Scratch Food with a Side of Geek Mom and Pop Culture.
I was chastised by a friend a couple days ago when she made my recipe for stuffing bread. I didn’t say in the recipe to grease the pans, and she had bread that stuck. In true “me” fashion, I’ve been performing a trick that I forgot wasn’t common knowledge, and therefore worthy of a blog…
I almost always walk home with the bird carcass from any family gathering. Nobody ever fights me for it because nobody knows how to make delicious soup from it. Or they can’t be bothered. Their loss! It makes me giddy because I love soup, and I’d rather have the soup than huge chunks of leftover…
t’s that time of year, and I’m just finally getting around to getting my Easter on. My editorial calendar is fubared cause I’m a Tomboy in a house of men: a husband, a son, and a tomcat who also thinks he is my son. So naturally I think ideal window for a holiday project would…
Spinach can be frozen for storage. Because spinach is an early spring plant, a huge harvest can be laid in early and then pulled before the summer-loving plants like cucumbers are ready to sow. But, maybe you’re not a gardener. Maybe you’re just one of those people who have a hard time using a whole…
The occasional kitchen failure is part and parcel of experimenting in the kitchen. Food bloggers seem to hate sharing these stories… maybe because they think it undermines their authority as an expert in food. We tend to be perfectionists and that’s too bad cause sometimes this stuff is like comedic gold. The reality is, Stuff…
I like to have a low-key post-holiday get together with my friends in January. I always used to do a Christmas get together, but it seems like ever since we became adults, December has been impossible to get a word in edgewise on. So yes, January. The only downside to January is that January is…
My relationship with Pinterest would probably be best described as somewhere between a blind first and second date. You know, that awkward phase when you still hide things with Spanx and a pushup bra, and the guy is still pretending he would rather be listening to stories about your cat than drinking a beer and…
Buying beef directly from a farmer is a practice that wasn’t so uncommon even as recently as 30 years ago, at least here in Canada. Somewhere along the way, between agriboom and supermarkets, the practice has become… somewhat unusual. Now, you’re lucky if you know what COUNTRY your hamburger has come from, much less what…
My friend Jennifer at Homegrown.org recently asked me to write up a 101 on making homemade pectin instead of using store-bought powdered stuff with dubious GMO ingredients. I happily complied, since I’ve got the hots for scientific research of the food variety. 🙂 You can find the entire 101 article at http://www.homegrown.org/forum/topics/making-pectin-101
Vanilla beans are often overlooked as a expensive, inconvenient, “I-don’t-know-what-to-do-with-this” product. It is true that they take a little getting used to compared to the ubiquitous vanilla extract, and they are definitely a premium item. But, if you can find it in your heart to buy some beans just once, vanilla sugar might win you…