(mailing, James Berry)
[[invoke. page:newsletter1 # These are some of the fields that may be used # ============================= # leadimageid: # leadtext: # story1id: # story1text: # story2id: # story2text: # recipe1id: # recipe1text: # recipe2id: # recipe2text: # vad: (html for vertical ad) # hitBucket: (name used to track delivery) # ============================= leadimageid: 337325 leadtext: !fmt/block | h1. Dear readers, I was almost five when my dad married a young, pretty, energetic woman named Sally. My mother had died suddenly a couple of years earlier, and now I was thrilled to have a new mom — one who was quick to laugh and up for nearly any adventure. We got along like toast and butter from the start. But she wasn't much of a cook, at least not at first. (Sorry, Mom, but you weren't. Remember the burnt green beans?) However, she could bake a few things, and one of those was Toffee Bars. I had tasted a lot of good things in my short life, but I remember that on the day we baked those, it was a revelation. I loved the way the chocolate chips transformed into a glossy frosting — and the bars were so good, I ate too many and got a stomach ache. (I loved her, too, for letting me eat more than my fill.) Mom's apprenticeship as a household cook didn't last long: My dad and my paternal grandmother were good teachers, and Mom was a good student, and soon she wasn't just cooking basic things like meat and potatoes, but she was also preserving chokecherry syrup and dill pickles — not to mention tending a big garden and seeking out local orchards, where we'd pick cherries or peaches, also for canning. Let's just say she took to [com/mix/dinnerguest/whatishouseholding householding] in a big way. And I was a lucky girl to be at her side for much of it. When Shoshanna Cohen, our new [/columns/spaghettionthewall "Spaghetti on the Wall"] columnist, sent in her [/columns/spaghettionthewall/ToffeeBars "post about Toffee Bars,"] I was carried right back to my first time eating those buttery morsels. Maybe you will be too? Kim Carlson Editorial Director # The lead text story1id: 346134 story1text: 'Carrie Floyd ponders the origin, components, and how-to of a classic cocktail.' story2id: 346148 story2text: "Challenged by trying to grow tomatoes in a cool climate? Read Caroline Lewis's good advice." recipe1id: 344282 recipe1text: "Late summer is good timing for this Catalan recipe from José Pizarro's 'Seasonal Spanish Food.'" recipe2id: 344860 recipe2text: "A main dish salad that will taste almost as good at home as it does on a weekend getaway." # The ad vad: | <a target='blank' href="http://howtocookapp.com/"> <img src="http://ads.culinate.com/htce/HTCEV-iPhone-Skyscraper.png" " width="120" height="600" alt="" border="0"/></a> ]]