[A]s stone fruits, berries and even apples come into season (their true season), one realizes it is also the dawning of pie season. We tend to link pies to Thanksgiving most often, but it is the heart of summertime that pies, made bursting with fresh fruit in season, are at […]
[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 […]
[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 […]
[M]any regions boast a bread that is specific to the holidays. The Italians have Panettone, a tall, slightly sweet yeast bread dotted with dried or candied fruits. The Swedish have Lucia Buns, s-shaped twists spiced with saffron and cardamom, served in honor of St. Lucia. The Germans have a curious […]
As we head into fall and the light shifts to a beautiful golden slant, the air takes on a heady and romantic quality, and the leaves on the trees begin to rattle toward looseness, I think of turning over a new leaf. And as I think of that, naturally, I […]
Lest you all begin to sniff that writing about a cherry pie in August (that was actually made in late July) is a tad off-season (and I can hear you sniffing, so don’t pretend you are not), let me tell you a little of how the Siouan peoples described a […]
Time was – and maybe for some still is, making homemade ice cream was a near daylong feat of strength. This ordeal involved a huge contraption with a hand crank; a 50-pound bag of something called rock salt, a clear to grayish gravel that had the diametrical abilities to both […]
I’ve become quite fond of mini desserts. Diminishing the size of a sweet also reduces the guilt, and there is actually ample satisfaction in just one bite. Plus, a mini donut, cake or pie is just so darn cute. I believe this has something to do with the recent cupcake […]