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Magnificent

Meredith

Posted on December 21, 2011

In San Antonio, we eat flour tortillas, as previously noted.  This is because when refined (or de-germed) flour was invented during the industrial revolution, it flooded the market as a cheap grain with a long– too long– shelf life.  The original Mexican tortilla is a corn cake.  I live about a mile from the oldest gristmill in Texas (Mission San Jose), which predates white flour by about 150 years. I also live near the C. H. Guenther Mill, where workers have been on strike since last spring.  But clearly this is the type of strike that has few plays in the playbook– pretty depressing considering their union reps make almost six figures and yet dont seem to know what a fight-back looks like even if it came served…

Categories: recipes, vegetarian, Where food comes from

Tagged: amaranth, aztecs, flour tortillas, food, food industry, mill workers, recipes, salsa, san antonio, strikes, watermelon radish, whole grain

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PDX Hot Toddy

Meredith

Posted on December 16, 2011

I am trying my best to eat, bake, and drink my way through the bushel of citrus from my mother-in-law’s trees in Elsa, TX.  The oranges are so sweet and luscious, and the grapefruit is deep red and intensely flavorful.  (The other day I was just thinking orange zest may be my favorite ingredient in baked goods.  I think this might be because we only get to taste it when we eat something homemade or specially crafted.  Store-bought breads and cakes and muffins rarely have zest.  I think this is because the only way to get zest is with two hands and a zester.  It takes a little effort.  But it does freeze well.  I love how it can brighten a waffle or cake, but not…

Categories: recipes

Tagged: bourbon, cinnamon, cocktails, drinks, earl grey, ginger, hot toddy, oranges, recipes

5 Comments

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Candy Cane Cookies

Meredith

Posted on December 13, 2011

I think these are Santa’s favorite.  I have been leaving them out for him since I was big enough to love Christmas (at a very young age, in fact).  These cookies are not only cute (Betty Crocker calls them “gay candy canes”) they are a perfect mixture of light vanilla butter cookie and marzipan flavor. While making them I discovered why people have children: to do the manual labor of making dozens of cute cookies (I’m on to you Mom…)  But because I love to post here, I did it all myself (wipes forehead), so you could have the recipe AND the pictures.  Do find some children to help you, since this is so much fun. After making these, and the chocolate pudding pie, I…

Categories: recipes

Tagged: almond, baking, betty crocker, candy cane cookies, chirstmas cookies, vanilla

3 Comments

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greatest cookie recipe ever devised

Meredith

Posted on December 12, 2011

The rain has stopped, but the sun is hiding.  The house is warm from baking.  There are cardinals in the garden. The note that accompanies the recipe for Viennese Crescents says that when the recipe was first published in the New York Times, “one food authority wrote that it was, in her opinion, the greatest cookie recipe ever devised.”  I read this today, somehow for the first time, after having enjoyed these every Christmas since I was a kid.  I say to myself, “uh-huh,” and reach for my jar of vanilla beans. They are toasted, nutty, fragrant, and really so perfect in their simplicity. The vanilla bean is macerated in the confectioners sugar that they roll in after baking.   They are rich, but delicate and crumbly.  The batter…

Categories: recipes, vegetarian

Tagged: baking, christmas cookies, new york times cookbook, recipes, vanilla bean, viennese crescents, walnuts

6 Comments

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Gumbo for all

Meredith

Posted on December 10, 2011

Our honeymoon in New Orleans earlier this year was too short.  I wish we could go back now for the Treme Creole Gumbo Festival going on right now.  The Treme is 200 years old this year.  When we were there, we had some perfect fried chicken at Dooky Chase’s, and then a tour of the Back Street Cultural Museum (along with about 50 kids in a summer camp).   I loved this musuem, as it was really a small house, full of hand-beaded Indian costumes used for Mardi Gras and other festivals where African American men dance and recite impromptu rhymes and compete with each other in tribes for who is most Indian.  It is a great example of the amazing confluence of cultural traditions and artistic…

Categories: recipes, travel, vegetarian

Tagged: creole spice, food, fried tofu, gumbo, new orleans, okra, recipe, roux

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feasted

Meredith

Posted on December 6, 2011

I have been wanting to post here for days– since Thankgiving– er, Evacuation Day dinner– was so successful.  Since then I have been constantly composing blog posts in my head while cooking, eating, grocery shopping, dog walking.  It is kind of overwhelming all this inspiration, and a little stiffling, ironicly.  Oh, and then there is my job… that takes up some of my mental capacity as well. I wont even try to explain how to make everything we feasted on for the holiday dinner– but I will say it was an amazing success.  Thanks to everyone who helped– even Tlacuache who got in trouble for nibbling on things before they were ready.  And those who did the dishes– you are my hero.  Also thanks to the special guests– those who came the long…

Categories: recipes

Tagged: betty crocker, chocolate, chocolate pudding pie, food, recipes, spinach salad, stuffing, thanksgiving, turkey

2 Comments

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