In 2009 we published “The Holm Family Cookbook” with our mother, an aunt, and a cousin. We started this blog at that time and maintained it for a few years, so many of the posts are a bit dated, but the recipes are still good!
Our great grandmother was born Ida Jessen in 1861 in San Lorenzo, California. Her parents, James and Anna Jessen, immigrated from Denmark. They bore three daughters in the new land: Anna, Dora, and Ida. The East Bay of the San Francisco area attracted many Danes...
Cranberry Salsa has become a family favorite. Introduced to our family by Sandy Sports Holm, the recipe was given to her by a friend. Sandy brought it to Christmas as an appetizer, it looked so beautiful - bright cranberry with flecks of green upon white cream cheese!...
It's asparagus season here in Northern California, which means it’s time to pickle! Plus, I just finished off the final jar of asparagus from last year. Five of us gathered together for the task that lay ahead, we find that there’s strength in numbers! We were...
My daughter, Laina, has been making the pumpkin pies for our extended family's Thanksgiving dinner for the last three years. She started making them when she was 16-years old. The tricky part about her pie making is that she doesn't open a can of pumpkin puree...
A Tilli Holm Calhoun painting of some of the Danish pickles served by our Grandmother When we were growing up our grandmother, Ione Holm or Granny to us, would almost always set out a dish of her sweet and tangy Danish pickles at special family events. The pickles...
The Big Thunder Ranch Barbecue at Disneyland; an outdoor, sit down and be served, all you can eat family style restaurant Every November my family and I go to Disneyland and California Adventure. We usually head down to Anaheim the first or second Thursday...
Our friend Bruce Burton loves to cook for and with people, foods from scratch, that take hours and hours, such as ravioli, tamales (that's the next blog!), and the like. Our Executive Chef We had tasted his ravioli before, including butternut squash ravioli that just...
Our friends the Blume’s hale from NOLA (New Orleans Louisiana), and boy do they know how to cook! We recently put our heads together during crab season, and decided it was time for a good ol’ fashioned crab boil. In the Blume's old neighborhood, blue crabs are...
A sample of the wide variety of cookies and candies from this year's exchange: chocolate crinkles, double orange, snickerdoodle biscotti, shortbread, English toffee, lemon drops, chocolate balls Three years ago I blogged about a Christmas cookie exchange 11 of my...
For nearly 50 years clam dip has been served at my parent's parties and family events When I was a kid in the 1960's my parents belonged to two dinner clubs. Each month the members of the clubs would take a turn hosting a dinner party at their house. When it was my...