good portion of our backyard. We had three fruit trees—an apple tree and two pear trees—but cordoned off an area large enough to accommodate four more fruit trees and three large raised vegetable beds. Then [...]

Alternate title: Well, Now I’m Just Pushing It, Aren’t I?
 

 
Yesterday, I posted my Gin and Tonic Sorbet recipe, enticing anyone who would listen to make it, enjoy it, then inflict it on all your guests. That recipe called for a lime-infused simple syrup, and I only ended up using half of the batch that I made. Which got the wheels [...]

Alternate title: Oh, Look At What I Done Did.
 

 
Some weeks ago, Pam and Maggy of Three Many Cooks invited me and my family over for dinner. Maggy and I had been exchanging emails for some weeks, and really hit it off online. But normally, my shyness would have made me less ready to accept the invitation. More often than not, [...]

 
Do you know what happens when you fail to keep up with your commitment to having a healthy breakfast every morning? Not only does your metabolism start slowing down again, but you end up letting too much time pass in between posts.
 
I have clinical studies to back that up. (Okay. Study. Clinical study.)
 
But I refuse to take full responsibility [...]

 
One disadvantage of being the only female in the house is that it’s quite difficult to campaign for main dish salads as dinner fare. It’s not that it’s impossible, because I’ve done it before. But there’s always the chance that the salad just wasn’t filling enough, and then they end up having cheese-and-hot-sauce sandwiches for dessert. (It’s happened.)
 
But Tom just [...]

Lunch with mom has always been a treat I’ve enjoyed since my early college years in the Philippines. And by “early” I mean as early as the first of my three majors. (Just call me Ms. Decisive.) I still remember one of the first places we frequented on our Wednesday lunch dates: Cosa Nostra in Manila, which at that time [...]

 
Dear Dinner Chicken,
 
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank you. For you. For all that you do for me. Please bear with me as I attempt to count the ways I do love thee.
 
I love you for coming into my home almost fully defrosted, allowing me to spend only a few minutes washing and drying you, and then another [...]

 
Friday night, I finally had the chance to meet Maggy and Pam of Three Many Cooks, who invited me, my husband Tom, and my mom to a cozy dinner for seven at Pam and David’s home in Pennsylvania. I could go on and on and gush about the evening, but I’ll leave that for another post. (Or hopefully Maggy will [...]

 
I love Thai iced tea, and so does my son Tim. He always orders it if we’re at a restaurant that has it on the menu. So it was only natural that, as I started experimenting in the kitchen to come up with a good recipe for Green Tea Ice Cream, I couldn’t help but think that Thai Tea Ice [...]