Had some coarse salt on hand, and that really made all the difference- just like the ones in Philly! When I lived in Philly, I loved to bring Philly Pretzel Factory pretzels to work for special events and treats for co-workers!

Made a fantastic cream sauce for the pumpkin pasta: cream, butter, pinot grigio, pink Himalayan sea salt and freshly ground pepper and a little nutmeg. Farm-fresh diced red bell pepper and a clove of garlic from Creekside Natural Farm.

I don’t use flour or corn starch in my sauces, but a little freshly grated provolone cheese.

A little bit of end-of-season lemon verbena sprinkled on top for garnish! Best ingredient of all: Juice of one fresh lemon makes it bright, bright bright! So good!

Bought these beer steins right from the restaurant in Mainz, Germany on a September visit years ago. Around the corner from the Gutenberg Museum. Wish I remembered the name of the restaurant. They sold me a set of six in the box they came in to the restaurant, and I love them!

2 tablespoons butter

1 small carton heavy whipping cream

1 cup pinot grigio

Juice of one fresh lemon

Pink Himalayan sea salt, to taste

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Ground nutmeg, to taste.

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 cup fresh spinach

1 clove of garlic, diced

1 cup freshly grated provolone cheese.

Lemon verbena or other fresh herbs for garnish

In frying pan on stovetop, melt butter; add cream and wine and lemon juice and bring to roiling simmer. Add remaining ingredients, other than garnish, and cook sauce for 25 to 30  minutes.