It was a pancake kind of day. Chilly, with the last vestiges of snow tucked into the deep recesses of shrubbery. Pancakes by a crackling fire, with hot tea, fresh citrus and bacon. Continue reading
Chocolate and Valentine’s Day are inextricably linked, forever. Pair chocolate with raspberries and marvel as some primordial part of your brain registers approval. Add cheese, in this case creamy mascarpone lightly flavored with cocoa and barely sweetened , and you have a complete meal. At least that’s how I justify breakfast consumption of these chocolate raspberry tartlets.
Misconception number one regarding slow cookers : cooking aromas will not waft through the house as they do with food simmering in the conventional manner. Continue reading
It’s that time of year again, when gyms are at full capacity and holiday excess gives way to spartan diets and promises meant to be broken, eventually. The time of year when we divide foods into two groups : good, and bad.
Southerners know how to ring in the New Year with culinary good luck talismans : hoppin’ john ( a dish of stewed black eyed peas), greens and cornbread. The black eyed peas are said to symbolize coins, the greens represent paper money and the cornbread makes a good stand-in for gold. Lest you think we only care for financial stability while ringing in the new, congratulate us also on our good taste, as these dishes are delicious, filling and perfect for company and good cheer.
Visitors bearing homemade treats are always welcome at my home during the holidays. A gift of handcrafted limoncello made by friends a few years back was sipped with extra pleasure, illustrating that gifts handmade with care are treasured all the more by the lucky recipients.
At Thanksgiving many of us take the literal approach to preparing sweet potatoes by making them even more sweet. Candied yams, sweet potato casserole topped with marshmallows…nothing inherently wrong with these dishes, except that some folks simply do not care for treacly sweetness alongside their savory foods.
Days are pleasantly warm, and evenings bracing and chilly. Good sleeping weather, I say. Torn between a longing for ice cream and a hankering for a steaming mug of tea, I am combining the two in a dessert sure to please weather aficionados of all stripes.
The heady perfume of Virginia apples at my local roadside stand draws me in, and I load up my box with way more than I can use in a week. What’s a cook to do? Well, cook ’em up, of course.
When you are given a gift of late season tomatoes, you have only two choices; you can eat them all right away, or make them last longer by preserving them for later enjoyment.