You know summer is here when you start seeing area kids trying their hand at entrepreneurship with lemonade stands. This past weekend, I saw several friends posting photos of their children with toothy grins, sitting behind card tables adorned with homemade signs. As much as some things change, there are so many that seem to …
Continue reading “Summer means it’s time for a ‘mango-nificent’ lemonade”
We have a friend we lovingly refer to as “the human jukebox.” He has a ton of songs floating around in his head, and all it takes to get him to launch into one is to subtly mention a lyric. Joey and I sometimes make a game of seeing if we can make a comment …
Continue reading “Combination of chicken, veggies, herbs more than just fair”
I have always been a sucker for poppy seeds. If there is a tray of pastries that includes poppy seed bread or muffins, that is what’s going on my plate. That nutty flavor is just irresistible. That being said, I rarely bake with poppy seeds, for some reason. I had to change that, and what …
Continue reading “‘Poppy’ in the kitchen and try some beautiful scratch-made cupcakes”
This past weekend, Joey found whole chickens on sale and proceeded to put three on his smoker. I told him I wanted to try a different way to make stock from the bones, once he was done pulling the meat, and he graciously put the pieces into my large crockpot for me. Normally, we make …
Continue reading “This creamy chicken soup was fabulous, ‘gnocchi’dding”
If anyone tries to tell you that I don’t suffer for my art, please correct them. After all, I spent a lovely afternoon recently, shoulders deep in my oven with some Easy Off and a scrubber, all thanks to this week’s recipe. Did my oven probably need a good scrub down anyway? Yeah. Probably. But …
Continue reading “Turn cookies on their heads with these pineapple treats”
The names people choose for recipes often crack me up. There’s the embarrassing-to-talk-about “better than sex” or “sex in a pan” variety of dishes, followed by “blue-ribbon” and “award-winning” options, and of course, there are a million recipes purporting to be “Mom’s” or “Grandma’s,” although few identify which matriarch those actually belong to. So you’ll …
At least 10 years ago, I first tried making homemade soft pretzels for this column. They were messy, extremely tricky to knot and delicious. Since that first foray into pretzel-making, I have made the recipe again several times, but I have always opted to make pretzel bites instead of going through the arduous process of …
Continue reading “No need to ‘Harp’ about this amazing pub cheese”
If there was a competition for taking the love of a single recipe to new heights, I think Edward J. O’Dwyer might win. In doing some quick research about the origins of Irish soda bread, I came upon the website for The Society for the Preservation of Irish Soda Bread, which O’Dwyer runs. It comes …
Continue reading “These mini Irish loaves are ‘soda’licious”
I have always loved British entertainment. Lately, my obsession has been with a British podcast called “Off Menu.” It features comedians Ed Gamble and James Acaster, and the premise is really simple. They ask guests to join them in their fictitious “dream restaurant,” and then they go course by course through the guest’s dream meal. …
Continue reading “It’s time to pig out on rolls from across the pond”
Every week, I go have lunch with my Little for Big Brothers Big Sisters. We solve the world’s problems over school food and Uno cards as only a 13-year-old and a 39-year-old can. Recently, we discussed the nature of sandwiches. Is a hot dog a sandwich? How about a taco? Where do quesadillas come into …
Continue reading “A crustless pie recipe can really take the cake”
