Robin: I love the way that these cookies are familiar-feeling, yet different. They are a cross between a macaroon and a merengue, and as such, are both light/crispy and sweet/chewy. Their bright white color makes them a striking addition to an assorted cookie tray or dessert table. They taste good, too, of course! You might…
Easy Ham and Potato Chowder
Robin: If you’ve eaten baked ham for Easter, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, you’ve participated in an American tradition with centuries-old roots in Europe. When I was a kid, we’d most often have turkey on these occasions at our house, since my mom (the one who cooked) had had more than her fill of hams during her…
Basic Capirotada Bread Pudding
Robin: The origins of bread pudding are lost in the mists of time—which makes total sense to me, since it is an excellent way of putting stale or leftover bread to good use. One version of it, called capirotada de vigilia or simply capirotada, came to the New World via the Spanish colonists and evolved…
Chinese Café Sweet Muffins (Panqué de café chino)
Robin: Despite what some might consider a misleading name, these delicious quick-bread muffins are part of the same vast and amazingly varied universe of Mexican sweet breads to which the ultra-famous conchas and polvorones belong. One important sub-category of this delicious array of breads is the pan de café chino or Chinese café bread, so…
Deep Fried Jalapeño Slices
Robin: I recently came across huge cans (about 6.5 pounds each) of nacho-sliced jalapeño peppers being sold for only a dollar. I didn’t buy one right away, but a seed was planted; after mentally debating myself on the issue for a couple of days, I decided that I could not pass up this deal, so…
Sonoran Cheese and Potato Soup (Caldo de queso y papa)
Robin: This lovely dish from northern Mexico is delightfully different from most other soups with similar ingredients. It contains potatoes, but is not thick; it calls for milk, but is not a cream soup, there is cheese in it, but the cheese does not melt. In fact, a fresh, white queso panela or queso fresco…
Central American Chimichurri
Robin: If you’ve had chimichurri sauce before, you are probably thinking that what is shown in the picture does not look at all like the condiment you are familiar with. The chimichurri most people know of is made with fresh green herbs and olive oil, and it’s an exquisite condiment for grilled meats in Argentina…
Grandpa Foley Special (Smoked Sausage Dinner)
Robin: My grandmother, Grace, was the only grandparent I ever knew. She was my maternal grandfather’s second wife and not a biological relative, but that didn’t make any difference to her or to me—she was my Grammy! Looong before I came into the picture, Grammy’s dad, Grandpa Foley, worked at a factory in their small…
Mexican Piggy Cookies
Robin: In Mexico, these piggies would probably not be called galletas (cookies) at all; there they are one of the dozens of traditional panes dulces (sweet breads) that are part of the fabric of daily life. Cookies in Mexico tend to be fancy, delicate little things, and these hog shaped pieces of baked dough are…
Joy’s Dill Dip
Robin: My mother, Joy, absolutely loved “relish trays”—that is, platters of raw vegetables, pickles, olives, crackers, and cheese served as an appetizer or light lunch. There would be one of these trays of good things in a prominent place anytime she was entertaining, and this delicious dill dip was almost always on it. Who knows…