Easy 7-Layer Salad

It seems as though there's quite a selection of 7-layer Salad recipes out there and I'm sure every family must have their own version.  This one came from my friend Maggie's mom, or at least that's how I remember it, when I first started making it at every Thanksgiving more than twenty years ago.  It's an easy, do-ahead and take-along salad that's one of our family's favorite, even among those who don't love salads or vegetables, you know who you are ;)

Easy, do-ahead, take-along 7-layer Salad

Homemade Pork Rind - "Kiep Moo"

My share of pork from Walpole Valley Farms included several sheets of pork skin with an inch of fat on them. I knew right away that I would make Kiep Moo with it.  Kiep Moo is the Lao version of pork rind.  Green Papaya Salad and Kiep Moo is my favorite Lao food combination.  Rich, crunchy pork skin is the perfect foil for the spicy, salty, sweet and sour Tum Maak Houng, the Lao name for Green Papaya Salad. 

Kiep Moo (Homemade Pork Rind)

October Snow

"Live Free or Die" is the motto of our state. Or is it "Live Freeze and Die" as some might mock. But, come on, snow in October is unusual, even for New Hampshire.  I was skeptical when the Nor'easter was first predicted until the day before when it began to look like we really would need to button up for the winter. What if this same snow stuck around till spring?  Fortunately this was not the case and, even as I write this, it is a sunny 50 F degrees and the snow has all but melted.  But the day before the snow came, I frantically dug up, potted, picked and protected as many of my garden plants as possible.

I dug up this clump of Calendula to bring into the greenhouse.  They'll add color to an otherwise gray winter.