Tarragon and Chives

One day it's Christmas 🎄 cookies for lunch and the next day it's a fruity nutty salad, must be January.  My house, after Christmas, feels decluttered and cleaner but colder without my holiday decorations.  I know that's what the fireplace is for but you have to admit that a roaring fire in a living room filled with Christmas decorations makes everything feel cozier.  January is a month to catch up with good friends, organize, diet and eat salads, the tastier the better.  A tasty salad 🥗  for lunch helps to take the sting away from an empty cookie jar. Our dear friends from Portland sent us a box of delicious pears 🍐  I peeled a few, didn't really need to do that, and then sliced them for my salad.  The slices of pears are hidden under the greens that I piled up on top.  A sprinkle of hazelnuts, blue cheese and dried cranberries over the mounded pears and greens are just waiting to be mixed together in each bite. I drizzled a very good extra vir...

Gently ripe Bartlett pears 🍐 are what you want for this cake.  They should be peeled, cored and cut in small bite size pieces.  The small chunks of pear look beautiful next to the bursts of chopped cranberries throughout this gingery cake that I baked in a standard loaf pan.  I would not forget a generous drizzle of the buttery whiskey glaze to adorn the cake's top, especially if serving for a special dessert.  However, we also enjoyed thick slices for breakfast without the glaze, also very good with coffee. I'm going to have my eyes checked this afternoon and am wondering if I should wear a mask, spacesuit and a diaper to go to the doctor's 🥼 office.  We have been staying home, mostly-except for a few approved activities, like going to to the grocery store, woo hoo.  But, now we need to do things, like get our eyes 👀 checked, this pandemic is really getting old, so over it.  I digress, here is the recipe for this lovely cake that is perfe...