Bake with abandon!
Tomorrow The Messy Baker officially hits the shelves. If you missed the Rodale Pin It To Win It Contest, or were ineligible, don’t fret. Here are two more Messy Baker giveaways to enter. Canadian residents can head over to The Savvy Reader. There’s a recipe …
So, Eric Idle came to dinner and was seated beside me. We were going to entertain the other guests with a ripping rendition of The Dead Parrot skit. Only I was so busy thinking up clever tweets I forgot my lines. So I went upstairs to …
When I was very little, I thought my mother knew everything. Absolutely everything. If I had a question, she had an answer. If I had a problem, she had a solution. She cured my near-fatal bout of the mumps with teeny-tiny vanilla cupcakes. She could …
Seasons jumble in my head. Apricots and black currants are oh-so summer, except when the apricots are peaches and the currants are jam. Then it’s late fall — Thanksgiving to be specific. Confused? So am I. I started out with two tasks on my agenda 1) …
Recently I talked about the angst of publishing a book. But that’s only part of the story. Anxiety has loosened its grip and every time I think it’s just a dream, I walk into my front foyer and look at the big box of books sitting …
Writing a book is a lot like working in theatre. “Hurry up and wait!” is the mantra. You learn your lines (or write them in this case), hit your marks (deadlines) and then wait. For months. You watch the clock, the calendar and your nails …
I’m not one for culinary deception. I have never understood why anyone would slip perfectly good spinach into brownie batter or sneak astringent cauliflower into banana muffins. Not only do the flavours conflict, such subterfuge gives respectable vegetables an inferiority complex. So, let me be perfectly clear. When I …
Slice-and-bake shortbreads can be perfectly uniform and not put me off. I’ve no issue when one gingersnap looks exactly like the next. But I don’t trust chocolate chip cookies unless they resemble a culinary version of the Rorschach test. Although roughly the same size, each should bake …
The lavender is blooming, the mint is growing like Audrey the Venus flytrap and summer is racing down the street like its sandals are on fire. Recipes can wait. The garden? It’s more time sensitive and never rests. After the rain today, I went outside to …