Blog

June 12, 2011 - Anyone Can Do It!

I’m living, breathing proof that anyone can learn anything at any age! Since early childhood I, being the youngest of five, really never tried to excel in anything in particular. Oh, I had lots of interests but nothing that I wanted to pursue. I didn’t need to, I was the ‘baby’. And the odds are...
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June 9, 2011 - Ode to Silver Spoons

Graduate school is hard. And long. And in the end, it’s not about your field or your topic; it’s about diplomacy. This was my idea of diplomacy: ‘That’s a dumb idea and I won’t do it.’ I had a lot to learn about diplomacy. I did learn. Now, this is my idea of diplomacy: ‘Hmm....
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June 7, 2011 - Swiss Meringue Buttercream

So…are you gonna grab one of those Peeps? What? You can’t possibly intimidated by a little stink-eye and some frosting? Well, I was. Me + cake decorating = recipe for disaster. So, I decided to get a little schooling. By a pastry chef. By a pastry chef who keeps chickens. The above cake is just...
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June 6, 2011 - Fiddleheads – Do You Like Them?

Fiddleheads or fiddlehead greens are the curled-up early fronds of the ostrich fern, found in the spring along riverbanks in the Northeast and are eaten as a vegetable. Fiddleheads have antioxidant activity, are a source of Omega 3 and Omega 6, and are high in iron and fibre. How do you prepare fiddleheads you may...
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June 5, 2011 - It Started with a Bread Bag

To be more precise, it started in the 60’s when, as a kid, I began to be concerned about the landfills becoming full. Reduce, reuse and recycle has been my mantra for 40 plus years. So I reused bread bags. When you have five kids, there are a LOT of bread bags! My drawer was...
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June 4, 2011 - Homemade Wheat Thins

I don’t know if it is just me, or if my tastes have changed, but the Wheat Thins that I have bought in the last year or so have tasted strange to me. I don’t know how to explain it, and like I said it could just be me, but I was really excited to...
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June 3, 2011 - The Kitchen Defined

Merriam-Webster’s defines ‘kitchen’ as 1 : a place (as a room) with cooking facilities 2 : the personnel that prepares, cooks, and serves Origin: Middle English kichene, from Old English cycene, from Late Latin coquina, from Latin coquere to cook. That’s a lot of cooking. But a kitchen is so much more than that. I...
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June 1, 2011 - How I Learned to Make Aunt Ruby’s Cake

When I was a child, my mother worked full-time. She also loved to cook and taught me early on. I spent a pretty fair amount of time standing on a stool next to her following her directions. Her love for cooking was passed down to me, and to this day, I love to try new...
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May 31, 2011 - Accidental Chicken Salad

I had a very unfortunate incident occur that wound up being the impetus for chicken salad. I was roasting TWO chickens for a nice big dinner. Sooo, I put TWO whole chickens in my big ol’ cast iron Dutch oven. (I never know if Dutch is supposed to be capitalized here. I capitalize out of...
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May 30, 2011 - Eating For Free

In my struggle to become as self-sufficient as possible, I’ve come to love summer for the freedom she promises. In summer, I eat for free (more or less). There is something so freeing and simple that comes from being able to simply walk outside and pick my lunch. It is what I love about summer....
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May 25, 2011 - Cooking with a Two-Year-Old

Cooking with kids in the house is fun. Right as your hands are in the bread dough, things start happening. The baby cries. The toddler starts screaming “NO! Do not eat my baby doll!” to the dog. Before you know it, you can’t hear yourself THINK, so forget trying to concentrate on kneading that dough!...
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May 23, 2011 - Love is Baking, Sewing and Gardening

Growing up I spent a lot of weekends and time with my grandmother. She filled my days with gardening, sewing and baking. She taught me so many things. I love all three. They are my passion. Funny I never realized how much of a gift she really gave me till recently. I guess you don’t...
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May 22, 2011 - Reading Ingredients To Make Pita Chips from Scratch

I have a niece who loves the expensive foods and drinks without the food budget to go along with her tastes. And she has an aunt who loves to be frugal and copy those expensive foods and drinks. The latest craze that she’s gotten me hooked on is Stacy’s Pita Chips–with dip, with hummus, plain,...
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May 19, 2011 - Are You Hungary?

Hungarian food is often spicy, because of the hot paprika that is commonly used–though you will find sweet, or mild, paprika is used quite often. Combinations of paprika, lard and yellow onions is typical of Hungarian foods, along with a thick sour cream called tejföl. I use Paprika from the grocery spice section, olive oil...
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May 18, 2011 - I Have Issues

Did you know, when you use the blue salt in bread, with an egg, it turns it slightly green? Not BRILLIANT green, mind you, but juuuuuust enough for me to want to dye our daily bread some funky-monkey colors? I think this Easter’s egg-scapades have warped my sense of “normal” colored foods. Whatever. Bring it,...
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May 15, 2011 - The Sweetest Ingredient

Almost two years ago, I suffered a miscarriage. An important part of my healing in the months following that very saddening loss was taking a series of cake decorating classes. It was a wonderful opportunity to get out and meet new people and take my mind off of my grief. But more than that, in...
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