Halloween is a Big Deal in my neighborhood. I bought 30 pounds of chocolate candy last week and prayed it would be enough for an expected 350-400 trick-or-treaters. And I prayed harder as temptation caused the chocoholics in my household (in other words, everybody) to dip into the supply again and again. Pretty soon, 27…
Author: cookbookwall
Raves and Faves 23
A Cuban sandwich pairs exceptionally well with Apple Cider Sangria. If you’re lucky enough to have a friend of Cuban extraction providing the Cuban sandwich, then life just doesn’t get any better. This inventive Apple Cider Sangria was a lovely way to welcome friends and fall recently. Get the recipe by clicking here. The link…
Magic Chocolate Frosting
It was a week of unintended consequences. I loaned my daughter my car, and her sweet cat peed and pooped in it. I made cookies jammed with expensive ingredients (gluten-free flour, dried cherries, chunks of good-quality bittersweet chocolate, large coconut flakes), but the pepitas also called for turned out to be tough and stale and…
Bakewell Tart
I should have been looking at street signs on that summer day in Spitalfields, London, but my attention was diverted by the treasure in my hand: a generous slice of the best Bakewell tart I’d ever tasted. I broke off bits to eat as I strolled. A triangle of pastry holding frangipane and a thin…
Raves and Faves 22
A sighting of autumn at my grocery store. ♦ ♦ ♦ This antipasto platter made by G, the teenage daughter of dear friends who were hosting my husband and me for dinner. It was a work of art, beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. ♦ ♦ ♦ Compassion. I’m still rocking an orthopedic boot after foot surgery…
Lemon Cake 2.0
I made two loaf-sized lemon cakes yesterday, requiring lemons galore. Juice and zest permeate every aspect of the recipe, from batter to hot syrup to sugar glaze, with tangy, tender, delicious results. A day later, the cake is nearly all gone. So now I have a lemon cake situation, because my craving for the stuff…
Cheesecake with a walnut crust
August 20, 1964 – Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho Today is the 50th anniversary of my third birthday. Birthday cakes are the subject of intense consideration in my family, always homemade unless the cook has a doctor’s note, and always of a type and flavor chosen by the guest of honor. I wear two…
Green Pepper Steak with Tomatoes
The book sat on the edge of my desk for months. Amazon packaged it poorly, so the paperback arrived with its cover mangled, and it irritated me. To exchange it for a pristine copy was my option, of course, but that seemed like more trouble than it was worth. I finally picked up the…
Sauteed Boneless Chicken Breasts
A tender, tasty, boneless chicken breast is supposed to be easy to produce in a skillet, but as a novice cook, I often served my family ones that were either tough and overcooked or rubbery and not quite done. (Ignorance can be dangerous.) I followed instructions from a variety of cookbooks, but the outcomes were…
Mea Culpa Cookies
I got a haircut a few weeks ago. Sitting in a pneumatic chair, draped in a cape, I had a good view of the salon’s centerpiece, a circular settee crowned with a large, elaborate flower arrangement. I asked my hair stylist, a stylish and pretty young mother, how often her salon’s fancy flower arrangement was…
Cookbook Wall 