The biggest problem with keeping cookbooks in the bedroom is that some mornings, as soon as my eyes open, I’ll find myself with a rumbling stomach, gazing over at book after book containing endless possibilities for curbing my hunger. With blueberries burning a hole in my fridge and a running streak of 3 for 3 with the recipes of baking goddess Dorie Greenspan, I didn’t even need coffee for my brain to process the next logical step.
It’s a working weekend in our household, which means that Brian was off to the office shortly after the alarm this morning, and I have been looking for ways to procrastinate on the elephant-in-the-corner project that is sitting in my laptop bag, smelling like a scary deadline. Rather than hit the ground running on that, I opted to bake for Brian’s team, who are working on a cool, top-secret project this weekend. To show my support for the team, I made some muffins that I thought would appeal to a group of programmers – the highly caffeinated kind.
Saturday morning I work up with a nasty headache from an overindulgent holiday celebration the night before. I was delirious and sort of flailing about in the kitchen – just getting the coffee on was a challenge. I needed some delicious and buttery carbs to settle my stomach and quiet my throbbing head, but I couldn’t imagine leaving my house in such a state. Luckily, these cherry scones not only fit the bill on account of their being flaky, buttery, and satisfying, they also were easy to make in my, ahem, less-than-with-it state.
I’m not entirely clear on what makes a good pancake so good, and a sub-par pancake, well, so just plain filling. What I do know is that once New Yorkers catch wind of brunch spot that boasts good pancakes, suddenly you must go to great extremes to get a seat (i.e. show up at ungodly early hours on a Sunday, wait in line exposed to the elements, giving diners dirty looks because how dare they order a second cup of coffee while you stand on line, freezing your toochis off). Why go through that when you can make pancakes at home, in your jammies, with your favorite coffee and the paper?
Ever learn about something you think is new and novel only to discover that pretty much everyone already had tried/loved/adored that thing ages ago? That’s how I feel about smoked paprika. It’s a spice that I had eaten many times but never identified, and had never cooked with until a few months ago.
I’ve been on a crusade to stop wasting produce. Carefully planning the meal calendar before going to the greenmarket and the grocery works great until one of us (inevitably) ends up with impromptu dinner plans and throws off the plan completely, leaving us with less-than-fresh food. With bananas there is just no excuse since they are generally a breakfast food that we grab as we are dashing out the door to work in the morning. This week though, there were bananas left which meant I was saddled with the burden of making banana bread – yeah, some burden.
The omlette used to be my nemesis in the kitchen. I’d get all my ingredients prepped and have them in little bowls, ready for the moment that I could add them to my perfectly cooked egg canvas…but alas… I’d ruin the integrity of the egg by ripping it, and end up with fancy-pants scrambled eggs. It takes some practice, but if I can do it it is proof that anyone can.
Cranberries are mysterious fruits! These tart little guys are too often associated only with the gelatinous blob that graces the table come Thanksgiving. This is really a shame because they are a delicious addition to a variety of dishes, desserts, and baked goods.
