These Watermelon days are as sweet and fleeting as the softly slanting late summer sun...

I love painting Watermelon...

I love serving Watermelon plain and simple...

I love eating Watermelon with Lemon...

I love eating Watermelon with Lemon and Basil...

Watermelon, I love everything about it...

The year of the big wind...

My mother's grandmother Kitty O'Shaughnessy did not know how old she was. My mother told me that Kitty was born in the "year of the big wind" in Ireland.

As a young girl the momentum of that big wind blew her over the wide, wild ocean from Ireland on a big boat and landed her right smack in the middle of Brooklyn, New York. She grew up and married an Irish brick layer, they had a daughter and named her Kate. My grandmother Kate was blind from birth and Kitty loved her girl right up. She taught her everything she knew and empowered her in a time when women were not easily empowered. Kate grew up under her mother's mighty wings.

Kate met my grandfather Walter at the Lighthouse International, a gathering place for the blind in New York. Walter was blind and made his living as a musician and piano tuner, the two fell in love, married and had my mother Florence and my uncle Walter. Their love was so strong that they adopted and raised another son Thomas.

Kitty was an ever present force of nature in their lives, their rock, their shelter in every storm, this woman who had survived the biggest wind that Ireland ever had and a trip across the ocean on a big boat.

This is a recipe that I have adapted to gluten-free from a traditional Irish Wheaten Soda Bread. It is deep and dark like Kitty's eyes, rich and delicious like her sense of humor and it's delicate crumb is light like her beautiful and giving heart. This is for you Kitty, Thank you from a girl who is so glad you were born.

Kitty's Buckwheat Soda Bread:

(I really do prefer and recommend Bob's Red Mill flours for this bread)

1/2 cup Buckwheat flour,
1 1/2cup Millet flour
1 cup Rice flour
6 Tbsp. Sweet butter
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
scant 2 Cups of Buttermilk

~Mix the Buckwheat, Millet and Brown Rice Flours together in a bowl.
~Add the Baking Soda and Salt.
~Cut in the butter until completely worked into the flour.
~Add the Buttermilk and mix together gently. As with any quick bread, do not beat, knead or over mix the batter or the ensuing bread will be tough.
~Gather the shaggy mess into a loose ball and place into a buttered pie dish.
~Cut an x into the top of the loaf with the back of your knife.
~Bake in an oven preheated to 400 degrees for about 45 minutes.

This bread is wonderful when eaten warm right out of the oven. It is also quite scrumptuous cold or toasted and served with butter the next day. Utterly delicious when consumed with a cup of Meskill coffee "strong enough to stand a spoon on it's end" and that's a story for another day!

Have an ever so beautiful gluten-free day!

How sweet it is...

With so many really great food blogs out there I feel a bit like a little kid sitting on a phonebook at the grown-up table. You see, I am really new to this whole computer thing, most of my career has been spent, cooking in and running, natural food establishments and being manager of an art supply, custom picture framing gallery. I have always loved serving people, providing healthy food and quality service and making a difference in someone's day. I work from home now, writing content for an online publication called Super Eco. I am happy to be able to write, make art, pursue photography and to chronicle my gluten-free journey in this blog, from my home. It makes me feel good to be lowering my carbon footprint by not burning gasoline every day to and from work. Also our 13 year old Boston Terror Max--aka Mr. French--loves having me home to throw toys for him all day long! I first discovered the internet via my sister jude who gave me her old Mac desktop computer, flickr was the first social network that I learned to navigate and I have made, over the years, some very strong and abiding friendships there. My love for photography and social networking has blossomed from that one simple, generous act.

I'll tell you about some things that you will find in my blog. I am converting my favorite recipes to gluten-free, I plan on self-publishing my own gluten-free cookbook. Most of my recipes will be meat free. I have nothing against sensible sustainable meat consumption, we eat meat about once a month or so. We purchase it only from local grass fed sources and when they run low, we do without. Because my husband and I feel strongly about living a low carbon lifestyle we do not support the industrial meat farming industry. We support local organic farms in season and buy close to home out of season. I do not eat sugar, honey, maple syrup or any other concentrated sweeteners, so all of my original recipes will have no sugar added. From time to time I will be including some recipes from my husband Dave who is a wonderfully gifted native cooking talent. His lovely gluten-free adapted dessert recipes will reflect his sweet tooth.

We love food, we feel that eating well and maintaining our health is a responsibility as well as a joy. You will find common sense advice and know-how, my own time tested short-cuts and more. I'll be sharing links to my favorite food blogs and recipes from my favorite chefs and food pundits. I look forward to sharing with you, have yourselves an ever so beautiful gluten-free day!