I grew up making these strawberry preserves in the summers with my mother, standing at the sink, washing and hulling strawberries, leaving them whole, then by some magic in more than a few minutes filling a big stainless steel tub with berries in a thick syrup to cool, also to pluck a whole berry from … More Great Grandmother’s 6-Minute (haha) Strawberry Preserves
Plumber fellow who will be in a couple hours providing a bit of a fix to a serious problem under the kitchen sink said, a few days ago, “Yeah. I like to eat. I like baked stuff.” I’d told him that I often express gratitude by baking something which I know the intended recipient has on … More Gratitude Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie with Crumble Crust, Recipe
My offer to a neighbor of the leftover raspberry buttercream from the last birthday cake went unaccepted — just at the same time as I found out that I would be having company this afternoon — so I had a little think about what might go well with it besides chocolate cake or chocolate cupcakes. … More Leftover Raspberry Buttercream? Company coming? Make Lemon Cake.
Yesterday I spent a couple hours having cranberry fun, making cranberries into a candy that I call Cranberry Lolly. My process is secret. The not-secret part is that they’re finely chopped. It can be used on Thanksgiving turkey (and is, at my house when I cook the dinner), but it’s purpose is future use in … More Happy Thanksgiving, and Painting by Jane Nicolet, Tiger/Cougar Mtn.
I almost negligently homicided my Montana Most Sour sourdough starter three days ago. For the first time in almost forever, I put the concoction in a glass bowl rather than the stainless steel and then put it in the oven with its film cover over night, as usual. I have a bright little piece of … More 4-Wheat Inside-Out Cranberry Rolls As Sourdough Survives Injury
A chilly morning yesterday along with Sunday Formula 1 from the Circuit of the Americas in Austin and a Seattle Seahawks game on telly meant turn on the oven and bake some more of those super fast, now-they’re-my-favorite-because-they’re-healthier-AND-fluffy buttermilk biscuits.* I shared three, ate one and refrigerated two. Today I lightly buttered one, put it … More Fried Biscuit Raspberry Shortcake, and Romance of Fall in One Photo
Oh boy! There they were on display in a heap of bags at the Grocery Outlet today, and at a bargain $1.99 each, three bags of cranberries made it into the cart, one for this cake and two for something else. I’ve been waiting to try Ben & Birdy’s Cranberry Upside-Down Cake every since my … More Fresh Cranberries! Time for Ben & Birdy’s Upside-Down Cake
A friend for whom I make birthday goody said that she’d like ice cream this year, raspberry* or peach. I’ve had it in my mind to make something like this, so I did. The photos actually tell the story of a peachy Melba ice cream. First day of fall, but there was summer left in … More Raspberry & Peach Ice Cream Duo
On Sunday at the Ballard Farmers Market, I got some apricots and plums fresh-picked from the Martin Family Orchards in Orondo, Washington, to make both of my favorite cooked, non-pectin jams. I stirred them (for what seemed like hours) on Monday and supervised cookie-baking and water-coloring while I was “hosting” two neighborhood children all day … More Jam. More Jam. Apricot. Plum.
Last summer I poured a bit of my homemade blackberry reduction syrup over a scoop of the fresh raspberry ice cream and the taste combination was out of this world. It’s lovely to spoon a bit of the blackberry syrup along with the cream, but I decided to ripple some into the batch I just … More Blackberry Rippled Raspberry Ice Cream
Ms Chef in Seattle 