[I]t has occurred to me lately that what has given pumpkin the flavors usually associated with all manner of pumpkin treats are its companion spices — ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg. These lend our fall favorites the air of pumpkinpiedom, but tend to relegate pumpkin to the sweet end of the […]
[I]t happens every year. The light changes,becoming slanted and long-shadowed. Night comes more quickly. Leaves rattle dry whispers. And nearly every possible incarnation of pumpkin appears! This is by no means a complaint, but at times, the pumpkin-flavored this and that doth seem an over-saturation. I love pumpkins. I love […]
[D]espite my biscuit binge in the Deep South, I could only resist for so long. Come September and National Biscuit Month, this wee baker’s fancy turned to thoughts of those crisp-edged, yet tender pillows of lofty saltiness that call many of us home. I’ve made a lot of biscuits, and […]
[W]hen we travel, we meet ourselves head-on. Outside of our regular routines and familiar environments, we can self-startle and see sides of us we don’t always see. Like my stomach…I saw it walking ahead of me in downtown Atlanta, sticking straight out, fuller than I had ever seen it, proud […]
“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second’s encounter with God and with eternity.â€Â ― Paulo Coehlo (b. 8/24), “The Alchemist†[…]
[I] tend to disregard blackberries. These dark beauties are certainly worth my attention, yet I find myself more likely to veer toward strawberries and blueberries, the brighter and seemingly more versatile of the berry world. It’s not that I don’t find blackberries delicious; I do. Sweet and less tart than […]
[T]ime was, a simple pizza crust would do. I came of age when I saw this concept turn. I grew up in the land of Pizza Hut, and after the advent of pan pizzas and personal pan pizzas, there began an onslaught of pizza crust one-uppings in every chain in […]
[B]ack in the day, which is really only an arm-length back, a generation or two, ladies “put up” vegetables and fruits in an ongoing summertime ritual as the produce came to fruition in their gardens and orchards. By fall, cellar shelves were agleam with shining jars of jewel colors, the […]
[I] sought a simple loaf bread recipe for this month’s recipe test. But when I began perusing the King Arthur Flour website for possibilities, I was overwhelmed with so many delicious options and became impossibly hungry. l thrilled from my thyme-laced popovers (see blog entry in 4/13), I came across […]
[A] few weeks ago, I sat down to begin writing of a delicious hollandaise sauce I had made in the blender, when I read the words of Julia Child in Vol. 1 of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”: “It is extremely easy and almost foolproof to make in the […]