A new look at cooking and home decorating...with an attempt to add more greens to the plate, more vegetarian options & hopefully lots of new ideas to explore

Monday, September 10, 2007

Back to school pie

This past weekend was probably the last blast of summer heat. We took advantage of the warm weather to grill outside. On Sunday night we had a very easy grilled shrimp dinner with salad. The cooking time for jumbo shrimp on a hot grill should be just a few minutes. We however, waited almost 20 minutes for the shrimp to cook because the grill ran out of gas. I’m just glad it did not happen with guests over.

I have to share with you another wonderful cooking experience that I had this past week.
I rang the doorbell of a friend’s house and when the door opened the entire house smelled of William Sonoma on the day before Thanksgiving. Sweet cinnamon aromas filled the air. With one whiff I was transported back to my Grandmas thanksgiving dinner table. My little love proceeded inside for a play date and I ran to the local store. I rummaged through the candle section scratching, smelling and whiffing my way through every candle there. What had made her home smell so lovely? I left the store empty handed because every scent I had tried had come up a bit short of duplicating exactly that wonderful smell.

When picking up my little love, my friend Carol invited me inside. As we walked through her kitchen I saw two beautiful pumpkin pies sitting atop her countertop. “Carol”, I pressed, “what are you doing, your have about five kids over here, and you are also baking pumpkin pies?” “Yes” she replied, “ It’s a tradition, on the first day of school I always bake pumpkin pies”.

Carols and I and sat and chatted about the stress of the first week back to school. But all the stress diminished, for parents and children, by the soothing aromas of spices, which filled the air. I plan to make Carols tradition part of the Pardo family traditions next year.

Thank you Carol.

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