Tomatoes Out the Ass

While planning my vegetable garden earlier this year, I decided to plant just two tomato vines. When gardens are barren with nothing growing upon rich, tilled soil, it’s tempting to plant more than necessary. I have just a little space and I wanted to grow more than just tomatoes. Flowers are nice, but I enjoy [...]

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Crockpot Oxtails

 
Finding good meat in Brooklyn is hard. The Bravo Supermarket on the corner of Bedford Avenue sells beef that is often slightly brown and their prices are outrageous. My teeth have weakened after forty years of eating candies and sweets, so chewing tough food does not suit my taste buds. Yesterday, while searching for more [...]

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The Garden of Eva

 
Eva and Esther left the silence of the cemetery together. Eva drove her big car that used a lot of gas and followed Esther in her Chrysler back to the farm that Esther inherited from her husband George after he died.
George and Esther were planning a divorce, Eva learned. Esther was still crying, long after they had [...]

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Pattern for A Gingerbread House

It may be unhealthy to eat a gingerbread house that is used for decorative purposes, especially when one lives in Brooklyn where roaches are as busy and almost as big as Santa’s elves. The unwelcome insects crawled down the graham cracker chimney of my baked holiday ornament last December, so this year, as I prepare [...]

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Sweet Chuck Taylor Pie

 
Sweet potato pie is a rich delicacy than can be made inexpensively. The auburn tinted, tuber- based dessert is more than just soul food. It is a fresh alternative to pumpkin pies.
It is insensitive to be a guest at a Thanksgiving meal and show up with a dessert purchased at a bakery or a simple [...]

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Granny Smith Pumpkins

 
Granny Smith taught me that pumpkin blossoms are edible. The notion of eating a big yellow flower seemed ridiculous to me at the age of nine, especially since there were so many bees that flew in and out of the flowers on the vines. The pumpkin patch was my section of the family garden. My [...]

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Trouble in River City

My high school sweetheart drove from State College to Three Springs on Saturday to visit me. It’s a one hour trip over the winding mountain roads of central Pennsylvania between the two towns. I was surprised when she showed up at my family’s bar-b-q hours after everyone else had eaten. It was already dark when [...]

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Fresh Pie Pastry from Scratch

 
 
For A Double Crust Pie 
2 level cups PILLSBURY BEST® All-Purpose Flour
1 level teaspoon salt
3/4 Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening
7 tablespoons cold water
Crisco shortening is not just a lubricant for fisting. Making a fresh pastry from scratch is a culinary art form that died with thousands of queens in the 1970’s. The gay days of succulent [...]

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Miller’s Diner

A Strickler’s Dairy truck pulled into the parking lot of Miller’s Diner every Monday morning at 7 a.m. Ethel was sure to be up and dressed by 6:00. In her old age, it was hard to get around. It took her well over a half hour just to get out of her housecoat and into [...]

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Miller’s Restaurant - Three Springs, Pennsylvania

Ethel Miller opened Miller’s Family Diner in 1954. The population of Three Springs was nearing 400. Even in a town that small, there are always mouths to feed and women who are too lazy to cook. She lived upstairs. Going to work was convenient, but there were always more potatoes to peel. Her son Jim [...]

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