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Showing posts from March, 2008

Exciting Announcement: Mouth Wide Open to be Podcast

I am very pleased to announce that John Thorne has graciously agreed to let me podcast his new book, Mouth Wide Open: A Cook and His Appetite . In my opinion, Thorne is a writer on the caliber of M.F.K. Fisher, though his writing is completely his own expression, of course. He writes not only about food, but about how we relate to it, history from many angles ... all relating to a particular recipe or ingredient usually ... and life in general. You are in for a real treat. I will be interspersing these chapters with another book that will be our "regular" story. The first chapter probably will appear in a couple of weeks after I finish the current book, China Court. Check out Forgotten Classics for bits of other food writing that has been featured: Eat, Drink, and Be Merry , Why Pie , and Culinaira Russia .

Great American Meatout ... Where Have These People Been?

We've had that for ages ... literally! It's called Friday for Catholics, people. If you want to find out how the secular world is catching up, you can read it here .

Cheryl's Red Velvet Cake

A loooong time ago, when I was on Fausta's podcast , Siggy brought up Red Velvet Cake. I have been holding onto the fruit of Cheryl's research into the subject for far too long. She has a recipe and two frosting recipes. Now, that's service! Thanks Cheryl! Here is the scoop, straight from Cheryl... I did find a recipe in my box and I started to type it out and noticed that the cake part had no chocolate in it--I must have had a brain freeze when I copied it. This recipe below is from foodtv and the cake recipe is the same as mine (only theirs has chocolate!!) They have a traditional cream cheese frosting recipe with it, but I still like the idea of the Whipped Cream Frosting I wrote about above. Enjoy! Red Velvet Cake Vegetable oil for the pans 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1-1/2 cups sugar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon fine salt 1 teaspoon cocoa powder 1-1/2 cups vegetable oil 1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature 2 large eggs, at room temperature 2 tablespoons red f

We talk about eating locally but ... I'm just not ready for this ...

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Dandelion greens from my own yard. Actually I'm not sure I'm ever ready for dandelion greens. It's just a bit too ... wild ... if you know what I mean. My pioneer forbears (not to mention, probably my own mother) are shaking their heads in shame but there you go, I can't help it. For those less picky than me, check out Culinate's article with plenty of links to folks who are not as chary as I.

Cooking for a Crowd of Kids

The high school musical, Footloose, finally opens. It seems as if Rose has been on costume crew duty forever. We're not that far from the school, at least in comparison to a lot of the other kids' families. Therefore, next Thursday and Friday a buncha them will be coming over after school to eat before going back to put on the show. I'm thinkin' Brunswick Stew , Spicy Caesar Salad , and Skillet Cornbread one night and ... maybe a double batch of Tuna Noodles , Garlic Bread and the ubiquitous Spicy Caesar Salad (hey, they love it!) the next. Or Tuna Casserole? Not made with mushroom soup but with a good white sauce flavored with some Parmesan and a touch of nutmeg? Still thinking on that one... And dessert, of course! I'm leaning toward Spicy Ginger Cake , which is definitely the one I'm making to take to a party this weekend. That might get it out of my system and I'll go with my fallback position of the simple Chocolate Buttermilk Cake . Again, we'll