In the summer months when fresh day-boat Alaskan halibut becomes available, my taste buds begin to salivate. Halibut is most likely one of my favorite seafood of all time. As a young child fresh halibut reminds me of how  my grandmother loved to treat her Grandchildren to dinner. I think taking us to dinner was more of a treat for her than for us. Being from a large family we did not have many opportunities for our parents to take us to a restaurant for dinner. We  did enjoy many wonderful meals from my mothers kitchen but my parents could not afford to take all nine children to dinner....

   Finally the artichoke season is here and when I see the beautiful large globes with tight leaves at the market it brings back memories of my childhood. Artichoke season means the beginning of summer and the chance to sit down with my family to enjoy the freshly steamed artichokes.      As a child and being one of nine children we could only afford artichokes at the peak of the season because of the lower prices at the market. This was the time of year we could afford for each of us to have our very own artichoke. My mother taught me all about artichokes and she would take me shopping,...