[I] wanted to feature a spring bread in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, preferably a scone. But my mind kept going back to something I baked several years ago and hoped to return to again. Was an Apple Scone Cake — a layered scone and apple creation — a bread, […]
[P]eople may joke about the Irish and potatoes, but the true story of what happened to the Irish in the 1800s is no laughing matter. If you know anything about the Great Famine, you know the Irish were oppressed on their own land, forced into tenant farmer-hood, working on properties […]
[S]ay what you will — or say nothing at all to remain nutritionally chaste — but fried dough is a thing unmatched. Looking beyond any wickedness, how can one say that a hot doughnut, a hushpuppy, a fritter — all warm from the fryer — is anything but a good […]
[C]ertain things quell a troubled soul like no other. Comfort foods — they have just the right combination of taste, texture, color and smell to bring immediate relief and send all worry and strife scurrying. If I could choose just one comfort food — or one dessert, for that matter […]
[O]f the vast array of grains available to cook and bake with on the market, I continue to return again and again to a favorite — oats. The old standby, the stick-to-your-ribs standard, that reminds one of childhood and the comforting warmth a bowl can bring. So humble, yet versatile. […]
[T]his blog is devoted to certain recipes, tried and true; others, brand new. I love to try something I’ve never done before. The bread-of-the-month adventure reflects this, and with the end of 2013, I approached making a holiday bread I’d eaten many times but never made myself. Each holiday season […]
[T]he phenomenon of reaching for the crunchy/salty in times of need — stress, depression, boredom, etc. — is not new. Studies have shown that the crunchy/salty elevates the mood, with both a texture and taste satisfaction. Thus, popcorn and other crispy sorts have always been high on my list. And […]
[O]ne of my earliest kitchen memories is of lying on the linoleum floor, being fanned. Not fanned exactly, but taking full advantage of the warm, sweet wind made by my mother waving a cookie sheet back and forth to cool it before she loaded it with a new batch of […]
[W]e come to find things in a seemingly roundabout way…or do we? Perhaps it is true that there are no accidents and that coincidence is not merely that. What led me to a most delicious pie recipe was my mother, whose fancy and instinct was successfully piqued as she nosed […]
[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 […]