Sparkle Stories Blog

There are only two parts of an artichoke that are edible. The first is a tiny bit of tender flesh at the base of each leaf, which is best scraped off between your front teeth. The second is the heart, a tender disc buried underneath the fuzzy choke.

This roasted tomato basil soup is the coziest thing for a cold day. Because it's winter, I use canned tomatoes instead of fresh, but throwing them into a warm oven to roast for a few hours gives them a July kind of sweetness

As it so happens, butternut squash — which is in season this time of year and so very good for you — has a trick that's quite similar to Sylvia's. Because of its golden color and creamy texture, butternut squash is very skilled at camouflaging itself as cheese sauce for macaroni and cheese.

“Chai” is the Hindi word for “tea”, so ordering a “chai tea” is technically redundant. Nonetheless, in America, the word “chai” is commonly associated with a blend of warm spices like cardamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. A “chai tea”, as we call it, is a blend of those spices in a milky tea.

Millet is great grain for autumn — and goes beautifully with root vegetables and winter squashes. It makes a lovely morning porridge, served with butter and raw honey in our house. And best of all, it makes wonderful fritters.

In this week's Martin & Sylvia: More Adventures story “Singing Together”, Mr. Weber invites Martin and Sylvia's family to come downtown to sing wintertime songs at the local shops.

This week's recipe comes from another chilly night when something equally magic happened by the light of an autumn fire. It was a good friend's birthday, and, to celebrate, she invited us all out to her teepee to have stew for dinner.

The following recipe is a healthy twist on a classic, firehouse hash. It meets the criteria of being quick and economical, and — while the sweet potatoes and kale add nutrition — it's still hearty enough for heroes.

These tiny taco shells take just a few extra minutes to cut out and bake, but they're so cute for little hands. Below, I've filled ours with the comfort-food, Midwestern fixings of my childhood, but you should stuff them with whatever you like.

Like Daddy, I love all of the seasonal stories that families tell as the calendar is bombarded with holidays of light and love at the end of the year. One of my newly discovered favorites is the tale of Old Befana.