So the office is having a chili cook-off. When I started looking around for recipes I had no idea that it had originated in Texas, according to the authors of the New Basics Cookbook. Of course, I suspect this may…

One of my colleagues back in Texas overheard me cursing at my oatmeal one morning. I’ve always had a less than perfect relationship with its bland, wet and lumpy self. No matter how much raisins, maple syrup, pecans I threw…

Earlier last week, I had picked up a couple sweet baking pumpkins along with a modest future Jack-O-Lantern. With a disc of pie crust left over from the apple-cranberry pies I looked around for various pumpkin pie custards. I’d heard…

It’s autumn in the Midwest. While I grew up here, and lived the better part of my adult life in Columbus, I spent a good chunk of time in Texas, Cincinnati and Kentucky. There’s truth that seasons change everywhere. Fall…