Black-eyed pea and chorizo soup

It’s good to be back in New York. See, like so many others (and perhaps even yourself) I was affected by the East Coast blizzard and spent a few unexpected days in Pittsburgh, PA on my way back to the city.

Passing time in an airport is never fun, especially when you’re in a strange town where you don’t know anyone. But I have to say, if you’re going to be stranded somewhere, Pittsburgh is not so bad. The people are friendly, the city is beautiful and the food is hearty. Not to mention the airport has free Wi-Fi so you could stay connected to the world without paying an exorbitant fee.

When I told my mom about my flight’s diversion, she advised me to take it easy and that everything occurs for a reason. Her Christmas Eve sermon had been about how life happens when you have other plans, so I took these words to heart.



I’m still not certain what this experience was supposed to teach me, but I think it may have to do with being able to give up control. Sure, I was powerless but screaming and yelling wouldn’t get me home any faster. So I remained calm, as did my fellow passengers.
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Ensalada de Noche Buena (Christmas Eve salad)

A few days ago, I admitted that I hate beets. Now, you’d think I’d announced I hate sunshine or bluebonnets the way people reacted. “How did this happen?” said one. “I don’t understand,” said another.

Finally, however, a few stood with me in solidarity. And we all agreed that beets taste like dirt.

But then I kept running into a recipe that appealed to me: ensalada de Noche Buena or Christmas Eve salad. It’s a colorful mix of oranges, jicama, apples, pomegranate seeds, peanuts and yes, beets.

As the name implies, this salad is traditionally served on Christmas Eve in Mexico and the Southwest. I’d never heard of it, but I read about it in Texas Highways magazine and learned that it’s also quite popular in West Texas along the Texas-Mexico border.



I began to research this salad and found that no two recipes are alike. I love this in a dish as it means that people will be very opinionated about it and yet there’s no right or wrong way to create it. For instance, I learned that some people add bananas and pineapple to their salad, which makes it feel more tropical. Others add crushed peppermint candy to their salad, playing up the holiday aspect of the dish. There were countless other variations that I saw but the one thing that they all had in common was that they all called for, yes, beets.
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Gifts for your favorite Texans

I'm an awful procrastinator when it comes to holiday shopping. I’m lucky if I get it all done by February. This year, however, I’ve resolved to be on time. As I’ve been wending my way across the Internet looking for fun things to send my friends and family, I’ve discovered some wonderful gifts perfect for that homesick Texan on your list. I thought that I’d share them with you.

Barbecue:
Unless you smoke it yourself, it’s pretty darn difficult hard to find Texas-style barbecue outside the state. So why not order some from the source? Houston’s Goode Company, which has long shipped its decadent pecan pies, is also now shipping smoked meat, such as brisket and turkeys. There is also Snow’s in Lexington has been judged to be the best barbecue in Texas by Texas Monthly. Unfortunately, it’s only open for a few hours on Saturdays, but they will their award-winning brisket if you can't make the trip. And if you live in New York, why not consider a Hill Country gift certificate for your favorite Tex-Pat? No meat-eating Texan in New York would refuse the chance to eat their moist brisket and Kreuz hot links.

Texas teething ring:
I have a new nephew named Austin Jack. He may live in Oregon but he’s half Texan by way of his daddy. Even though he’s growing up in the Pacific Northwest, I aim to keep him connected with his heritage. I think that this Texas-shaped teething ring will be a good start.



Jellies and jams:
There are a plethora of Texans selling jellies and jams, but some of my favorites come from Austin-based Confituras. With creative flavors such as cranberry jalapeño, salted caramel pear butter and pear jam with sage and honey, I think that you’ll agree.
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Pepita-lime crescent cookies

I had a design meeting with my book editors recently. My contribution? I brought cookies. They enjoyed the cookies but then I felt guilty. See, I made them cookies but I hadn’t made anything for the blog. And since the cookies I took to the meeting will be in the book, I can’t share them with you until next fall. So I decided to bake another batch of cookies just for you. Yes, I made you pepita-lime crescent cookies.

But before I go into details about these cookies, please let me give you an update on my book. Many of you have been asking about it and I realize that I haven’t said too much since announcing that I was writing one. My apologies—it’s been a hectic few months. Though with my December 31 deadline soon approaching, I can happily say that it’s almost complete.

I’m currently revising the second draft of the manuscript and will return to Texas soon for a final burst of inspiration. But for the most part, I’m pleased with the manuscript and even though the testing was completed two months ago, I’m still cooking from it just because I’m in love with the new recipes. I know, I’m being a tease. My apologies. But when the book is finally published, I believe that you’ll enjoy them, too.



I don’t have a release date yet but I’m pretty sure we’re still on track for next fall. They’re going to start working on the cover soon and I think once that’s finalized it’ll be available for pre-ordering. You can bet that I’ll certainly holler when this happens.
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Turkey tamales with guajillo-cranberry mole

My dad’s family always gets together the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I think this is smart as there’s nothing more stressful then either having to make a choice on where to eat on Thanksgiving or—even worse—shuttling between two huge dinners in order to make everyone happy. Nope, Thanksgiving should be a time where you can enjoy yourself and savor both the meal and company, something that my dad’s side of the family has figured out how to do right.

The food on offer at this Saturday gathering is usually Thanksgiving fare, with Uncle Bubba providing additional entertainment by frying up a turkey or two outside. Now, I have to admit, I haven’t been to one of these feasts in quite some time as I return to New York the Saturday after Thanksgiving to avoid the Sunday-travel rush. Graciously, however, I’m always included in the discussion about the get-together, and this year Aunt Janet decided to mix things up a bit by suggesting that a Mexican feast would be more fun instead.

As I started reading the emails from family chiming in on what they’d provide, I was inspired when I saw a request for tamales. As we enter December it also marks the beginning of tamalada season, a time when Texan families gather to make a mess of tamales to feed friends and family throughout the holidays. And what better stuffing for a tamale than leftover turkey?



Turkey tamales are usually made with one of two salsas, either a tangy tomatillo or a rich mole (pronounced moe-lay). I find that smoked turkey goes especially well with a zesty salsa verde, but nothing beats roasted turkey paired with the earthy bittersweet flavor of mole—it’s a classic combination. I am, however, not one to follow the rules. So while a traditional mole poblano is usually comprised of ancho and pasilla chiles, along with almonds and raisins, I made up a Thanksgiving-themed mole with dried cranberries, pecans and the bright berry-like guajillo chiles instead.
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Pecan cobbler with sorghum syrup

If you stop at a barbecue joint or at a catfish shack in small towns across Texas, more than likely one of your dessert options will be pecan cobbler. Its appeal is wide yet you don’t see it often offered on larger city menus, which for me makes it all the more of a down-home dessert.

Now, you may be asking yourself, “What exactly is pecan cobbler?” I was wondering the same thing myself recently when a reader asked me for my best recipe. See, as much as my family loves its cobblers and our pecans, we’ve never served pecan cobbler. Nope, our pecan dessert of choice is a gooey custardy slice of pecan pie.

A little research was obviously in order. First, let’s talk about cobbler. When I think of cobbler I think of a filling, usually fruit, that has a crust on top. It can be a pie-like crust, a cake-like crust or a biscuit-like crust. But the key to a cobbler is that the crust and the filling intermingle usually with an equal ratio of crust to filling.

The majority of the pecan cobbler recipes I saw, however, had a pecan-pie filling on top of a piecrust. Perhaps I’m missing something, but I failed to see how this was any different from pecan pie, except perhaps that the cobbler was baked in a square baking pan instead of a pie pan.



My search continued. I then spoke to a friend who has eaten much pecan cobbler and he assured me that that those recipes appeared to be wrong—the crust should indeed be soft and fluffy, like a biscuit. After a little more digging, at last I discovered a recipe on Texas Monthly’s recipe swap. It was there that I found a woman who did make hers with a biscuit base and so I used that as a starting point for my adaptation.
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Cactus casserole with rice, ancho chiles and cheese

Every year at this time, I face the same problem. See, I’m a bit lackadaisical when it comes to buying my plane ticket home for Thanksgiving. And now that it’s so close to the date, prices have risen to insane heights. Oh, you’d think that I’d get wise and start buying my ticket early, but much to the consternation of my family I do this to myself every year.

Of course, I tell myself that if it’s meant to happen I will be with my family. I am patient and calm. But one person who I know for certain won’t be at the farm for Thanksgiving this year is my cousin Andrew, who will be with his girlfriend’s family instead. And since Andrew is always in charge of green-bean casserole, I just don’t know if we’ll be serving it this year or not.

Well, this got me thinking.



Have you ever eaten cactus? Edible cactus, which in Spanish is known as nopal, comes from the prickly pear cactus, a beautiful plant that dots the landscape of West Texas. The plant has wide paddles that resemble a beaver’s tail and with a little care (yes, you remove the thorns) the paddles make for a delicious vegetable. It’s also extremely nutritious, as some studies have noted that eating cactus helps treat diabetes and lower cholesterol levels. Though health benefits aside, I simply like to eat it because it tastes so darn good.
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Sweet potato biscuits with chorizo cream gravy and Foodways Texas

On Wednesday mornings, I take a tour of Texas’s foodways via its newspapers. I may learn about Mexican cookies being baked in San Antonio; a chile pepper rivalry between El Paso and New Mexico; a sausage festival in Lubbock; the effects of extreme heat on the Valley’s citrus industry; and how this year’s crop of Galveston oysters have finally arrived.

Foodways is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the eating habits and culinary practices of a people, region, or historical period.” And Texan foodways are an endless source of fascination for me, a topic I never tire of consuming whether it’s through research, discussion or by simply sharing Texan food at the table.

I've mentioned my association with the Southern Foodways Alliance (SFA), a group dedicated to preserving Southern food culture. And while I do consider Texas part of the South, I also consider it beyond being simply Southern as Texas, with its diverse foodways that span from the Mexican border, along the Gulf Coast, through the Piney Woods and Hill Country on up to the panhandle plains, is a place unique to itself.



Back in July, I was part of a group comprised of restaurateurs, writers, ranchers, farmers, fisherman, brewers and academics that met on the campus of Texas A&M with the purpose of creating a group dedicated to preserving, promoting and celebrating our rich food culture. And by the end of the day, we had formed a new group known as Foodways Texas.
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Saag paneer enchiladas

When I first moved to New York City and discovered that the Tex-Mex was seriously lacking in this town, I embraced Indian food. Now, if you’re not familiar with Indian cuisine that may seem bizarre. But Indian cuisine is rich with ingredients familiar to Texans, such as cumin, chiles and cilantro. And while Indian food doesn’t taste much like Mexican food, its base note flavors satisfied my needs.

I first fell in love with Indian food when I lived in Austin. On Sundays my friends and I would frequent an Indian buffet and load up on tandoori chicken, stewed vegetable dishes filled with okra, potatoes and cauliflower, puffy naan bread and my favorite Indian offering of all—saag paneer, a creamy spinach dish spiced with cumin, cinnamon and ginger, with cubes of paneer cheese dotted throughout.

This past weekend I was at the Southern Foodways Alliance’s (SFA) annual symposium held in Oxford, Mississippi. If you're not familiar with the SFA, it's mission is to document, study and celebrate the diverse food cultures of the changing American South. This year’s theme was the Global South and there were presentations on topics such as “Cajuns, Croats, Vietnamese: On Land and Sea in Biloxi,” “Havana to Alabama: Cuba through a Southern Lens" and “Houston: The South’s New Creole City.”



Robb Walsh delivered the Houston talk and he discussed how in Houston he sees a glorious evolution of Texan cuisine as new immigrants arrive and merge their native foods with what we already eat. So you’ll see, for instance, Lebanese-Mex fajitas, spicy beef wrapped in pitas or Armenian bean soups that taste like chili.
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Buttermilk pie

“Two cups of sugar?” I said to myself as I read over my great-grandma Blanche’s recipe for buttermilk pie. That amount sounded outrageous! But when I mentioned this to a smart bunch of folks, they nodded their heads and said, “Ah, that must be a recipe for buttermilk pie.” And even though I was dubious, I decided to adhere to the wisdom of my elders and bake this sugar-loaded pie as apparently that is just how this pie is done.

Now, if you’re unfamiliar with this old Southern dessert you may be asking, “What is buttermilk pie?” Well, as the name implies, it’s a custard pie made with buttermilk. And while it may sound strange to the uninitiated, take note that Texans have long been resourceful with buttermilk, as for many years it was both inexpensive and widely available. But here’s where defining buttermilk pie becomes tricky, at least for me.



The interesting thing about my recipe is that Grandma Blanche titled it buttermilk chess pie, which begs the question: are chess pie and buttermilk pie the same thing? I used to think that they were not, as I have a chess pie recipe that does not include buttermilk. But perhaps it is simply a variation. I wish I had the answer to these questions, but I don’t. But as I wait patiently for one of you to shed light on this topic I will occupy myself by baking my great-grandma’s buttermilk pie.
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Green chile hominy casserole with chorizo

My grandma thinks I am incapable of making any recipe without chile peppers. And she finds this very amusing. Take our conversation about hominy casserole the other day. As she was telling me her recipe she paused and then said while laughing, “Say, I have an idea. Do you have any chile peppers? I bet that would make this recipe even better!”

Well, it’s no secret that I love chile peppers. So much that I’m pretty certain my grandma’s theory is true. But, hey, I’m a Texan, what can I say?

But back to this hominy casserole—when I was at my grandma’s house in July, she had provided me with a fat file of recipes she’s collected over the years. There were a bunch of gems and some strange ones as well. I will definitely be making her batch of apricot bread but Aunt Margaret’s meat concern casserole sort of gives me pause. No matter, I love recipes and made a ton of copies to bring back to New York. But I forgot to copy one I was very interested in cooking—grandma’s hominy casserole.



Hominy casserole, which at it’s most basic is simply a mixture of hominy with sour cream and cheddar cheese, is an old-fashioned Southern side dish you don’t see that often anymore. Grandma made hers often in the 50’s and 60’s as it was both hearty and a great portable dish to bring to potlucks. But when I asked her why she stopped making it she admitted that she’s not the biggest fan in the world of hominy.
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Pickled green tomatoes

There was a day back in June when I was driving my mom’s car around the Brazos Valley. I didn’t have a destination, I was simply enjoying the quiet country roads, a big blue sky and those Texan clouds that look like fluffy dollops of whipped cream. It was a pleasure.

Back when I lived in Texas, driving wasn’t as fun, it was simply a means to an end. But since I don’t drive in New York City and probably get behind the wheel only four or five times a year, it’s become a peaceful pastime. And so whenever I’m home, I drive as much as I can.

That day I probably put over 200 miles on my mom’s car. But wear and tear on her car aside, I found those miles well spent. See, when you don’t really have much of a destination, driving can be soothing and meditative. And as I motored along, I thought a lot about Texan cuisine.



“How would you define Texan food, exactly?” people will ask me. And I’ll reply that it’s Tex-Mex, barbecue, chili without beans and a plate of chicken-fried steak smothered in cream gravy. But it’s also gas-station beef jerky; a pot of freshly picked black-eyed peas; a kielbasa sausage smothered in sauerkraut; a bowl of carne guisada served with flour tortillas; A Viet-Cajun crawfish boil; and a corny dog eaten at the State Fair. I could continue, but I reckon my point is that the rich diversity of cultures that inhabit our state makes for a most unique regional cuisine.
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Chocolate chip pecan cookies...with bacon grease

Does the world really need another chocolate chip cookie recipe? I’d say probably not. But when someone mentioned to me that they made their chocolate chip cookies with bacon grease, well, my curiosity was piqued.

Do you cook with bacon grease? I use it all the time for savory applications—in my refried beans, in my cornbread, in my cream gravy and in my okra, to name just a few places this fat is most welcome. Why do I use it? Well, I just love how with just one dollop you can propel a dish from mundane to magical. But using bacon grease for something sweet? For some silly reason, this had never crossed my mind.

Now, if you’re not already saving your bacon grease and you’re a bacon eater—I highly recommend this practice. You know that coffee can your great-grandmother always kept by the stove? Yep, that’s where she stored her bacon grease, within easy reach for cooking. I’m not so brave, however, so I keep my bacon grease in a Mason jar in the refrigerator; I recommend you do the same. I reckon it keeps for a few months, though I use it so often I’ve never had the chance to test this theory.



As for the cookies, I’d wanted to make a recipe that I found in my great-grandma Blanche’s collection that called for buttermilk, which also seemed like an unusual ingredient. And as our great-grandmother’s were the arbiters of thrift, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that perhaps she made cookies with bacon grease as well.
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Chipotle chicken taco recipe

If you’re like me, you’ve been sneezing nonstop the past few days. I thought I had a cold until I looked at the calendar and realized what was really happening with my nose—it was an attack of the histamines. Howdy seasonal allergies, you’re right on schedule! And that means it’s time for chipotle chicken tacos.

I’ve had bad allergies all my life. When I lived in Houston it was the spring that made my nose explode and eyes water for two weeks. My mom would provide me with those little purse-packs of tissues, but that was never enough and you’d soon find me walking around with a roll of toilet paper that I’d grabbed from the school bathroom. I concede that wasn’t very ladylike but at least the toilet paper was softer than the lunchroom paper napkins.

When I lived in Austin, I got slammed in the winter with the dreaded cedar fever. It affected me so badly that one day my boss thought I had the flu and told me to go home. “But it’s just allergies from cedar pollen. I’m not actually contagious,” I said, but she insisted I leave, which was a very kind thing to do.



I thought when I moved to New York that I would finally escape the plight of allergies and for a few years I did. But a few years ago one fall morning I woke up almost unable to breathe and it’s been an annual curse of autumn allergies ever since.
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Chiles en nogada

I used to be scared of chiles en nogada. Not to eat them—heck, I’d devour this dish anytime it was on offer. But making chiles en nogada seemed like a very frightening proposition. I’d read stories about people spending days soaking the fruit for the piccadillo filling. I’d hear tales about how difficult it was to peel the walnuts for the sauce. And I’d see people argue about how one’s interpretation of chiles en nogada wasn’t nearly as authentic as another’s version of the dish. It was enough to put me off from ever making it.

If you’re not familiar with chiles en nogada, it’s a Mexican dish traditionally served in late August and early September that’s said to have been created by Pueblan nuns back in the 1820s. The dish is comprised of a poblano chile that's stuffed with a sweet and savory pork picadillo that’s studded with nuts, in-season fruits and dried fruits as well. And then the filled chile pepper is draped in an elegant walnut-cream sauce and garnished with pomegranate seeds that sparkle like rubies.

Because of the dish’s seasonality, gorgeous presentation and its Mexican-flag color scheme of red, green and white, it’s the traditional dish served on Mexico’s Independence Day, September 16 or as its known in Spanish, Diez y Seis de Septiembre. And this year’s celebration marks Mexico’s bicentennial, which means it’s a very big day.



Even though Texas successfully fought for its own independence from Mexico, we were once a part of this splendid country and so I definitely plan on celebrating this momentous holiday. And, well, because a bicentennial is quite an anniversary, I decided it was time to take a stab at Mexico’s national dish.
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Apple dutch baby with green chiles

There’s something about this time of year that makes me feel fresh and crisp, like a first-of-the-season apple. Perhaps it’s the cooler air or perhaps it’s the shorter days, but I feel an urge to get things done

I used to have a high school teacher who would always say to us, “Don’t squander your time!” Of course, when you’re 16 you feel like you have all the time in the world so we’d just laugh at him. But these days, with a serious manuscript deadline pointing at me, I finally understand—make every moment count.

The day after Labor Day was always the first day of school when I was a kid. I miss the anticipation, hope and joy that always came with a return to class. And even though these days most kids have been in school since August, I still think of Labor Day as summer’s last hurrah. It’s a time to slowly slough off the longer, lazier days of the season so you can reveal something more direct and purposeful.



The farmers market reflects this transition with its bounty of both late-summer chile peppers and early arrival autumn apples; it’s a time of two seasons. And while you might not usually associate chile peppers with apples, this is the reason why I think that two go together so well.
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Tomato jam recipe

One of my favorite guilty pleasures when I was in preschool was ketchup on biscuits. I’m not sure how I got into the habit of doing this, but a bit of that old, strange love lingers on today when I eat barbecue: I won’t put sauce on the meat but I’ll dip those soft, spongy slices of white bread in a bucket of a tomato-based sauce if given the chance.

I realize this isn’t the most sophisticated thing to eat, heck, some of y’all might even say it’s downright gross. Well, fortunately, a reader asked me if I had a recipe for tomato jam. Now, I’d never eaten tomato jam but I'd certainly heard of it. I even have a T-shirt from the Tomato Jam café in Asheville, North Carolina that my mom sent to me. (I haven’t been to Asheville but I hear it’s the Austin of North Carolina, which means it’s probably a very cool place.) So when this reader asked me for a recipe, I told her I’d get right on it.

First, I checked my old recipe files to see if any of my grandmas and great-grandmas had directions on how proper tomato jam was done. They didn’t. So before I came up with one, I asked the reader what exactly tomato jam was supposed to taste like. She said it was a wonderful mix of sweet and savory; she ate it on her biscuits while her grandpa spread it on his rye toast.



A sweet and savory tomato spread that isn’t ketchup? I was curious. I started thinking about how I would make my jam, and decided I’d do my usual citrus, sugar and spice blend as I do with my apricot jam.
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Cantaloupe ice cream

I didn’t think I liked cantaloupe.

I know, I know, how can this be? Texas is famous for its cantaloupes, especially Pecos cantaloupes, which hail from this West Texas town situated between Odessa and El Paso.

The soil around Pecos is salty and sandy. And even though cantaloupes aren’t native to Texas, in the early 1900’s farmers started planting them there and they realized that special soil produced especially juicy and sweet fruit. A Texan fruit star was born.



Pecos cantaloupe is in season right now and while they don’t often travel outside the border if you do get your hands on one you’re in for a treat. For a few years, Blue Bell even produced a limited-edition flavor in the late summer called Pecos Cantaloupe ‘N Cream. It hasn’t been made for the past two years, however, and this has made people sad.
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Fried pickles

Last week, everyone was talking about fried pickles. Sure, fried pickles are good but why all the sudden interest? Well, apparently a popular TV show about New Jersey beaches (or something like that) had some of its characters eating this Southern delicacy for the very first time.

“Eating fried pickles was a life-changing experience,” said “Jersey Shore” cast member Snooki upon her introduction to said pickles.

Life changing? That’s quite a statement. Now, I enjoy a basket of fried pickles alongside a bowl of buttermilk dressing as much as the next person. But are they a revelation? Let’s take a closer look.



In Texas, we are known for deep frying anything edible. Butter, Coke, bacon, ribs, turkey, lattes, cookie dough, peanut butter sandwiches—all have been dipped in batter and hot oil in the name of making delectable food. Heck, after you’ve had a serving of fried bacon, a fried pickle might even seem rather mundane.
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Purple hull pea salad

I’ve been working on the pickle section of my book, and I’ve concluded that just about anything can be brined and preserved. Fruit, vegetables, meat, and eggs—it’s a rare food that doesn’t get a flavor boost from vinegar, spices, aromatics, salt and (sometimes) sugar. So when I was trying to come up with new ways to serve the pounds of purple hull peas I brought back with me from Texas, my decision was simple: I’d pickle my purple hull peas.

If you’ve never had the pleasure of eating purple hull peas, they’re a field pea that is similar to black-eyed peas, but with a more delicate and sweet flavor. They’re also prettier with their light-purple blush.



My family never grew purple-hull peas because apparently with these good looks comes high maintenance—they’re a lot tougher to shell than other field peas. But if you do persist, you will be rewarded with a creamy, light pea that needs little adornment to taste wonderful.
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Blueberry peach cornmeal cobbler

I stayed with a friend in Austin this past week. When I arrived at her house, I handed her a Fredericksburg peach that I’d picked up in the Hill Country. And before I even had a chance to sit down, she had sliced the peach in half and shared it with her daughter.

Later that night, I offered to pick up the tab at dinner to thank my friends for letting me sleep at their place. “Are you kidding?” said my friend. “You brought us peaches. You’ve already repaid us more than enough!”

Earlier in the week, I had spent the night at my grandma’s farm. Her peach tree was full of fruit, but they weren’t quite ripe. Fortunately, my mom had brought a box of Fairfield peaches on a recent visit. And before I even had a chance to sit down, my grandma had deftly peeled one of the peaches and cut it into slices to share.





As we were eating the peach slices and wiping the juice off of our chins, my grandma asked if I wanted her to bake me my favorite pie—chocolate. “Are you kidding?” I said. “When the peaches are in season, I want a peach pie instead!”
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Summer squash enchiladas

For the past few years, my family has decided that Tex-Mex is the way to go on Christmas. We don’t get too fancy as my mom’s working at church, but there will be chili, guisada, guacamole, tortillas, salsas, beans, rice and Uncle Austin’s squash enchiladas.

Of course, it’s July and nowhere near Christmas. But if you have zucchini in your garden, you’re well aware of the bounty these plants produce—it can be staggering. And right about now, you’re probably begging friends and neighbors to help you eat some of this prolific vegetable.



Now, I don’t have a zucchini plant, but I did find myself with a surplus of summer squash. And after making a couple of casseroles and batches of pickles, I realized I’d have to come up with something else to use up my supply. Thanks to inspiration from my Uncle Austin, I made summer squash enchiladas.
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Roasted chicken with chipotle

It’s no secret that I love mayonnaise, much to my mustard-loving family’s dismay. But when I was going through my collection of Great-Grandma Blanche’s handwritten recipes, I came across a dish called chicken mayonnaise and realized that this love had just skipped a few generations.

Chicken mayonnaise, as my great-grandma made it, was a concoction that involved, of course, lots of mayonnaise. But it also called for gelatin, nuts and a whole mess of other ingredients that when combined could stretch one small chicken into a feast that could easily serve 20.

“Perfect for that Fourth of July party,” I bet you’re thinking! Perhaps. But I decided to make another type of chicken mayonnaise instead.



Back in March, I had completely sworn off chicken after an encounter with a grocery-store rotisserie chicken left me in bed for three days. I wasn’t happy with this decision, as I adore chicken—be it fried, in tacos, in chicken and dumplings or in sour cream enchiladas. But, well, if you’ve ever suffered through the post-traumatic shock of a bad bout of food poisoning, you know how I felt.
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Grilled stuffed peppers

A couple of weeks ago, my mom told me she was going on vacation and I kindly volunteered to house sit for her in Houston. My initial plan was to take advantage of her spacious air-conditioned kitchen that not only has counters but also a dishwasher and an in-sink disposal. (These are all luxuries not found in my NYC apartment.) Not to mention she’s within driving distance of my two favorite grocery stores: Central Market and Fiesta. Cooking at my mom’s place in Houston was going to be a dream vacation!

Everything was perfect until I tried to start cooking. I’m so used to my tiny kitchen— which is small but has everything I need within reach—that I just couldn’t function properly in my mom’s palatial space. So I decided to not cook at all for a week and instead eat as many different things as I could while I was in Houston.

I admit, eating my way through Texas is not bad work—even when you’re consuming up to eight meals a day. Of course, this was research for my book so I can’t tell you everything that I ate as I want there to be some surprises when the book comes out next fall. But do know that there was a lot of this:



and this:
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Honey lavender ice cream

I missed the bluebonnets this year. This makes me sad as I understand it was a banner year for our state flower. But I do have a few trips to Texas planned this summer, so I hope to see some color, such as the fields of lavender found in the Hill Country this time of year. Yep, in that part of Texas as bluebonnets are to spring, lavender is to summer. And while nothing can compare to a blanket of wildflowers, I’d say that the lavender is still pretty stunning.

Lavender is now in season, and if you were to take a drive through the Hill Country you might see row upon row of this light purple flower. But lavender hasn’t always grown in Texas.



Many years ago, Texan photographer Robb Kendrick was on assignment in the Provence region in France. While there, he was struck by the temporal and geographic similarities between the Hill Country and the Provence. He was also struck by the beauty of the lavender. When he and his wife returned to Texas they started the first commercial lavender farm outside Blanco, which spawned a new industry in the Hill Country.
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