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Cooking with kids

shows. No cuisine is off limits for me nor is there an age restriction for the contestants. In fact, I really like watching kids cook and bake. I am amazed at the skills I have seen these young chefs and bakers display. They are far more talented than I am in the kitchen. At times I wish I had spent more time with culinary arts. I also wish I had spent more time in the kitchen with my children learning how to cook and bake with them. One of my fondest memories with my kids is making sugar cookies at Christmas time. They weren’t the most beautifully decorated and probably tasted too ...

Public Enemy, R.E.M., Blondie, Heart and Tracy Chapman get nods for Songwriters Hall of Fame

NEW YORK — Everything from rap to yacht rock, country and alt-rock are represented among the nominees for the 2024 Songwriters Hall of Fame, with nods for Public Enemy, Steely Dan, Bryan Adams, George Clinton, Tracy Chapman, R.E.M., Blondie, Heart and The Doobie Brothers. The ballot also includes “Footloose” singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins, Nashville hitmaker Hillary Lindsey, who helped write “Girl Crush” for Little Big Town, and producer-writer Timbaland, the mastermind behind Justin Timberlake’s “SexyBack” and Missy Elliot’s “Get Yer Freak On.” Included on the ...

Ready for Thanksgiving with a Copeland Spode platter

With a colorful image of a majestic turkey, this platter is ready for Thanksgiving. Despite the all-American bird (Benjamin Franklin famously praised the turkey as “a true original Native of America” and “a Bird of Courage,” although, contrary to popular belief, he did not suggest it as a national symbol), it was made in England, marked for Copeland Spode. This mark came into use about 1833, when William Copeland purchased the Spode pottery firm in Stoke-on-Trent. By this time, turkeys were known in England, but, being an exotic foreign animal, they were limited to the tables ...

Being thankful for the library

It’s a tradition at our house to make a poster in November with a large, painted, bare tree on it. We get cardstock and special hole punches to make dozens of leaves in a variety of colors. Every night, each person in our family writes on a leaf just one thing they are thankful for in their life. We use glue sticks to put our leaves up on the tree on the wall, and the barren tree at the start of the month becomes full of colorful leaves by the start of December. It can be tricky at times to make sure kids aren’t repeating the same ones a few weeks later, but the end result is ...

Dolly Parton’s new album is a detour from country music — could R&B be next?

LOS ANGELES — Last year, Dolly Parton was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — against her wishes. Now, almost exactly a year later, she’s releasing her first rock ‘n’ roll album, appropriately titled “Rockstar,” on Friday. In 2022, Parton shared a statement announcing that she didn’t feel she had “earned” the right to be nominated, but the Hall inducted her anyway. “I just didn’t think that I had done enough in the rock world to be considered, to be put in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame when there were so many great rock artists that are not even in ...

Coca-Cola is right for any holiday or occasion

Thanksgiving will be here soon, and while the best organizers among us may already have everything in place, most of us are probably still working through our shopping lists. Let’s see ... turkey, seasonings for stuffing, ingredients for side dishes, pumpkin pie spices -- oh, and don’t forget a six-pack of Coke! Well, that last item might not be on the menu for most Thanksgiving dinners, although this c. 1950 advertising banner, which sold for $150 at Woody Auction, shows it’s not from the company’s lack of trying. Coca-Cola is a favorite brand among collectors of vintage ...