A customer called and asked, “Do you have alphabet cookie cutters?” “Yes, we have them in two sizes: one-inch and three-inch.” “How big is that?” Another customer called and asked, “How big is a 1 1/2 quart baking dish?” “Huh? What do you mean?” “How many inches wide is it?” “1 1/2 quarts can be […]

The three ingredients that I always have in my refrigerator are butter, eggs, and heavy cream. Butter and eggs have a long shelf-life, but sometimes I run out of the more perishable heavy cream. What to do? My ace in the hole is a supply of canned coconut milk in the pantry. Coconut milk (which […]

The girls continue to lay; each hen lays an egg a day. We’ve been feeding them the weeds from the garden, which they love. They also snap up any bee that falls out of the bee-line to the hives. (Since chickens love to eat bugs and worms, they never eat a “vegetarian” diet.) In celebration […]

What I learned from attending the Slow Food Trivia Night this weekend: Pop culture sells better than slow culture. The event may raise money for “slow” foods, but the questions reflected fast foods. Topics included corporate jingles, corporate logos, and corporate cereals. Kraft and McDonald’s and Betty Crocker and KFC were well-represented. Success at a trivia night depends […]

I have never sought the attention of clams, but never minded them when they appeared. I have scoffed at bottled clam juice, but understand that it has a purpose. When three dozen fresh clams presented themselves, my response was, maybe I should try out spaghetti with clam sauce. Wow. This dish seems to come out of […]

There are generally two reasons why people do not cook: “I love to cook, but I don’t have time” or “I live alone and I can’t cook for one person.” Here is a recipe to solve both dilemmas. This stir-fry is fast to make; start by cooking the rice and the rest of the meal […]

With the thermometer hitting 70 degrees and the first taste of spring, it must be ice cream weather! Here is my all-time favorite ice cream recipe. Yes, you do need an ice cream maker to make homemade ice cream; the custard must be continually stirred as it is frozen. There are two types of electric […]

Dear Anne, I want to thank you for my wonderful session with you on Friday. We had such fun and learned a lot. Even the little tricks like how to cut an onion and let meat stand are invaluable — and I’m practicing cutting out heart shapes! Fondly, Lenore She took a two-hour cooking tutorial […]

What’s for dinner tonight? Do you want beef, pork, or chicken? It’s easy to get in a food rut. Recently I had an extra pound of tuna that needed to be eaten. The response was, let’s put tuna in the regular rotation! Nasi goreng is an Indonesian dish that compliments any meat, chicken, or fish. […]

When a recipe does not turn out as expected, do not pronounce failure, but rename the recipe! Thus a fallen souffle becomes a timbale. As Julia Child said, never apologize for the food you have cooked. Here, an underbaked chocolate cake becomes a warm chocolate cake with a liquid center, a.k.a chocolate molten cake. It’s […]