Several years ago, Cook’s Illustrated published a great recipe for making light and tender scones. The secret is all in the technique, more so than in the ingredients. Grated frozen butter eliminates the need to overwork the dough, which is … Continue reading
Cleaning out the fridge, thanks to “Hurricane” Isaac. This recipe topped the list of things to bake first. Buttermilk Banana Zucchini Muffins Dry: 2 1/2 cups self-rising flour 1/2 cup wheat germ 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1 tsp kosher salt … Continue reading
Watching TS Isaac (Hurricane, now, I believe) slowly, slowly drift thru the Gulf and ever so slowly set it’s eye just outside of New Orleans has been excruciating. Thank goodness for the very dry air we got last week in the form of a (warm) cold front. It was the first morning where it was under 70 degrees in a long time. That morning, I said to myself, so much for a bad hurricane, this dry weather will surely prevent any storm from getting a good formation. ‘Course, you never really know. All of us armchair weathermen think we know more than the real weathermen. But, fortunately, the dry air keeps feeding into Isaac, preventing it from really strengthening. As large as Isaac is, spreading from Texas to Florida, it holds a lot of power to cause a lot of damage to a massive amount of land.
So, what to do once you’ve bought you’re water, your ice, your batteries, gas, diesel, and Vienna sausages? Before the power goes out, cook up everything in the fridge. Today, for me, that means cooking up a lot of produce. Buttermilk Banana Zucchini Muffins. Cherry Sconces. And Mushroom Cabbage Pasties. They even had ONE LAST roll of Crescent Rolls at the country gas station so I don’t have to waste time on actually making my own dough. Today is not the day to worry about making everything from scratch, just preserve the food and extend it’s shelf life.
Recipes to follow.
Update to cooking: The baking spree got interrupted by a very short trip to the ER. Amazingly, considering that most of the world was home, and accidents and things still happen, there was NO ONE in the ER at our local hospital. So, baby girl got stitched up pretty darn quick. We were “wheeling” out the door barely 2 hours later, with 18 stitches on her knee. Thank you to our ER staff for being there on a dreary day. The rain was just starting while we were inside, and has been raining ever since. She is fine, and learning to get around on crutches. She keeps getting up to do test runs, so she can be ready for school tomorrow or Friday. Hard to keep her down!
UPDATE TO HURRICANE ISAAC: Unfortunately, Hurricane Isaac overstayed his welcome, dumping inches and inches of rain along the Gulf Coast, from Louisiana to Mobile, Alabama. Countless homes have been flooded from rain and tidal surge across three states. You never can let your guard down anymore with these storms. I hope everyone makes it back into their homes soon, and that those who need to repair and rebuild are able to do so. In Braithwaite, Louisiana, is where our local farmer’s market citrus farmer lives and tends his orange, grapefruit, setsumas, Meyer lemons, and 2 types of kumquats. He lost most of his trees after Katrina; I’m hoping that the water recedes quickly for him. Several friends and coworkers were rescued from flooded homes across the area. My heart goes out to everyone.
Too many years ago, longer than I want to count, I went to visit my friend one workday afternoon. Her husband was out of town, she had already fed the baby (the baby who is now in college!), and was … Continue reading
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