As a rule I am not terribly fond of cake, which made it odd that I suddenly had a desire to bake one. Until I realized the fact that my birthday was this week might have something to do with it. You may think baking yourself a cake for your birthday is weird (and perhaps a touch pathetic) but it’s a gift to myself. I enjoy the process of baking and I get the kind of cake I like: three layers (more room for gooey filling), bourbon and coconut. Lane Cake, kind of a Southern version of German Chocolate Cake but without the chocolate. It’s gooey and decadent and I’m ...
HODGEPODGE WEEK: WHITE BEAN AND CAPER CROSTINI, CITRUS AND HERB MARINATED FETA, AND A WORD ABOUT KNIVES.
It’s Hodgepodge week here: the week I give you a couple of short and easy recipes in a mix-up of hors d’oeuvres, sauces and other items. This serves two purposes. It allows me a moment to catch my breath after a crazy two weeks baby sitting in Chicago followed rapidly by catering an event in Charlotte (which was supposed to be for 50 people but the actual attendence more than 80), and it lets me share with you a few recipes which aren’t really long enough or hard enough for a post of their own. I am going to start with an easy recipe for a quick appetizer which has the added bonus of ...
BETWEEN WINTER AND SPRING: GINGER AND PINK GRAPEFRUIT TEA BREAD
It’s that time of year when winter teases us with warm and sunny days when we can sit outside in the sun and think of working in our gardens. And then the cold air blasts back in and once again the skies are grey. Why does it always seem so much colder? I, for one, am done with hearty winter foods. I crave green salads and bright flavors. I think of citrus fruits with their acid bite and vibrant colors. Pink grapefruit is one of my favorites. I eat them like oranges, peeled and in slices. I eat them all winter long from December to March and then I put them aside in favor of the fruits ...
COOKING WITH FRIENDS: DONNA’S APPLE CRISP
Yes, we are back to brown food again! I promise this is the last one for a while. At least until next Winter. And besides, for those of you who watch “The Worst Cooks in America” (my not-so-guilty-pleasure), as Anne Burrell says, “Brown food tastes good.” This brown food comes from my daughter’s future Mother-in-law. Joe’s favorite dessert is his mom’s apple crisp. So much so that he asked for it to be served at the rehearsal dinner for their wedding. But the crisp the caterer gave us to taste was subpar so, good mother that she is, Donna has agreed to make it for the ...
ONE YEAR LATER: A PERSONAL UPDATE
It has been a year since I wrote my first blog post. It was written in February, between Winter and Spring. And it felt like that at the time. My life swung from dark, sad and cold to warm, content and hopeful, and back again. A lot has changed. This February I can look back on a year filled with great joy and happiness: A daughter engaged, a grandchild born, and a home completed. What have I learned? That rebuilding your life is like renovating an old house. It was not for nothing that I often used #metaphorforlife when posting pictures of the remodel. Like my house I had ...
MAKING PEA SOUP LOVELY
The other day as I was struggling to take a good picture of my homemade pea soup I realized that winter food is a lot like winter: a lot of it is brown and dreary looking. This is not to say that winter does not have its delights. There are warm and cozy evenings indoors by the fire. The first snow. The night sky on a cold and clear evening when the stars shine bright. And of course, the smell of something cooking long and slow on the stovetop with its promise of a delicious meal to come. And thinking about that, I decided not to get too fussed about the fact that pea soup is ...
VALENTINE’S DAY MARGARITA
Valentine’s Day. Hearts and flowers and chocolates, and cards filled with sentimental and silly thoughts. This is great fun when your love life is going well but can be downright painful when it is not. What Valentine’s Day needs is a drink. Not champagne with its celebratory edge. Something with a punch: a little sweet, a little heat and a lot of flavor. Good for the lovers, the between-relationships, the lookers and the hurters alike. It just so happens that I know of such a drink: a Valentine's Day Margarita. This concoction was created by Chef Adrian Ortega at ...
PINK PEPPERCORN AND CHOCOLATE POT DE CRÈME: A VEGAN VALENTINE
Those of you who follow me on Instagram and/or Facebook know that I just spent a week at Miraval, a Wellness Resort in the Sonora Desert outside Tucson. For those of you who don’t follow me, you should! Click Here for Instagram and Here for Facebook. (And for more on the Miraval experience, check my post under Adventures of an Asheville Cook) Anyway, it is a beautiful resort with food which manages to be mindful and delicious at the same time. They aren’t dictatorial about it. We weren’t prohibited from things we liked. You could get bacon and Diet Coke but the alternatives ...
CULINARY TRAVEL: MIRAVAL RESORT & SPA IN TUCSON
It was a wintry day in the Sonora desert. The sun was shining but the air was cold and the wind caught at the edges my jacket. I was seated in the shade in front of a corral where there was a large, although gentle seeming, horse. Over the course of the next two hours I, and the small group of people around me, would interact with this animal and hopefully learn something about ourselves in the process. I was at Miraval Wellness Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona One of the benefits of having a daughter who is a travel agent is her knowledge and access to great deals and ...
January Reflections: Cereal Muffins
January. It's a hard-to-sell month. For most of us the weather sucks and we are cold and dreary and longing for hearty, stick-to-the-bone, comfort food just at the time we are trying to regain our balance after the excesses of December. Friends don't want to meet for a drink because it's "Dryanuary" and our cupboards are full of left over cookies and candy which we attempt to ignore (or failing that, eat them). But there is also a lot to be said for the first month of the year. With little else to do, I organize my shelves and try to make a little order out of the chaos. This year my ...
