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Among my fondest memories of growing up in an Appalachian holler is the food, specifically the sweets. Late last year, foodie trend watchers predicted old-fashioned candy is going to be hot this year. I have yet to see Google return this recipe in response to my request for "old-fashioned candy." Trust me, it's a goodie. As a kid, I never gave much thought to why January Thaw was called that -- we sometimes made it in months other than January -- but a Web site that printed a recipe similar to my mom's says it’s because it looks like muddy slush. I assure you it's much tastier. And as the foot or so of snow outside my house has melted this week, the candy doesn't much resemble what's in my yard. Nor does the batch I made tonight exactly match what I remember from 25 years ago. I chalk that up to ingredients and technique and I'll throw in different elevation for good measure. While not "perfect", it's still pretty good -- who could find f...

My 4-year-old decided she wanted to eat with chopsticks for the first time. So today we met my friend Karen for lunch. Bella did great picking up rice and OK with a crispy noodle and broccoli, but she quickly grew tired of the endeavor. She's not demonstrating the best form here, but she's cute!

This yummy little meat main dish is just as good on a cold night (temps here are in the teens) as it is on a warm evening when you don't want to heat up the kitchen. In the first case, you can add red pepper to make it as hot as you can stand; in the second, it's a stir-fry so it's time on the stove or grill is minimal. It's called Bulgogi in Korean (and alternate spelling abound) and translates literally as "fire meat" (if you believe Wikipedia.) My roommate the second semester of my freshman year was from South Korea, but as we lived on campus in a city with a population of about 5,000 people and I wasn't the foodie then that I am now, I didn't learn about Korean stir-fry from Min. Nope, I had it at a Fifty Miles Fresh potluck Morgantown Farmers Market hosted a couple of years ago. Then it was prepared with venison, though the recipe calls for beef -- use either, they're equally delicious! BULGOGI 1 pound thinly sliced round steak (slice it whe...

I bake to battle the cold. Last night wasn't as bone-chilling as the night before when the mercury dipped to below 0. But I had to clean out the fridge to make room for two weeks' of groceries so I had added incentive to bake the remaining white chocolate macadamia nut cookies I purchased in a school fundraiser. It reminded me of a column I wrote two years ago that was published in the local newspaper. I've pasted it below. "Do you want to buy some cookie dough?" "Oh, sure, how much? Six? Eight dollars for a pail?" "Fourteen." "What?!" "They're break-and-bakes and you get ... uh ... '48 one-ounce cookies.' " "Oh, OK, I guess. If it means the class can go to the Pittsburgh Zoo. How many do you have to sell anyway?" "Twenty-four." "Twenty-four?! And he gets to go to the zoo?" "No, twenty-four and he gets the Shaking Monkey Motion-Sensor Door Alarm." Do the math with me. I jus...