I would be over the moon if you'd make me one of your famous apple cakes.Portia stared at the ingredients her sister had lined up with perfect precision on the scratched countertop. Apples. Butter. Br...
The German chocolate cake was easy. So was the vanilla buttercream. But the strawberry shortcake gave me fits. Turns out, the final fix came when I baked a fresh strawberry in the middle of a vanilla...
Once the apartment was ready, Portia had begun to plan out what foods they would showcase in this little glimpse into a Glass Kitchen world. Her sisters couldn't help her with this part. Portia had le...
She decided to make salmon baked in a touch of olive oil, topped with pine nuts, and served over spinach flash-fried in the salmon-and-olive-oil drippings. She added brown rice that she had slow-boile...
Next thing she knew, Portia hurried into the Fairway Market on Broadway. The grocery store was unlike anything she had seen in Texas. Bins of fruit and vegetables lined the sidewalk, forming narrow en...
Portia gasped awake with the taste of apples in her mouth- crisp green apples smothered in brown sugar and spice. She needed to bake.Lying tangled in the sheets, she tried to calm her racing heart. Sh...
Without thinking about what she was doing, she pulled blueberries from the icebox and peaches from the fruit bin.She might have only been seven years old, but she was smart enough to know that her mot...
Heart pounding, she started to prepare the meal that hit her so hard. Her famous cherry tomatoes stuffed with chile, cheese, and bacon, along with pulled pork, endive slaw, and potato pancakes with ho...
She spread her arms wide to encompass the old pine table they had painted robin's egg blue, lightly sanding it in places so the white primer showed through. She had pulled out Aunt Evie's moss green p...
Images of food rushed through her head, surprising her. Fried chicken. Sweet jalapeño mustard. Mashed potatoes. Biscuits. And a pie. Big and sweet, strawberries with whipped cream- so Texan, so opposi...
The images swirled through her. She needed to bake. Cake. A layered chocolate cake. With vanilla buttercream frosting.The images were as clear as four-color photos from a coffee table book on baking....
The small corner market had rows of fresh flowers in white plastic buckets. Standing, the early fall sun on her shoulders, she opened her mind. She assessed the fuchsia roses and violet freesias, vibr...
Without a single one of those promised lessons from her grandmother, Portia began to see and taste food without having it in front of her, the images coming to her like instincts, automatic and withou...