I wanted to wish you all a happy holiday season while I’m between baking tasks. I have been reading August Escoffier’s autobiography the last few days. If you aren’t familiar with him, he is a French chef who worked in the late 1800s and early 1900s. His legacy is frequently cited as that of having… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Holidays & Entertaining
Nothing says Happy Holidays quite like a Pan di Toni
This holiday season, I’m giving a little more baking cheer than material cheer, though I suppose that the baking cheer could result in an extra pound or two on the midsection of those receiving apple cake, assorted cookies, and – a new addition to my baking repertoire, one which also happens to fulfill my yeast-bread-a-week… Continue Reading
Extra-Gingery Gingerchews
I’d like to call these cookies gingersnaps, but that would be a misnomer. These ginger cookies don’t snap at all. They chew. And they chew good, if you don’t mind my saying so. I’ve been making them around the holidays for the past eight or so years, and every time I pawn them off on… Continue Reading
Lamb Shanks Worthy of a Holiday Celebration
Apologies to those who are put off by the sight of cooked bones. I should have made three lamb shanks last night, but we really are on a budget, so, though I’m certain JR would have been thrilled with an extra shank, I have only picked over bones with which to illustrate today’s post. The… Continue Reading
Do it yourself: Turkey-in-a-hole-in-the-ground pictorial essay
Pictorial essay sounds pretty fancy, doesn’t it? I thought it best to illustrate the entire Turkey-in-a-hole-in-the-ground process with photos for those of you who want to pull these shenanigans off yourself next year. It starts with a large, fresh bird. This year, our bird was 30 pounds. One year we commissioned a bird from my… Continue Reading