Today, as I was cutting and coloring my hair (spoiler alert for anyone who didn’t know) I wondered about Number 53. She’s the girl on the cover of Garnier Ultra Creme Nourishing Permanent Hair color. ($8.50 beats the 75 to 100 dollars hair salons charge to color my hair.) I do this to try and fool people into thinking I’m younger than the date on my driver’s license.…
I met Roger (my ex-husband) 40 years ago this month. He took me to a Thai restaurant and said, “You have to try the coconut chicken soup.” Being a sheltered Italian from Pittsburgh, I turned up my nose and thought, Yuck. Then I tasted it and lost my mind it was so good. So, thank you Roger for that…and the three kids. The kids and soup were totally…
Jim Rice, a baseball player for the Boston Red Sox, saved a boy’s life with his quick actions on August 7,1982. The photo on the Boston.com page (link below) is incredibly touching and the story makes you marvel at Rice’s kindness and immediate actions that made all the difference. (The quick story is that a young boy got hit by a ball and Rice immediately ran into the…
Frosty the Snow Cone Man proudly sits on top of my refrigerator. I believe he’s considered an antique now, as am I. Frosty is a plastic toy from my childhood. He was sold in the 60s as a gadget to help kids make snow cones…and friends (according to this advertisement). I don’t remember the commercial, or an influx of friends, but I know I begged for him and…
I was listening to Alexa broadcasting my favorite news program this Memorial Day morning and realized, once again, how lucky I am to be here. I wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for the ultimate sacrifice a couple of soldiers made during World War II. This is a re-post of a blog I wrote seven years ago, but it means just as much to me now as it did…
I didn’t know I was different. I just assumed everyone’s mother had an electric Jesus she told her problems to and a collection of saints that could fill a room. I thought everyone invited you in, filled the table with food, then cried when you didn’t eat enough. Then I got older and saw very calm white women on TV who baked cookies, wore pearls and aprons and never…
It’s amazing how much a reasonably confident bread baker can learn by screwing up a recipe. This week was a learning experience for me after attempting my mother’s scrawled Easter Bread recipe. I learned: Once it finally rose, my mom’s bread looked pretty good. I was feeling very positive, but was still concerned because I’d never used her recipe before. So, I decided to make that Finnish Spring…
I am hosting Easter on Sunday. I’ve bought almost everything I could think of, so since Easter is a few days away, and I was feeling both nostalgic and brave, I thought I’d give my mom’s original Easter Bread recipe a try. This meant putting my faith in Mom’s words on a yellowed, grease-spotted paper that’s more than 40 years old. I found the spots reassuring thinking she…
When you move to a new area it takes a while to discover all the hidden gems. Living in Harmony, PA was easy because it only had about seven businesses. Pittsburgh is a little more daunting, but my nephew, Matt recommended a little area called Millvale. It’s one of those formerly beaten up Pittsburgh towns that looks a little gritty, but is resurrecting itself, one small business at…
Ever try a recipe and think, Wow, this is so good, it couldn’t possibly be better? That’s what happened to me in 2014. Then you make the recipe again, change something, and think, Whoa, I am a genius! I had my genius moment with lemon ricotta cookies, a recipe I got years ago from Theresa, my ex’s lovely first wife and all round good human. The first time…