Home At Last! with Patty Gironda

As a small girl I loved Elizabeth Gordon's Flower Children-one of several volumes of children's poetry that was offered as a "gift with purchase" when a set of encyclopedias was purchased. I would sit for hours on the floor of my parent's closet studying the artwork and enjoying the short poems written by Elizabeth Gordon. I have since managed to locate several of the old books online and once again enjoy reading the three volumes that I have collected: Flower Children, Mother Earth's Children and Bird Children. Mother Earth's Children: The Frolics of the Fruits and Vegetables is open on my desk and I can still remember the emotions that I experienced as a small girl when I read the poems as I studied the "children". One of my favorite pages was "Mrs. Peach". Here's what Mrs. Peach had to say back in 1939 . . . "Our family's not hard to suit," said Mrs. Peach. "We're simple fruit; We like most any ki...

I'm like a nervous new mommy waiting for the first blooms of my wonderful heirloom peach tree. Here's the first blooms! After carefully fertilizing and pruning, I'm anxious to see if the size of these delicious raspberry-scented peaches will increase. Keep your fingers crossed!

Sometimes, the simplest meal comes by way of the freshest ingredients. This is freshly-prepared Italian Sausage-bought locally; seared in garlic oil with a few chives, steamed with beer and served up on a grilled sesame bun! "I'm not in Kansas", anymore, thanks to a new market-close to home, making their own sausage! A shout out to Food Outlet of Newnan, for offering fresh meats and good-looking, fresh-tasting, affordable homemade sausage!

I adore semolina bread and it amazes me that I am able to get so many delicious meals from one easy recipe. I have worked diligently on perfecting this recipe for over two years! I love that I now have the perfect toasting loaf as well as a tasty flatbread or cracker dough. Last night I tried my recipe on a flatbread with no sauce. The flavorful flatbread derived it's salty goodness from freshly-grated Asiago cheese, garlic oil, cracked black pepper and kosher salt on top of my hand-stretched dough. The spinach was tossed lightly in olive oil and added to the dough along with black olives! The final topping was a few handfuls of romano cheese and a generous sprinkle of cayenne pepper. The results-FABULOUS! Thinly-sliced toasted semolina bread with strawberry preserves provided breakfast "afterglow"!

I've had the desire to experiment with chocolate candies using a new mold-thinking I might be able to set them out for guests of our Bed and Breakfast! These were made using only the microwave, a spatula, the new mold and an off-set spatula. The recipe was adapted from the fudge my sister and I made as kids. Semi-sweet morsels, unsalted butter, heavy cream, sea salt and marshmallow cream. Once I had my chocolate mixture poured into the mold I added salted pecan halves, cashews, filberts and almonds. The results were wonderful . . .a shell of pretty chocolate with a fudge center offering the perfect contrast of salt. Next batch, I've decided to add a layer of creamy caramel!