Don’t you like it when something good comes from something bad? When I learned that to renew my almost expired Slovak passport I needed to submit my application in person in New York, I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. My first reaction was “Oh, no, I don’t need a trip now, my life is already too busy with work, and the timing is simply not good!”
After a long absence from my blog, I hope my presence will become more regular after I settle into the routine of the new school year. Developing the routine is taking a little bit longer than usual – more about this in a future post. Today I present this easy and wonderful way of preparing apples under a crispy sweet crust of rolled oats. I adapted the recipe from The Whole Foods Market Cookbook. You can use almost any type of fruit, or you can mix different fruits together.
Below our blooming Japanese stewartia tree peacefully coexist yellow and pink daylilies, blue wild geraniums together with pink and white foxgloves.
May is an amazing month. Not just because both my birthday and anniversary are in May, but because lots of my favorite flowers are in full bloom this time of the year. Do you have stories of why certain flowers are your favorites? Here are some of mine.
Just before we went on our winter break last year, I received a nicely wrapped box from one of my senior Advanced Placement Calculus students. When I opened it at home on Christmas Eve (yes, we Europeans don’t open presents in the morning), to my big surprise I found a spring form cake pan in the box together with spatulas and her family’s recipe for a tart!
I find it amazing that sometimes when I read something it is so relevant and perfectly timed to what is happening in my life. This school year, for the first time in my long teaching career, I teach only seniors. One hundred and ten of them. I have only eight more school days with this group of talented young people. What do I tell them as my farewell?
This year, our tulips are mostly done giving space to other flowers to shine. Here is to the national flower of Turkey.
Over the years, before the era of e-mails and social media, there were traditional postcards sent to us by family members and friends. From my personal collection, here is a sample from the seventies and eighties from Czechoslovakia and Hungary, and from the nineties from Slovakia.
These are not your usual chocolate chip cookies. These are more like truffles, rich and moist inside with a delicate crust outside. You will need a lot of chocolate but you won’t regret it. I first saw the recipe just the other day on my friend Kathleen’s wonderful blog Nurturing Life, and because I was in the mood of baking that afternoon, gave it a try. I was very much pleased with the result and anyone to whom I gave these cookies – to a few co-workers at my and my husband’s workplaces – agreed that they are the most […]
“Most people are mirrors, reflecting the moods and emotions of the times; few are windows, bringing light to bear on the dark corners where troubles fester. The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” — Sydney J. Harris
Did you know that latkes have a Middle Eastern origin? They are an Ashkenazic Hanukkah specialty, but of course could be eaten at any time of the year. They are “truly marvelous and a good way to start any meal, or to accompany roasted beef” says Yotam Ottolenghi in his cookbook Jerusalem written with his friend Sami Tamimi.
Before all the blues and whites are gone from our garden and the neighborhood, here is a small sampling of these beauties. Asian pear flowers, bluebells, trillium, blue violets, more Asian pears, blue periwinkle ground-cover, our plum tree tucked in between two houses, forget-me-not, and my absolute favorite – poet white daffodil.