Thanksgiving season is visiting us again, with two family meals occurring in the next seven days. Which means there’s fall inspired baking to be done. It seems like we made this pumpkin roll at least once every fall during my childhood, but it’s been absent from the holiday feast for several years now. The lure […]
I try not to be a picky eater. Even though my mother often admits to being choosy about her food and my father has rebelled against casserole donations from well meaning acquaintances, they enforced a fairly firm food code during my childhood. This included the “try at least one bite” policy and the “dinner is […]
I love cakes, particularly grand layer cakes that can be cut open to reveal strata of frosting and fillings. I’m always a bit disappointed in anyone who doesn’t want a birthday cake, claiming a preference for ice cream cakes, or pies, or some other alternative dessert. (Apologies to all my family members who fit in […]
When I couldn’t give him a straight answer about what I was working on this morning in the kitchen, my husband asked me how often I start cooking without knowing what I’m making. The answer is ‘quite a lot, actually’. The only trouble I usually run into is when something turns out amazingly well and […]
How much do your food habits change when you’re on vacation? We just arrived at the Oregon Coast to spend a week near the ocean, which has me thinking about food memories and cravings and habits and how they all build off of each other. After half a day of padding around the wood paneled […]
My very first class in culinary school was Foundations. And though I’ve mostly developed my skills to deeper levels than were required by that class, whenever I am asked cooking questions, it always comes to mind. There’s nothing like a truism – “gotta learn to walk before you learn to run” – and while prodigies […]
I know my college days are past and I’m supposed to be maturing in my habits, but this living alone isn’t terribly encouraging to that. My mother recently bemoaned not having made her bed for a day (possibly even two!) and began singing to herself to block me out when I sympathized by revealing how […]
This is where it begins. The path to zen, world peace, and shangri-la. Or at least, the journey of the peanut butter pancake. As far as life philosophies go, it may seem a bit unformed, but rest assured that it will develop detail over time. My first attempt to fulfill this spur-of-the-moment commitment (I have […]