holiday « A Woman Sconed

Bread of the Month: Revering an artist and a Rosca de Reyes

By rahoward, on January 5th, 2017

Beyond some of her work and her unforgettable image — dark-haired, piercing-eyed, flower-crowned — I didn’t know enough about the Mexican artist and icon Frida Kahlo until the 2002 biopic “Frida,” starring Salma Sayek, in a stirring performance examining her life. That movie, for me, ignited an admiration for the artist,who died in 1954 at . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Revering an artist and a Rosca de Reyes

Keeping the fire with cinnamon candy

By rahoward, on December 18th, 2016

Throughout my childhood, I was treated to a tale of candy. The imagination can almost act as the proverbial “candy store,” and I was the kid who went there, as my parents recounted a magical place. Next to a local movie theater, there existed a candy store where the proprietor not only made all the . . . → Read More: Keeping the fire with cinnamon candy

Creeping into a playful spirit with chocolate mice

By rahoward, on October 23rd, 2016

Sometimes I think my fun is done.

I know that sounds fatalistic. I know I have joys and things to enjoy ahead. But as far as true, hilarious, tickle-me, laugh-out-loud pleasure — like the fun of childhood — I at times feel I’ve entered into a phase of adulthood where that is less-likely, though . . . → Read More: Creeping into a playful spirit with chocolate mice

Bread of the Month: Spicing up a baked doughnut

By rahoward, on October 13th, 2016

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 the magazine from the ‘50s, . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Spicing up a baked doughnut

Bread of the Month: Testing the wings of a dough dove

By rahoward, on March 26th, 2016

I had not considered the obvious parallels of birds and bread and lightness and flight until I made a bird out of bread recently. I had no choice but to make a bird out of bread recently when, in search of an annual Easter bread, I landed on a creature called Columba di Pasqua, . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Testing the wings of a dough dove

Bread of the Month: Filling the heart -- with jam

By rahoward, on February 13th, 2016

“The Heart wants what it wants, “ poet Emily Dickinson wrote, “– or else it does not care.”

My heart, or at least the scones I made into hearts, wanted jam, and who was I to deny them? Scones and jam have gone together since the clocks could strike three and mean teatime. And . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Filling the heart — with jam

Bread of the Month: Reaching for a star

By rahoward, on December 27th, 2015

I’ve been thinking a lot about stars lately, in part, because of the season, but even earlier in the year than that because I noticed a very bright star in the sky that I’ve come to look for every morning.

Sometimes this star is companioned by a crisp slice of crescent moon; sometimes it . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Reaching for a star

Reliving my cookie period

By rahoward, on December 18th, 2015

I don’t know that everyone goes through a cookie period, but I did. It was extensive, lasting from the ages of 7 to 18 and boy, was I prolific. Like many little girls, the first recipe I asked if I could make was chocolate chip cookies — the Tollhouse recipe on the back of the . . . → Read More: Reliving my cookie period

Yearning to churn pumpkin ice cream

By rahoward, on October 31st, 2015

Is it strange to crave ice cream in the fall? Is it odd that, as everything is cooling off (sort of), I want cold, cold items, as if to hasten my beloved chilly temperatures? Apparently not. Recently Saveur magazine posted an array of autumn-inspired flavors imbued with apple, ginger and spices (even pepper!). Ice cream . . . → Read More: Yearning to churn pumpkin ice cream

Bread of the Month: Tugging at “Babka’s” skirt

By rahoward, on April 3rd, 2015

I anticipate my monthly bread adventures the way others look forward to road trips or nights on the town. I enjoy those things, too, but the plotting and planning of a bread-baking day has my mind aswirl and my excitement on the rise, especially when I embark on a recipe that is new. I see . . . → Read More: Bread of the Month: Tugging at “Babka’s” skirt

“People ask me: "Why do you write about food, and eating, and drinking? Why don't you write about the struggle for power and security, and about love, the way the others do?" . . . The easiest answer is to say that, like most other humans, I am hungry.”
--M.F.K. Fisher

"It was in a yellow limestone church in Stockdale, Kansas, a crossroads town, that I sat dreaming during summer Sunday sermons, not of heaven or hell, but of the good dinner to come."
--Clementine Paddleford