Mediterranean Grilled Fish

A Dinner for a Hot Summer’s Night It’s really here now, isn’t it? Summer in all its tomato-eatin’, mosquito-swattin’, water-fightin’ glory. The cicadas are  winding themselves up to a frenzy out there in the night, and there have even been a few days when it’s been almost-but-not-quite too hot to cook. I’m deep into it, [...]

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And the winner is . . .

Many thanks for the great suggestions and even more the great conversation about cookbooks to start with. We had such a wealth of options that I had to turn over the choice to the girl herself.  After reviewing the suggestions, she selected “How To Cook Everything.” When I asked why, she said “because I want [...]

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Help Wanted

With the latest cooking project around Maria’s household . . . The girl, thirteen, has expressed a desire to learn to cook.  She can actually already turn out a classic vinaigrette, microwave a quesadilla, scramble an egg and produce a tomato salad with basil picked from the garden (and she knows how to identify the [...]

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Picnic In the Vines/Family Birthday Extravaganza

I recently returned from a week-long “vacation” with my family up at the house my mom shares with her husband on Lake Michigan. The whole Karle clan came, including my brother and his boyfriend Brian from NYC, and my Michigan brother with his family, plus my mom and her husband Tom. Since my two brothers [...]

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A Taste of Summer

Those of you who live around Ann Arbor may have noticed something surprising the past week or so. Finally, in its last official month, summer seems to have arrived. Summer of porch-sitting without sweaters, of kids in sprinklers, of downtown strolls for ice cream, of tossing back the covers at night, of sometimes even seeking [...]

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