I need to take a brief break from our Germany trip recaps to share with you the best cookie I have baked in recent memory. I am not exaggerating. I ate two last night and three today, and it’s barely past noon. I was thankful to learn when we got back onto American soil that [...]

My mom returned from a picnic earlier this summer with a recipe in hand. “Poke Cake,” she called it. Until my sister’s boyfriend read it and remembered it as “Better Than Sex Cake.” Which explains why the guests at the picnic couldn’t get enough of it. Whether you choose to use the G-rated title or [...]

Nick and I play our fair share of Scrabble (and I’m anxious to break in Bananagrams), but there are few other games suitable for two people. (If you have suggestions, please share!) So one of our favorite things about going to Dover is clearing the dinner plates off the dining room table and settling in [...]

Last Saturday we visited 2 of 19 farms that participated in the Central PA Farm Tour. We met a sixth generation farmer who showed us how apples are pressed into cider and blended into butter, and we learned from an organic farmer how to properly trellis tomatoes and keep away the deer. I also talked [...]

I’m not ashamed to admit that we’ve developed an obsession with blueberries. We add them to smoothies and salads and waffles, and we eat them plain by the handful. (Thank goodness their season is longer than strawberry season.) Most nights we top vanilla Greek yogurt with blueberries and granola, but some nights we crave a [...]

I’ve mentioned before that no Wiley can resist the combination of chocolate and peanut butter. So what better dessert to serve after our cookout than one featuring this duo? The whoopie pie is a Pennsylvania Amish tradition and consists of fluffy filling sandwiched between two small round cakes. My grandma has been baking these little [...]

Today I begin my 28th year. I’m celebrating in Quebec City and Montreal — possibly with poutine and hopefully with beavertails. If I was home in the U. S. of A., I would bake myself a cake. Not a traditional chocolate cake with fluffy white frosting, but one involving my favorite fruit. Strawberry shortcake traditionally [...]