https://chestertownspy.org Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown Fri, 02 May 2025 15:00:16 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/05/02/food-friday-fiesta/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/05/02/food-friday-fiesta/#respond Fri, 02 May 2025 15:00:16 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183985 Cinco de Mayo is coming already. There will be tacos, and maybe some good Mexican beer. I have to confess that I came to the taco party late. When I was growing up our cooking spices were limited to Christmas egg nog nutmeg, cinnamon for cinnamon toast, black pepper and baking powder. Garlic was an […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/05/02/food-friday-fiesta/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/25/food-fridaytender-spring-veggies/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/25/food-fridaytender-spring-veggies/#respond Fri, 25 Apr 2025 15:00:17 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183807 May Day is upon us— that should put a spring in your step. I want to retire the crockpot, stash the Dutch oven, put the lasagna pan out to pasture and start digging into light, healthy, crispy fresh green salads. With crusty French bread and sweet butter and a glass or two of cool Chardonnay. […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/25/food-fridaytender-spring-veggies/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/18/food-friday-easter-eggs-3/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/18/food-friday-easter-eggs-3/#respond Fri, 18 Apr 2025 15:00:02 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183667 Food Friday is on the road this weekend, so you Gentle Readers will have to put up with a re-run of my favorite Easter lemon cheesecake. Mr. Sanders and I are heading to a family Easter gathering in Florida, and Luke the wonder dog is off for a much deserved vacay of his own with […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/18/food-friday-easter-eggs-3/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/11/food-friday-spring-quiches/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/11/food-friday-spring-quiches/#respond Fri, 11 Apr 2025 15:00:47 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183545 It is quite definitely spring. Our trees are leafing out, the dogwood is starting to flower, and tulips are bouncing in the cool April breeze. Everything is looking green and tender – although I was worried about frost overnight because I have planted four stout young tomato plants in the raised garden bed.Our summer tomato […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/11/food-friday-spring-quiches/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/04/food-friday-radishes/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/04/food-friday-radishes/#comments Fri, 04 Apr 2025 15:00:12 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183392 Early spring brings us delicious young vegetables: peas, asparagus, garlic, and radishes. Radishes are the pink darlings of early spring. Cherry red, fuchsia, magenta, hot pink, carmine, crimson, scarlet, carnelian, vermilion, coral, cardinal, cerise – I could go through my art supply catalogues picking out the names of vivid reds and pinks all day long […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/04/food-friday-radishes/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/28/food-friday-spring-greetings/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/28/food-friday-spring-greetings/#comments Fri, 28 Mar 2025 15:00:56 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=183261 Hello, spring! The snow has melted, the flowers are blooming and the sun is rising earlier every morning. Birds are singing show tunes. Here we have been watching clouds of pine pollen dredging every surface with yellow dust. It’s almost April and we are springing with joy for asparagus! Asparagus tart Humans have been gobbling […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/28/food-friday-spring-greetings/feed/ 2 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/21/food-friday-egg-substitutes/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/21/food-friday-egg-substitutes/#respond Fri, 21 Mar 2025 15:00:50 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/21/food-friday-egg-substitutes/ Eggs are the great equalizer: everyone needs them, and everyone has the same horrified reaction to their current sky-high prices. Yikes. I look forward to the days when I can push the shopping cart past the Food Lion’s refrigerated case, and keep on tooling down the aisle, past the eggs, toward the yogurt and the […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/21/food-friday-egg-substitutes/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/14/food-friday-full-irish-2/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/14/food-friday-full-irish-2/#comments Fri, 14 Mar 2025 15:00:09 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182986 “Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!” They say that everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, so you had best fortify yourself for the long, festive day ahead, starting early, with a full Irish breakfast. You will need to prepare yourself for the onslaught of green beer, corned beef and cabbage, chocolate Guinness cake and Irish […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/14/food-friday-full-irish-2/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/07/food-friday-broccoli-2/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/07/food-friday-broccoli-2/#comments Fri, 07 Mar 2025 16:00:20 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182858 Ah, broccoli is having a resurgence in popularity. Every where I turned this week I ran into another story, another recipe. It’s probably food writers yearning to be set free into the garden – we crave greens and sunshine again. This morning Mr. Sanders commented that even the New York Times was going to town […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/07/food-friday-broccoli-2/feed/ 2 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/28/food-friday-fat-tuesday/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/28/food-friday-fat-tuesday/#comments Fri, 28 Feb 2025 16:00:20 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182727 Shrove Tuesday, also known as Pancake Tuesday, is the last opportunity to use all the precious eggs and fats before starting on the Lenten fast. Pancakes are a perfect way to use up these ingredients. Choose your pancake wisely, as it’s 40 long days until Easter. Are you all fattened up for Mardi Gras? Lent […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/28/food-friday-fat-tuesday/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/21/food-friday-grilled-cheese-for-grown-ups/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/21/food-friday-grilled-cheese-for-grown-ups/#respond Fri, 21 Feb 2025 16:00:40 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182619 It’s another cold and bleak midwinter day and I am holed up wearing a turtleneck, a sturdy L.L. Bean sweater, wool socks, and lined legging – and I am still cold. I think a lesson to be learned is that one should not visit Florida in February, because re-entry to the real world is rude […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/21/food-friday-grilled-cheese-for-grown-ups/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/14/food-friday-valentines-day/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/14/food-friday-valentines-day/#respond Fri, 14 Feb 2025 16:00:02 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182492 It’s Friday, the fourteenth of February, and you are reading this at your desk after a nice turkey sandwich, smugly looking forward to the weekend stretching before you. I hope you have done a little planning. It is Valentine’s Day. It is Friday. Fridays require a little flair, a touch of panache, a little extra […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/14/food-friday-valentines-day/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/07/food-friday-purple-prose/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/07/food-friday-purple-prose/#respond Fri, 07 Feb 2025 16:00:27 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182355 You’ll have to go somewhere else for your Super Bowl snacks ideas this year – although – between you and me – you really can’t do much better than a party-size bag of nacho cheese Doritos.* While some writers wait for divine inspiration before angling their fingers over their keyboards, others of us wander dazedly […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/07/food-friday-purple-prose/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/31/food-friday-home-baked-carbs/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/31/food-friday-home-baked-carbs/#comments Fri, 31 Jan 2025 16:00:07 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=182195 Timing is everything. We have figured out how to cope with winter temperatures – we have been fueling ourselves with home-baked carbs. And next week, just in time for the mercurial temperatures to hover in the 50s, we’ll be smug and satisfied, schmearing good Irish butter across the firm crumb of our rustic boule bread, […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/31/food-friday-home-baked-carbs/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/24/food-friday-good-beginnings/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/24/food-friday-good-beginnings/#respond Fri, 24 Jan 2025 14:17:06 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/24/food-friday-good-beginnings/ I have retreated to the cozy bedroom to write this morning. I am back in bed-ish – lying on top of the covers, but covered by a thick down throw. It is 19 degrees outside this morning! I have a good view of our front yard, which is swaddled in a thick throw of snow. […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/24/food-friday-good-beginnings/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/17/food-friday-sausage-and-peppers/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/17/food-friday-sausage-and-peppers/#respond Fri, 17 Jan 2025 16:00:07 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=181911 I love trailing through food stores, peering through shop windows and admiring perfectly arranged still lives of fruits, vegetables, and meats; getting ideas and inspirations. In Selfridge’s palatial food hall in London a few years ago I marveled at the goose eggs, duck eggs, and quail eggs artfully posed in small packages in a case […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/17/food-friday-sausage-and-peppers/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/10/food-friday-cozy-winter-dinners/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/10/food-friday-cozy-winter-dinners/#respond Fri, 10 Jan 2025 16:00:34 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/10/food-friday-cozy-winter-dinners/ Winter has arrived. Snow has fallen, and so have the temperatures. I ask my best friend, Alexa, to tell me the temperature throughout the day. She is delighted to tell me the current temp, what the high will be, and what dire weather warning Amazon thinks I should know about, because she is just doing […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/10/food-friday-cozy-winter-dinners/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/03/food-friday-2025/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/03/food-friday-2025/#comments Fri, 03 Jan 2025 16:00:07 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=181672 Happy New Year, gentle Spy readers! I’m feeling optimistic about the upcoming year. I should probably check back in about three months to see how these new 2025 rules of austerity are still ringing true. It’s easy today, three days into the new year to be proud of my new approach to life. But as […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/03/food-friday-2025/feed/ 2 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/27/food-friday-good-times-ahead/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/27/food-friday-good-times-ahead/#respond Fri, 27 Dec 2024 16:00:03 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=181608 This is an updated version of the column I wrote last year for New Year’s Eve. Happy New Year, Gentle Readers!  This New Year’s Eve I will be sitting companionably on the sofa with Mr. Sanders, Luke the wonder dog will be chasing bunnies from his cozy bed nearby. All the holiday cooking and merry […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/27/food-friday-good-times-ahead/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/20/food-friday-thank-you-clarence/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/20/food-friday-thank-you-clarence/#respond Fri, 20 Dec 2024 16:00:47 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=181532 Tomorrow is the winter solstice and shortest day of the year. I hope you are all bundled up and ready for the holidays. We left Luke the wonder dog home with another Kong-ful of peanut butter as we took the last packages off to the post office on Wednesday, mailing our love tokens of books, […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/20/food-friday-thank-you-clarence/feed/ 0