Mince Pie! Mince Pie!

I’m addicted to “The Hope Chest,” a blog showcasing “Bad news from the Past.”  One of the reasons I love it is that Mr. Parallel, curator of The Hope Chest, is a serious scholar of the mince pie, its connotations and denotations.  If you don’t believe me, follow the tag Hot Mince Pie.
I have an historic mincemeat recipe, one [...]

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Orderly Transition of Power Salad–with homemade chutney!

Despite the scorching heat (we were really pleased when it only got up to 82 F in the upstairs today!), I stood over the stove stirring a pot of boiling fruit, because I had a mad craving for Coronation Salad, or my determinedly Paleo-Fabian version thereof, and the price of store-bought chutney is a scandal.
Coronation [...]

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Curse You, King Arthur! Curse You!

These are the best turnovers ever in the history of that portion of humanity which has evolved sufficiently to devote its energy to turnover making.  Really.  I curse the day I ever starting taking hits off the crackpipe that is King Arthur Flour, because, like that crazy Norwegian folktale where the mill grinds salt (that [...]

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Sweetness

These are Arnheim biscuits.  I found the recipe in a book called Pot on the Fire, by John and Matt Thorne.  It’s an idiosyncratic book, and it rubbed me the wrong way–I’m definitely not what Havi Brooks would call its Right Person.  On the other hand, this recipe made it all worthwhile.  No less a [...]

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Dirt Cupcakes

I belong to the YWCA–a splendid organization with a fabulous mission (Eliminating racism.  Empowering women.)  I don’t get to every meeting, but I was there last week, when our co-chair told a new member that my cupcakes are are so good that she’d eat one made of dirt if I gave it to her.
Well, I can take [...]

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Another Birthday

Little Sunshine had her birthday recently, and she chose cherry cheesecake for her celebratory dessert–a new departure for her, and one which made her mother very happy.  Joan loves cheesecake.  I don’t, really.  To me, it’s just too reminiscent of the 80s.  Everyone made cheesecake, and they made a big deal about cheesecake in a [...]

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Turning Over a New Leaf

After the spicy, sweet, buttery, spongy, syrupy, creamy abundance of the last two weeks, farewell, vacation!  It’s time for a change.  A new leaf, if you will.  (Sorry.)  The kids start school tomorrow.  Joan and I go back to work.  The year starts in earnest.  No more lolling on the couch knitting all afternoon.  No more [...]

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Holiday Baking

I went into cookie overdrive the other night . . . can’t quite explain it, but by the end of the evening, we had chocolate wafers, gingerbread cookies, chocolate chips, and sugar cookies for our usual tray for our beloved McDonald Elementary, plus 2 dozen Chanukah cookies for Tuxedo Boy’s winter party, plus these homemade [...]

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Breakfast for Supper is the Best

We love breakfast for supper at our house.  Sometimes it’s pancakes, sometimes it’s French toast, and just lately it’s been aebleskivers in Little Sunshine’s special cast iron pan.  I’m still an aebleskiver novice, as you can see from the messy pan.  They’re hard to turn smoothly, and require a lot of watching and fussing. 
But they [...]

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My Bread Lament

Recently, Tuxedo Boy helped me make the weekly grocery list.  (Yes, okay, I do the menu/shopping list/only go once a week thing.  I’m pitiful that way.  If I could swing it, I’d always do my laundry on Mondays, too.)
Anyway, he was helping me out, and he had just one request for a special treat:  “Could we [...]

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