There are places in the world so inarguably beautiful that they become legendary. Americans may not know Peggys Cove by name – but if you’ve ever seen a picture of a lighthouse, you’ve probably seen Peggys Cove. It’s hard to believe that a place so photographed and visited has… Read full post »

 



My first trip to New Orleans was in 1981. I was six years old and had just transplanted from New Jersey to Pensacola, Florida. Pensacola is the older, slightly less promiscuous sister of New Orleans. The history, architecture, music and food are echoes across Interstate 10, bouncing back/…

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As a mother of four, I am well-accustomed to screaming my order into the clown’s mouth then having my food thrown out a window in the general direction of my driver’s side window. The contrasts between ordering popcorn and a slushy at Target’s snack counter and a formal dining situa… Read full post »

It’s Jodi vs. Martha time again!
It’s been awhile since I last attempted one of Martha Stewart’s admittedly excellent recipes, but Martha caught me in her net yet again with her “Martha Stewart Cookie of the Day” email about Black Forest Cookies.

Three kinds of choco… Read full post »

Irish Beef Stew

If you’re having a crowd over for St. Patrick’s Day, you’ll want to be sure you have something to serve that will fill everyone up before the green beer starts to flow. This stew is real food – add some love and you’ll have a dish that will… Read full post »

Get it? 3/14?

Yeah - I have the feeling that the idea of Pi Day appeals to The Man about as much as Pie Day appeals to me. So – for him I will not roll my eyes when he does a little dance during Pi MINUTE (3:14 on 3/14). I will… Read full post »

There is a surprising amount of controversy over chili. “Chili” is short for “chili con carne” – literally translated as “peppers with meat.” For our purposes, I’ll define chili as a spicy stew made with meat, peppers, onions, garlic, cumin, chili powde… Read full post »

 


Tim Tebow is the second coming of the Christ child according to most Florida fans. If you ask them, he single-handedly delivered two BCS championships, won the 2007 Heisman Trophy and just one touch from Tebow can heal leprosy or rickets. There’s no doubt that Tebow is a magnificen/… Read full post »

 

I believe that there are both positive and negative aspects to the current violent murder of stereotypes. I admit a measure of trepidation as I begin, but I hope to equally offend everyone and thus balance out the righteous indignation scales. At heart, I am a comedienne, so I do have/… Read full post »

 


The general impression of the middle class Victorian home, especially in London, normally includes a servant or two. If a family had a single servant, she was a “maid-of-all-work” – a general purpose helper who would primarily give the lady of the house a hand with/… Read full post »

There's something about the turning of the year that makes folks want to resolve to do better in the year that's to come. For whatever reason, resolutions have become part of our society. In my world, the New Year is part of its own month and happened about two months ago. But,… Read full post »

 


It's been an amazing year on Open Salon. One would be hard pressed to find a subject that has not been given thoughtful analysis and inspired passionate opinions in the past year.

Choosing just ten of my very favorite posts has been a challenge to say the least. I hav/…

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Religiously, I'm a rare bird. I don't talk about religion much because there's no way to satisfy anyone and there's nothing to prove by doing so. But today, I'll peek into that Pandora's box. As I became educated and read my way through the world, I realized that all religion…

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After last week's Nutella Cream Puffs - a fat and sugar explosion if there ever was one - I thought I'd share something a bit more sedate. Maybe you're craving a little something - a cookie perhaps - yet, you've surreptitiously emptied the office candy dish (twice) and bitten the heads off… Read full post »

 

 

Saturday I went to the mall. I’m not going to give you some spiel about how I hate the mall because it’s a vast wasteland of desolate, soulless consumerism. For me, it’s just a place to buy stuff. I picked up an especially fetching blanket the same shade of/…

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Last year, several OSers posted some amazing recipes that resulted in a Holiday Food Orgy beyond our wildest dreams. Today, I'd like to reprint my favorite recipe post from that time and invite my fellow bloggers to link up in the comments with their Ghosts of Recipes Past. Hopefully, we'll/… Read full post »

 


When I first heard about the Salon Kitchen Challenge for “political food” I thought I had it in the bag. I fancy myself a rather funny person. I can come up with Bill Clinton’s “Mind the Gap” Meringue Cream Pie or Ollie North’s “Lucrative D/… Read full post »

 

 

At this time of year, we’re all looking for that one simple food to bring, take, give and gift. All of us have that one go-to recipe that isn’t gourmet or expensive but never disappoints. For me, that is my mother’s recipe for date balls. This recipe has just six/…

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Long before Martha frenched her first standing rib roast or Rachel Ray opened her first tin of Rotel, there was Mrs. Beeton.

In the 185os, at the ripe old age of 21, Isabella Mary Beeton began contributing household and cookery articles to one of her husband’s many publication/…

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Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are not something most Americans think about. When I was in Britain five years ago, every other story on the news was about the dangers of GMOs and how they were sneaking into the food supply. GMOs sounded like a very bad thing according to the folks… Read full post »

 


I strive to be an extremely polite person. Really, I do. The last thing I want to do is hurt anyone's feelings. But, I suppose that I was born lacking the gene that allows me to enjoy talking on the phone. I love whiling away twenty or thirty minutes giggling with/…

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In July, I wrote a post that involved pho. I was asked by EatJax.com (my “real” job) to review a pho place called “Bowl of Pho” this past week. There had been a great deal of confusion on that past post about exactly what pho is and how it is prepared, so/… Read full post »

I would like to face the fact that summer is over. In fact, fall is my favorite season in places that actually have an autumn. It may not have been 88° on Halloween where you live, but you can still enjoy a taste of summer. I suggest serving this with your… Read full post »

I have often been accused of defending some of the most vile things in the world - Wal-Mart, racist costumes... once, I even appeared to defend men! (What the hell was I thinking?)

It should come as no surprise that I've decided to throw caution to the wind yet again. After all, today's subj… Read full post »

I have freely admitted in the past that I am the product of illegal immigrants. I don’t mean that in the “I am white, liberal and guilty because I'm not Native American” sort of way. I mean that in the past 100 or so years, one (or more?) of the people/… Read full post »