I’m glad your friends are OK, but it blows my mind that there are tar pits just out there where people can fall into them.

I am also not a green bell pepper fan, but wasn’t certain that my dried red bell pepper from Penzey’s would work here.

Getting close!

Nice! I’m following the black eyed peas recipe because I didn’t have all the ingredients for Hoppin John.

Ouch. I love the tree but traffic is ROUGH if it isn’t late at night.

Thank you for these beautiful words.

I hope you get some relief soon.

It is even prettier in person than in photographs!

You look fabulous!

I generally do sweetener, coffee, cream, unless I’m committing crimes against cafe au lait (sweetener and cream in the microwave to heat, then coffee).

I am going to try to cook or bake at least one recipe I have never tried before every month. I am also going to try to use all my PTO days, even if it’s just to take a bunch of long weekends.

Depending on the nature of the funk, I may listen to Born to Run or watch a splashy musical like Singing in the Rain (or the version of She Loves Me that was on Great Performances) or go through my cookbook collection to find a big cooking project to keep busy.

This dip!

They look delicious!

I’m thinking back to seeing it at City Center Encores—is it the 1920s?

Oh, no! I hope you feel better soon and get a break from all these medical adventures!

We used Nu-Salt, which is 100% KCl. It was not a good substitute in yeast breads because sodium chloride controls yeast activity in a way that potassium chloride does not (loaves waaaaaay overproofed and the potassium flavor was very obvious).