Random Recipe Meets Danish Apricot Pinwheels

What pretty little crumbly confections! They are sitting pretty on my countertop because I was instructed to pick a random recipe ...

Staffordshire Oatcakes, Baked Apples, The Hobbit, and More

"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort."
                                                                                                         - JRR Tolkien

Thanksgiving Breakfast - Coffee and Chocolate Kugelhopf

This month's We Should Cocoa almost brought a tear to my eye - a joyful tear, for what better combination could there be than bread and chocolate? Bread AND chocolate!

Bring on the Bird! Apple Cider Turkey Brine ...

Well, I feel like I've been away for a very long time ... so sorry if you have popped in to see what's what only to be faced with more peanut crusted chicken! I have been soooo busy working on the final preparations for my church's holiday fair that I had to set The Spice Garden aside for a couple weeks.  I had to concentrate on hand-sewing and press articles and ads, seeking contributions from local businesses and church members, setting up, decorating the church hall, taking down, counting money, saying thanks to as many folks as I can come across, etc etc etc ... it's exhausting for a hermit like me. And just when I finished that project, SB has begun the 'Bring on the Bird!' chant - I am out of the frying pan and into the ... brine!

Peanut Crusted Chicken with Pineapple Salsa

 

 

This month is National Peanut Butter Month, apparently! Oh, the lowly peanut ... such a humble little legume that sits squarely at the center of so many paperbag lunches, crinkles in many a bag at the ballgame, and gets munched on many a transcontinental flight. I've joined a small group of folks that intend to do more sophisticated things with the peanut, however. I scoured the Cooking Light website and found a tasty peanut-crusted chicken appetizer, as a starter for the Virtual Supper Club's peanut- themed feast.

 

Pumpernickel Bread and Dad's Sandwich ...

Pumpernickel Braid

When I was a little girl, sandwiches were one of the typical lunches that Mom would make us. During the week, a peanut butter, egg salad, tuna fish, or bologna and cheese sandwich always sat neatly wrapped in wax paper and nestled in my little tin lunch box. It would always have a small indentation from an apple or orange or a mis-shapen corner from being swung about in the lunch box on the way to school. Sandwiches were the staple of every school kid's midday meal and I was no exception. Unfortunately, mine were always made with a spongy white bread that came from a plastic bag. In my case, the store-brand or Nissen Bakery brand.

Ready For a Hurricane? When In Doubt ... Cook!

I woke to the most unsettling news bites yesterday morning. As I booted up the computer to look at the latest radar images of this hurricane dubbed 'Frankenstorm', my husband was tuning into the local weather on the television. "Widespread power outages are expected", ..."urged to prepare for the worst", " take a picture of your immediate vicinity before and after ...when you can, send them to 9 News update", and more churned from the television.

Holy Smokes! This was being handled as a real 100 year storm! Already, the sky was literally grey-pink all over, which brings new meaning to the old weather adage, "Red sky at morning, sailors take warning ...". As the sun rose, we wondered, just what the next two days would bring. I prayed that everyone of my large extended family and all my friends up and down the Eastern Seaboard were safe and ready for this storm and that Hurricane Sandy calmed down quickly once she made landfall ... and then it was time to get the house ready and ourselves prepared for the worst!

We stocked the water, wood, and got the candles and flashlights and lanterns ready for action.  Then, we watched the wind pick up. The phone lines went dead midmorning, but power held. We used our sketchy cell phones to make garbled phone calls to family and friends and then, showered and got things cleaned up (just in case we couldn't for a couple days). Then, I cooked ... bread for sandwiches and a roasted chicken for a meal and soup stock. We boiled some eggs for an easy egg salad or green salad meal. That was it ... the plan was that meals would center around those three main ingredients over the next few days and we would eat what's in the fridge ( this, assuming a power outage made using things up necessary before they lose their integrity).

Last evening, the power flickered on and off, but held. We were able to watch in horror as NYC braced for record high tides and storm surge. I shot a fast FB message off to Kate in Brooklyn, hoping to hear from her. Sara called from Boston to say she was buttoned up tight and trying to salvage a chicken soup (epic noodle fail). She was safe and sound. Eric was incommunicado over in the wilds of Rindge where he has just moved ... I hope he didn't park his car under any trees! That remains to be seen, as I still haven't heard from him. We've made it through the night and still have power ... it's weirdly calm now with occasional bands of wind that pass through, but the rain has finally let up and things seem to be calming down.

Time to make some soup and contemplate just how lucky we have been! Chicken soup and matzo balls will be comforting today, as we clean up the property and carve a Halloween pumpkin. I keep hoping everyone else has been as fortunate as we have been ... the phones are still down. Small change compared to many others ...
 

We Should Cocoa ... Pumpkin Eclairs!

These little devils have been on my culinary bucket list for a good while ! Eclairs are one of Silent Bob's favorite pastries. We oogle them whenever we go into a bakery of note and I always tell him that  I will learn how to make them for him! I'm so glad I screwed up my courage and tackled them! They weren't perfect - there was a bit too much salt in the choux and the eclair shells didn't stay as puffed as I would have liked, but they were fantastic for a beginner eclair maker ... me!