[I]magine a place where a pancake, a scone and a donut all meet. Well, apparently, that place is Wales and the treat is a very humble-looking yet flavorful little bread called a Welsh cake. In the Welsh language, they are called “cage bach†or “picau ar y maen.†In much […]
[O]h, give me September and long light and fading days and pungent air. Fiery colors, dropping leaves, the smell of earth as she bakes, then cools. Spiders and squirrels, equally industrious. Give me September’s National Biscuit Month, and I’ll give you…biscuits, no question. A biscuit is mostly considered a bread […]
[P]robably the most curious item I’ve ever seen brought to a potluck was a tortilla espanola. It was served in a basket, wrapped in a towel…a potato and onion omelette, so firm it was cut in wedges and could be eaten by hand. Having consumed more eggs over my years […]
[I]ts appearance is simple; its diminutive texture, light as air. Yet the hot cross bun carries a lot of symbolic weight. Originally a little tea roll created to celebrate spring, it was adorned with a cross and — if eaten during the Easter season, usually on Good Friday — has […]
[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 […]
[I]t happens every year. The light changes,becoming slanted and long-shadowed. Night comes more quickly. Leaves rattle dry whispers. And nearly every possible incarnation of pumpkin appears! This is by no means a complaint, but at times, the pumpkin-flavored this and that doth seem an over-saturation. I love pumpkins. I love […]
[D]espite my biscuit binge in the Deep South, I could only resist for so long. Come September and National Biscuit Month, this wee baker’s fancy turned to thoughts of those crisp-edged, yet tender pillows of lofty saltiness that call many of us home. I’ve made a lot of biscuits, and […]
[W]hen we travel, we meet ourselves head-on. Outside of our regular routines and familiar environments, we can self-startle and see sides of us we don’t always see. Like my stomach…I saw it walking ahead of me in downtown Atlanta, sticking straight out, fuller than I had ever seen it, proud […]
[A] few weeks ago, I sat down to begin writing of a delicious hollandaise sauce I had made in the blender, when I read the words of Julia Child in Vol. 1 of “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”: “It is extremely easy and almost foolproof to make in the […]
[F]or a springtime bread, I mused over something light and bright, something I’d long wanted to make. Popovers. They seemed to carry a mystique…they were made with a special pan…the oven door could not be opened while baking or ruin would befall them…they were American spinoffs of Yorkshire pudding. I […]