When a Family Member and You Disagree about Dinner, Here’s a Solution!

I recently discovered that Bart doesn’t like one of my favorite dinner entrees—stuffed portobello mushrooms.  How did I learn this?  When he helped unpack groceries and saw the package of portobello mushrooms I’d just purchased. 

“I don’t want that for dinner,” he announced.  “I know you like those mushrooms but I don’t.”

Chewing Through Memory Lane

Chopped  Vegetable and Barley Salad

For most of my adult life, I have maintained a notebook of recipes I like.  Every once in a while, when temporary amnesia sets in, I flip through it for ideas.

Barley: What Is it and How Do I Cook It?

Pearl Barley

Barley has been around for more than 10,000 years.  I first tasted it in my grandmother’s Chicken Barley Soup, but I didn’t know what it was until much later.

I really fell for this grain when I lived in London and frequented Cranks, a popular vegetarian restaurant.  It was originally located right on Carnaby Street, well before the street itself became the headquarters of Swinging London.  By the time I discovered it, though, Cranks had moved around the corner to Marshall Street.  I never noticed any high fashion people there having lunch, but I did see lots of unusual salads. Almost all of them featured such grains as cracked wheat, wheat berries or barley.