Simmer Till Done

If you’ve read this blog more than once, if you’re among the dedicated few besides my neighbor and my dog - sure Cleo surfs the web, she’s a very special lab - you’ve likely noticed that I’m unable to describe anything in what my lawyerly husband would call an “expeditious” manner.

Sorry, but I believe the brochure does clearly state that “every bite tells a story,” not “every bite tells a tightly crafted legal brief.”   And if you’re an efficiency expert you won’t be sitting through my fifth pie story anyway - so to each his delicious own.

That said - after a particularly long post, heavy with meaning and calories, I feel the need to tighten up, both literally and, as my jeans like to say, figuratively.  Maybe even stop talking about brownies.  I feel the need for a Ten-Word Thursday.
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Tags: ice cream, ten-word thursday

You’re having nice people to dinner and you need a nice dessert. You’d like something easy but brilliant, sweet but sophisticated, deceptively simple – you know, a plated version of our ideal selves. Here’s what you don’t want: a labor-intensive tower of dubious taste. You’ve already cooked three courses, and though you sent someone else for wine, you’re now back in the kitchen with only one earring and half-shaved legs. You don’t need to stack genoise or fold souffles; you need a brownie.

I have no new insights on brownies, and good is the only word that fits.  Brownie ties run deep and satisfy deeply; good from scratch, good from a mix, from the counter, the bakery, the party and the potluck. Surely every American man, woman, child and beast enters the world begging for brownies.

Years ago I dreamed of moving to Paris and opening a bakery - a cozy ex-pat shop with coffee, apple pie, chocolate chip cookies and brownies, every kind of brownie - iced or bare, with or without nuts, I was sure that Le Brownie would draw cheeky Parisians and comfort-seeking Americans. But today, after baking and eating enough fancy desserts - and brownies - to fill that imaginary store and more, I’m happy here, feeding my friends something pretty - something sweet, low, and easy. Continue Reading »

Tags: brownies, desserts, plating, recipes

There are a lot of delicious things about Peabody’s blog, starting with her cartoon-inspired name and ending with the concoctions themselves.  Most of her treats sport enthusiastic titles that hint at their multi-part goodness:  Orange-Pineapple-Vanilla Bean Zebra Torte, Tangerine Kumquat Rounds, Colossal Double Chocolate White Chip Cookies.  In the kitchen or behind the camera, there’s little this Pacific Northwest hockey-and-bunny-loving blogger won’t tackle, but she’s not just for show - Peabody exhorts her readers to try anything and everything on the blog, “and more importantly…be inspired to go make it!”

How often do you think about eating?

More than the average person should. I’m usually either thinking about what to make for my blog or what to make for dinner. You are talking to a girl who goes to the Farmer’s Market or grocery store almost daily.
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Tags: peabody, Tell Simmer

It’s all politics right now, but - this is not so much a political blog. If I could trail the candidates from diner to diner, I’d certainly blog about their pancakes, and how they like their eggs, and that would be tasty, but frivolous - so I’ll leave greater discussion to the pundits.

Still, it’s no secret that I support a certain senator from my native midwestern state whose rearranged name makes Maraca Kabob. I support his message of inspiration, change, and also his wife’s Amaretto cookies.

We watched Maraca Kabob do an especially tricky interview with Bill O’Reilly - you know, he of the No-Sin - I mean Spin - Zone and all that. Candidate Maraca held his ground, but before the interview, Mr. O’Reilly described the reporters criticizing Sarah “Moose Meat” Palin - and indeed, he surely meant all who question the guns n’ lipstick governor - as “sniveling.”
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Tags: cheese, election, o'reilly, obama, politics

Some days it takes nothing to break a smile, some days maybe more - but I’m sure we can all agree that occasionally, what you need is a little doorbell surprise.  I heart you, UPS guy.  Wait, have a brownie!

The package thing, however, works a lot better if you’re actually home.  Last week I was in Chicago visiting my parents - by myself - and on the phone from home, Greg mentioned that a box had arrived. For me.

Really?  A package, hmm, nothing I had ordered, a box out of the blue, a box with my name on it!  So sad - forty years old and I’m aflutter for mail.

“So where’s it from?” I was talking in my parents’ living room, my mother in a big stuffed chair, perusing the fourth Restoration Hardware that week.  Now her ears perked up.

“It’s from Teller’s,” he said.

“Tellers.” The restaurant?

I should say that Teller’s is two blocks from our house.  What were they sending me, my favorite antipasto, to go?  Greg went on.

“Should we open it?”

“Oh, well…okay…oh fine, open it…”
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Tags: breadboard, parents, recipes, Tellers