I am off to San Francisco today! I am very much hoping the weather isn’t as hot there as it is in Chicago. I need some morning fog and an ocean breeze! Since I can’t write a blog in the air, enjoy this video my daughter Kristina made of the beautiful city on the Bay.
Food as Art
It’s astounding how many artists depict food and express the many aspects of food through the beauty of still life. Think of Rembrandt’s hanging carcass of beef, or the Picasso painting of bread, or the food art of Wayne Thiebaud, one of my favorites. It’s exciting to capture the ideas of artists from different eras and to notice the […]
Wednesday Winner: (Grand National) Bake-Off 13: Candy Bar Cookies
It was lucky 13 for Mrs. Vernon (Alice) Reese of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Alice’s “Candy Bar Cookies” won the $25,000 Grand Prize at Pillsbury’s thirteenth contest. Alice said she came up her winning cookie idea when she accompanied her husband on a business trip to California. Besides cooking, Alice “sewed a fine seam” and is “handy […]
The Biggest Box of Giveaway Cookbooks Ever!!
Are you ready for this?? I have a huge box of cookbooks just waiting for someone to win. I don’t make you jump through hoops or even require a posted comment – ALL you have to do to enter this massive random drawing is send me your name and email address and I will write […]
Wine Country in the Midwest?
Napa and Sonoma are among the first places that come to mind when visiting wineries in our country. The Great Lakes is not exactly the first place one would think of for great wine, but think again! There are dozens of wineries in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, and Ontario that have produced […]
"The Food of the Gods"
This is another one of my coffee table-sized books that won’t fit on my scanner. But I still love the over-sized books because they have huge photos which are works of art as much as the food, and are even suitable for framing. In the introduction written by renowned chef Charlie Trotter, he states that […]
Summer Ice Cream Day Two!
Thomas Jefferson is rumored to have invented the original ice cream made from this native fruit. This incredible plum ice cream can be made with any color plums of the season. Old-Fashioned Plum Ice Cream 1-1/2 pounds ripe tart plums1-3/4 cups sugar4 egg yolks1-1/2 cups warm half-and-half (105 to 115 degrees)1-1/3 cups whipping cream1/3 cup […]
We All Scream for Ice Cream This Weekend
Summer and homemade ice cream go hand-in-hand. Whether you have an old hand-crank like the one above, or an electric one (I love my Cuisinart ice cream maker!) you can have homemade ice cream, sherbets, ices, and other frozen delights anytime. Today and tomorrow I will offer you two ways to begin. Since chocolate is always […]