[I] know that I’m not the only one who associates doughnuts with Halloween, although I suppose I could associate doughnuts with anything, given a chance. Sunset magazine also pondered the connection between the traditionally fried treat and our favorite fall holiday. In an online article, Sunset reminisced on issues of […]
[R]ecipes can come from surprising sources. The backs of boxes or packages, coupon inserts, obscure Internet sites and offbeat cookbooks. If you had told me even a year ago that, upon seeing a copy of “The Disney Princess Cookbook,†(2013) I had gotten for my nieces that I would have […]
“…there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.†— William Shakespeare [I]t’s ironic that each year, I make a birthday cake for myself (but mainly for my blog, since we share birthdays). Because, to be honest, on the list of desserts I favor, cake ranks low. […]
[I]’ve long been obsessed with cream puffs. I learned to make them as a child, watching my mother and then whipping them up myself. It’s a strange process, puff-making, strange in its doing and even stranger in its simplicity. I continue to be baffled that the same ingredients, cooked in […]
[I]t seems like every summer I become fixed on a particular fruit. In the past, it’s been strawberries, blueberries or cherries. I’ve been fanatic for apricots and peaches. This year, it’s been “plummy,†as the deeply jeweled and juicy fruit began appearing in my mind before it ever arrived on […]
[I]’ve eaten a lot of good garlic bread, even making some myself (often an herb-infused-in-olive oil version), but I had not eaten GREAT garlic bread until I sat down at the table of Liboria Salerno (for more about her, please see blog entry, “Presenting Pavlova to a ballerina†of 6/16). […]
[W]hen I first began conversing with Al Dente Floyd at work, he gave me his mother’s phone number, saying, “Since you do the food thing, you might want to talk to her — she has a lot of recipes.†But, he admonished, “Whatever you do, DON’T talk to her about […]
[T]he strawberry shortcake I grew up with and loved was always more cake than short. That is, a golden vanilla layer cake like those found frosted for birthdays, but without the icing, soft and fluffy, easily absorbent of all the succulent red strawberry juices circulating over and under it. I […]
[I] believe in good recipes, ,those tried-and-true reliables we turn to when we want something we know we can count on. I have a few of these now in the cornbread realm, but, I’ll be honest, when it comes to cornbread, I’m always open to a new variation or version. […]
[M]y heart sinks a little every spring. Sounds odd and somewhat off, but when you consider California’s rains conclude in late spring, maybe you’ll understand. There is so little weather here, and the change in seasons is merely by light and feel and temperature, so our winter and spring rain […]