“Fear pounds on the door to our heart demanding to be let in. Joy is modest and often comes into our lives like a shy person entering a room; it can take a while to even notice it’s there.
— JONATHAN CARROLL

New Idea

"Hi Folks...new idea. If you have the time, please come to Happy Food and let me know what you think"JP

a little absence...

"not meaning to be strange or indifferent, just taking a little rest to regroup and think about exactly what this blog should be.  Staying true to you and following along...love reading about you all.  Just tired, that's all."JP

On Being a Mother

"There is a room in my heart reserved just for my children.  When they are here, I sit in this room and I am calm.  When they are in my house, quietly sleeping upstairs, even for  a brief time, it gives me such exquisite peace.  I think this must be the most wonderful gift of motherhood." JP

Thank You Clare!

"and Clare's sister.  She has just moved into a new house with an enormous rhubarb patch in the garden.  She didn't know quite what to do with it so I happily volunteered to take some stems off of her hands!  Warm pretty, pink and green rhubarb buttermilk cake with our coffee this morning, while rhubarb and orange jam bubbles on the stove"JP

Cooking...

"such an interesting activity, rich with purpose, brimming with ritual and significance.   Jamie Oliver, believing that a large part of the civilized world no longer knows how to cook or even why they should, is leading what he calls a Food Revolution.  Trying to rekindle in the masses what the few who still have a love affair with food cling to;  that basic, powerful instinct - to Nourish.  Not just to feed, but to truly nourish, body, soul, family, relationships.  I admire him.
Sometimes when I dream, a recurring scenario plays out wherein I forget to feed something helpless, be it a baby or an animal and the panic that pervades my night is palpable.
Right now the Art of Cooking is seeping it's way into the most intimate part of life...replacing something stolen. Such a beautiful usurper.  Thank you for stepping in where my broken heart sits, holding me gently like a sweet friend, hand cupped under chin and kissing sweetly upon my cheek saying "don't worry, all will be well very, very soon".
There is so much more to the simple act of cooking than meets the eye."JP

Wow!

"an interesting thing as I age, I begin to look...I mean really look...at things, people, love-things and think, wow!..you are incredibly beautiful."JP