Kathleen Purvis

How many recipes have I tasted, tested, read or edited in 20 years as a food writer?

Q. I made mashed potatoes for potato dumplings, but they are too starchy and gummy. Is there a way to fix them?

Is saving money always worth the cost?

Q. Two related questions: "If you make soup or chili too spicy, what can you add to tone it down enough to eat it?" And, "If you add too much pepper to a vegetable soup, is there a way to reduce that taste?"

Q. Is there a trick to removing the skins from raw peanuts?

Rolling out the sugar cookies, pondering important decisions like whether to use the mitten cookie cutter again or try the angel, even though her wing tips always break off, a small thought occurred to me:

Where do we get inspiration? Ted Lee gets it by digging through old community cookbooks - yes, Junior League cookbooks, church cookbooks and ancient women's club cookbooks.

It's now against the law to text and drive in North Carolina. Sounds like a good start.

If you told the story of Nancy Boru through her toffee, it would go something like this:

No one food is perfect for everyone. And no one way to get food is perfect for everyone, either.