the mingling of food, family, and life
I go through phases. For months, I will dutifully write-out my weekly meal plan, go to the grocery store once a week, and proceed to make dinner according to the schedule. I will have flipped through my favorite cookbooks, blogs, and magazines and found new, inspiring recipes to create for my family. I will…Continue Reading
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language. And next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning. -T.S. Eliot I was recently in a discussion with a friend about a group of women she admires. She shared with me how they all have full-time jobs outside…Continue Reading
You had been told that this would happen. This ever-increasing independence. The wings starting to flap. You’d read about it in books. You’d been told, many, many times by all the people who came before you but still, for you, you weren’t quite ready. No, you’re still back in preschool when she’d cry and call…Continue Reading
We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face…we must do that which we think we cannot. -Eleanor Roosevelt I always like fresh starts. New beginnings. The start of a new year. A brand new calendar without a single commitment written down…Continue Reading
”Haul out the holly; Put up the tree before my spirit falls again, Fill up the stocking….” We Need A Little Christmas Hope the midst of the Holiday Season finds you well. I managed to deck the halls before we hit mid-month with all of my sparkly, silvery baubles. And, I actually mailed packages…Continue Reading
A few weeks ago, my 6-year-old reportedly said to his father, “Um, Dad, why is Mom the boss? I thought you were supposed to be the boss?” The Rooster ruffled his feathers and replied, “Well, I’m the boss too. We’re both the boss.” “Then why is Mom always bossing everyone around. She bosses me around.…Continue Reading
Can we have an honest little chat? A little one-on-one? Play a little game of “Truth Is”? If you don’t know about the game “Truth Is,” I’m happy to enlighten you since “Yahoo!!” I have a teenager and this a little game they like to play on Facebook whereby the writer posts an honest and…Continue Reading
“I awoke this morning with devout Thanksgiving for my friends, the old and new.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson My dear friends, I hope you’ll indulge me a bit this week as I stray from my regularly scheduled program of story, photos and recipe. Over the course of the past year, I have received many kind emails…Continue Reading
Every night I go to bed hoping it won’t happen. I pull close the blackout shades. Cut the Rooster off of SportsCenter. Do some stretching. Some deep breathing. Slap on my eye mask. Occasionally, put in some ear plugs. All hoping it will help. Every dang morning (if you can call it morning), I am…Continue Reading
After 40 plus years of observation, I have come to my own non-scientific conclusion about the difference between men and women. Men are born with their egos fully intact and they spend their lives making sure it doesn’t get nicked, tarnished, bruised or crushed. Women on the other hand are born without an ego….in essence,…Continue Reading
Why do I love 6-year-olds? Well, for one, they still skip. They hum. They hold your hand when they cross the street. They look like this on the first day of school. When they spy you on the hill, waiting for them after school, they run to you as if you are the…Continue Reading
You may have noticed that I haven’t been publishing posts here on La Pomme as regularly as I have in the past. I have to be honest that I have been a wee bit overwhelmed lately. Overwhelmed by having three kids in three different schools. Overwhelmed by their activity schedules. Overwhelmed by my own writing…Continue Reading
I wanted chocolate. You know what I mean. I NEEDED chocolate. The dark chocolate 74% cacao bar I keep in the cupboard for these occasions sounded about appealing as lima beans. No, I wanted chocolate, warm and melted, wrapped in some buttery, white flour concoction. I couldn’t even make this up if I tried but…Continue Reading
“Ummm, Mrs. Minns, I don’t think our camp starts until 10:30 am,” my 12-year old’s buddy says to me as I’m minutes away from dropping the two of them off at cooking camp. “Oh no, darlin’, it starts at 10am. I’m sure of it. I have it in my calendar.” It was the first week…Continue Reading
I don’t do well with chaos. Not shopping malls. Not county fairs. Not kids pounding up and down stairs. Not legos strewn throughout my house. I’m definitely a “go outside and play!” type of Mom. I know I shared with you back in March that I was triumphant. After months of organizing and purging, I…Continue Reading
The Rooster stands in the shadows of the garage, waving and smiling, but giving us a look that says, “Here you guys go, leaving me again.” The kids and I wave, blow kisses and holler out the rolled-down windows, “Bye Sweetie! Bye Dad!! See you in a week! We love you!” And with that, we…Continue Reading
It’s true. We all have our quirks. Our less appealing bits about ourselves. Our strengths and our weaknesses. And nowhere is this magnified more than within the walls of a family. We love each other. We drive each other crazy. Our families have known us for so long, it’s hard to hide our true personality…Continue Reading
Sometimes the whole process of writing a story, taking the photographs, editing the photographs, testing a recipe, writing a recipe, putting the whole thing together on the computer and then, hitting the publish button…can be, well, overwhelming. Today I wanted to keep it simple. A bank of fluffy gray clouds sit above my head here…Continue Reading
I look out at the square boxes full of bare dirt. Good dirt. Actually compost-boosted-dirt but still…bare dirt. Not a lick of green…um, except for the occasional weed that chooses to land in there. Yes, it’s true, last year those boxes had been overflowing with tomato plants, some lettuce, carrots but this year…nothing. Nada. Rien.…Continue Reading
My family is nuts for artichokes. Every year I anxiously await the moment that the DeNoble Family Farms table at our Farmers Market is covered with artichokes of all sizes. And every year I enjoy hearing again and again from the head of DeNoble Family Farm how Tillamook, Oregon deserves to be the artichoke…Continue Reading
I had two days. Just two days to unpack from a week spent at the Oregon Coast with my sis, my parents, a gaggle of kids and our husbands who were arriving and departing at various times during the week. A true week at the Oregon Coast complete with sun, sand, wind, down jackets and…Continue Reading
“I’m thinking of signing him up for golf camp, basketball camp, a soccer camp and maybe some swimming,” one of my well-meaning friends was saying to a group of us about a month ago. The conversation then lead to the fall, “Besides soccer, we’re putting together a flag football team if anyone wants to…Continue Reading
IMPORTANT MESSAGE: Please read my message after the story especially my gracious email subscribers. She was three years old when she performed in her first dance recital. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and The Bunny Hop. Her little feet could be heard “tap, tap, tapping” away as she practiced for her big debut. Considering that when…Continue Reading
Well, it’s cherry season! While I’m absolutely in love with the Rainier cherry – those unique little yellow and red orbs – I’m starting to have a new crush on the super-sweet Bing Cherries coming out of Washington. Of course, right now as I’m typing this to you and need to know the exact name…Continue Reading
So, my dear friends, this week has been filled with milestones, celebrations and a few tears on the part of yours truly. One headed to high school, one to middle school and one leaving that sweet, sweet year of Kindergarten and as I’ve said before every first for my littlest one is a monumental last for me.…Continue Reading
Carrie Minns, writer, photographer & mother of three, can be found sipping tea or sipping wine depending on how things are going here in the chicken coop.
