No, it’s not knitting a ‘raspberry beret’…still, I think I love her…

It’s been quite some time since I took to the kitchen and baked. Sure, I’ve experimented quite a bit with regular ol’ meals–but nothing in the way of sweet treats. And for some reason today, while purusing cooking blogs, figured it was high time I hit the mixing bowls and measures.
And wow was it a [...]

Dusting off my life…

Ah, finally getting back to working with my hands. I’ve been so busy lately I really haven’t had a chance to a leisurely Saturday of baking, knitting, reading and music listening. In fact, my turntable had a thick approximately 1-inch layer of dust on it that would make any OCD-clean freak or music devotee shiver.
And [...]

“The Muffin Man? Here I am, and you I know I can…”

“…love you if I can, have a muffin now and then you won’t forget me!”
Tonight I baked off a few of my Mum’s famous Refrigerator Bran Muffins, which I have to say I consider to be the greatest muffins ever made, literally. This muffin mix can keep in the fridge for ages–in fact, the longer [...]

Peasant 3 was sure to note, “Well, she turned me into a newt!”

…thank you, Monty Python.
There’s nothing better than breaking bread with a friend, something I’ve been trying to make a habit of lately. While my wrists are just about killing me from all that dough kneading, those moments when the loaf cracks in two and the crusty crumbs fly everywhere, make those pains in my joints [...]

I’ll have a few cups of…beer? Cake? Beer? Cake? Oh heck, both?

For some reason, cupcakes and beer seem like an ultimate combination–welp, at least for those who actually like these mini-cakes with fluffy homemade marshmallow topping. And so, I whipped up a batch of these babies last night to take along to Foleys Pub as random party favors…and boy were they a hit.
Not only were the [...]

Breaking the loaf in half?

The Atlantic has a great article called “Half a Loaf: When Bakers Break Up, Who Gets Custody of the Recipes?” by Corby Kummer in the October 2008 Issue.
It’s an intriguing piece on recipe sharing, recipe creating, and partnership–what happens when that ends? Do you split the recipes in half? Does one take them all? Of [...]

Break me off a piece of this…no, I’m talking about maple oat bread, not your bodyyyy!

Today, I had a hankering to tackle a new bread that I haven’t baked before…and tackle I did, kittens. It was a brisk, fall day here in Boston, yet the sun was shining and the rolled oats were calling to me, and so, looking around my kitchen, realized I had all the necessary ingredients for [...]

Nothing chocolate…nothing gained?

For some reason, I had a serious hankering to whip up a new cookie recipe featured in the October issue of Everyday Food by Martha Stewart, which not only has death by chocolate desserts, but delicious looking one pot wonders and yummy talapia which make me drool.
Everyday Food is one of my favorite monthly recipe [...]

The roots of bread baking…

Birthdays can be such wonderful things; thanks to my latest obsession with bread baking, my sister Nicki-Cha gifted me the brilliantly large New Complete Book of Breads by Bernard Clayton, which I highly recommend for any bread baker who wants whites, ryes, sour doughs, brans, oatmeals, sweet breads, corn breads, and everything in betwixt (never [...]

A whoopie of a good time…

“Let them eat cake!” is certainly not one of my mantras–and despite the often, you know, actual reference to yummy dessert, I’m glad it’s not my mantra regardless.
Every year, my Mum tries to deliver a birthday dessert that does not involve, yes, you’re right, cake. Last year, it was oatmeal cookie sandwiches; the year before, [...]