Christmas
Citrus Salad Recipe, and a new Middle Eastern cookbook
Holiday gatherings of our family have always included my mom’s special touches at breakfast. Her favorite of all the citrus fruits is grapefruit, and she painstakingly segments pink grapefruit after pink grapefruit to yield her big bowl of glistening fruit to make our breakfast table a celebration. Only someone (Mom. Me. Peg. If any…
Read MoreArugula with Sugared Cranberries & Pancetta. And let’s talk cookbooks.
As I mentioned recently, I am a cookbookaholic. I love to hear about good cookbooks from anyone who is into them. I sort of assume the same of anyone else who likes to collect, cook from, and gift-give cookbooks. So in honor of the cookbook-buying and giving season ahead—in honor of all of the…
Read MoreOrange Blossom Cream Caramels with Sea Salt. A mouthful of happy.
That title, I toyed with it: Cream caramels. Salted Cream Caramels. Orange Blossom Caramels. Orange Blossom Cream Caramels. Then, at last, I couldn’t hold back, and here we are with Orange Blossom Cream Caramels with Sea Salt. The editor in me is apt to lasso such an unwieldy thing as that title and shake it…
Read MoreBlackberry Lavender Sugar Buns
Quiet is here. There recently were days, weeks really, of constant motion, our early July tradition in Harbor Springs. Everyone in the family comes for a long, but short, gathering that we take pleasure in knowing is there for us all year long. And then you hit this week, the week after, and it can’t…
Read MoreRuby Red Grapefruit-St. Germain Mimosa
By now it’s crystal clear that St. Germain tastes good with just about anything you can think of to pair it with. If you ask my brothers, it’s even better on its own, on the rocks, when late evening comes and something more is called for. The affinity we all have over here for St.…
Read MoreRaspberry Cream Scones with Rose Water Glaze
I like to think of it as my first act of food writing. It was just a few sentences on the back of a postcard (I’ve loved postcards for a very long time), sent home to my family on my first trip to Europe when I was in college. If you were to mention just…
Read MoreDouble Chocolate Cake with Fluffy Pink Icing
This double chocolate cake is a beautiful occasion cake, just like one my mother made for my birthdays growing up. The fluffy pink icing is Italian Meringue and should be made the day the cake is served. Given that my birthday falls near Valentine’s Day, I am into a layer cake for a Valentine dessert.…
Read MoreThick Hot Chocolate with Cinnamon, a quiet triumph
There are certain things we have eaten in their very finest forms that stay with us, that won’t leave us alone until we eat them again. My list of such finery does not include chicken wings, devotees of which seem to be abounding this week in preparation for the Super Bowl. I admit that I…
Read MoreChocolate Cut-Out Cookies with Royal Icing
I had never really imagined a Christmas cut-out cookie in chocolate until last year at this time, when Cindy gave me a little bag of them. Instead of saving the cookies and taking them home to share, I ate every last deep-dark one while we chatted over a cup of tea. They were almost as…
Read MoreDate-Crisp Balls
Date-Crisp Balls are simple to make, on the stove top with no baking, and the dates impart a luscious caramel flavor. And a bonus: they’re gluten-free! Is this a cookie? Or a candy? How about simply: a treat. An incredibly good treat that comes down to us from my grandmother, Alice Abowd (wife of Richard,…
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