Some days include a wrong turn down a one-way street, a GPS system that decided to take me on a tour of the area around the place I was headed to instead of directly there, a spilled latte that hit both my computer and my phone, and a general feeling of crappiness. As the Shirelles sang, “Mama Said There’d Be Days Like This.” That was my day on…
This time of year I walk into local supermarkets and see pumpkin cookies with bright orange icing. They always look tempting but just a little fake to me with that bright orange hue. I want a pumpkin cookie that looks a skosh more natural. So, I was perusing the internet and found a recipe on the website, GimmeSomeOven.com. I clicked on it and her pumpkin cookies, looked like…
I’ve been in the mood to bake lately. Like the bears featured in Fat Bear Week, I’m like Chunk, the winner. I don’t weigh 1200 pounds yet, but it may not be far off if I keep this up. Or maybe it’s because it’s Italian American Heritage month and, like my mother, I’m all about the food. I can’t help it, I just want to cook and eat…
It’s amazing how much a reasonably confident bread baker can learn by screwing up a recipe. This week was a learning experience for me after attempting my mother’s scrawled Easter Bread recipe. I learned: Once it finally rose, my mom’s bread looked pretty good. I was feeling very positive, but was still concerned because I’d never used her recipe before. So, I decided to make that Finnish Spring…
I am hosting Easter on Sunday. I’ve bought almost everything I could think of, so since Easter is a few days away, and I was feeling both nostalgic and brave, I thought I’d give my mom’s original Easter Bread recipe a try. This meant putting my faith in Mom’s words on a yellowed, grease-spotted paper that’s more than 40 years old. I found the spots reassuring thinking she…
Ever try a recipe and think, Wow, this is so good, it couldn’t possibly be better? That’s what happened to me in 2014. Then you make the recipe again, change something, and think, Whoa, I am a genius! I had my genius moment with lemon ricotta cookies, a recipe I got years ago from Theresa, my ex’s lovely first wife and all round good human. The first time…
Happy Valentine’s Day! I wish you happiness on this love-fest of a day, which I detested in college because the parade of flowers always went to the other girls, but never to me or my close friends. Of course I was jealous! Who doesn’t want someone who you’re crazy about to love you back and lavish you with gifts? I’d like to say I’m much more mature now…
Watching Ted Lasso, last fall, I could not shake the image of Ted’s boss sensually biting into the biscuits Ted brought her each morning. The look of satisfied, dare I say, orgasmic pleasure on her face was something I would love to see on my face fairly frequently. As you may recall, I recommended Ted Lasso to you because it renews ones faith in humans, and let’s face…
I won’t post something unless I’m positively sure it’s mind-blowing, so I was happy to try these autumnal Pumpkin Ricotta Cookies, but wasn’t sure about posting the recipe. Then I tweaked it, baked them again, and was still a little iffy, but the third time was the winner. (Yes, three times! See what I do for you?) I’d also bought three cans of pumpkin at Costco and couldn’t…
In November of 2021 I wrote about Thankfulness and 12 Hard-earned Truths About Pie Crust. However, as Paul McCartney said, “But if this ever changin’ world in which we live in, makes you give in and cry, say live and let pie.” OK, maybe it was live and let die, but my take is kinder and explains why I must eat my words when it comes to pie…