Small Plates
Hunkered down and making poppy-seed cake
Hi there! It has been awhile, and I can’t say that I’m back at blogging for Small Plates, but today I made a cake that has been in the family files since 1972. It was a recipe that my mother-in-law used after her sister sent it to her from Virginia. Hunkering down to avoid COVID-19 […]
Frassati Suppers up and running again
After an extensive kitchen remodel in the Lower Hall of the Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater, we are serving Frassati Suppers again. What’s Frassati? It’s a welcoming place in Vancouver where volunteer greeters, chefs, waiters and others serve the poor and homeless in the spirit of Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati. The supper is part of […]
Thai sweet and sour pork
My friend Linda Meade, a member of Our Lady of Lourdes parish in Vancouver and a volunteer for the Frassati suppers at the Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater where we feed the poor and homeless, took me to lunch the other day at Thai Orchid. We ordered the Thai sweet and sour pork entree. […]
Crab sandwich and warm spinach salad
I didn’t hesitate when No. 2 son (John) dropped by the other night and offered to make dinner: a Dungeness crab sandwich alongside a spinach salad. I was thrilled to have a night off from cooking and made a quick deal. He would do the cooking; I would do the cleanup. Afterward, we talked about getting the […]
Food evokes joy of friendship
Hi there, Small Plates readers: Last weekend, I had a fabulous visit with one of my best friends from high school and her husband. I flew to San José, Calif., to stay at their house. (It was on a Boeing 737, but not the MAX.) We went to the Little Italy section of San José […]
More cooking with Hana
Another month and another chance to cook with Hana Adamko, my fellow parishioner at the Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater in downtown Vancouver. This time we made a Polish kielbasa-cabbage stew. Again, our guests at the Frassati Supper sang Hana’s praises and sent compliments to the chef. Frassati is a once-a-week event in which volunteers feed […]
Layered sauerkraut catches me by surprise
I coordinate volunteers for the Frassati Supper, part of an outreach program for the poor and homeless at Vancouver’s downtown Proto-Cathedral of St. James the Greater. About a year ago, I was short a head cook for the fourth Thursday of the month. Out of the blue, fellow parishioner Hana Adamko offered her services. Of course, […]
Roasted and stuffed portobello mushrooms on the menu
I’m giving away the menu, Mary Lou Oberson and Betty Schmidlin. For the past couple of years, Mary Lou, Betty and I have renewed our friendship from our days at Portland State. During our working years, we went for long stretches with little communication, except for those Christmas cards. Now we meet for lunch about […]
A quick change from Thai to Italian
Back from my nephew’s wedding on the shores of Lake Washington, and I thought i was going to make Thai shrimp with basil and pineapple for dinner. I had everything, but when I checked the fresh pineapple, I decided it had been in the fridge too long. I had everything else: shrimp, basil, red […]
Chicken salad for the summer
In my last post, I said it is full-on salad season. As Northwesterners like to say, summer begins after the Fourth of July. But maybe we need to throw that adage out the window. Our Junes have been warmer and drier over the past four or five years, it seems to me. I was reminded of […]