Lifelong Learning

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Lifelong learning is the concept that states it’s never too late or too early to learn. The term recognizes that our ability to grasp knowledge is not confined to childhood or the classroom, but takes place throughout life and can range from something as simple as downloading a program for the first time with no assistance to preparing a Turducken as directed in Paul Prudhommes cookbook The Prudhomme Family Cookbook.

It has been the last fifty years that has literally shaken our world and directed us toward a point of no return. The scientific and technological innovations are making life different; not necessarily better or worse, just different. Dare I say it is changing the way we live, think, breath, and adapt.

As an educator for most of my life, whether in the classroom or at home, I have learned that the one thing you can count on in life is not just death and taxes, that’s a given. You can also count of “change” and your eternal need to “learn.” There are millions of people right now who are learning how to adapt to this new economy, and there will be millions more. If you are reluctant you will fall by the wayside, it will be painful. This is not to say you will die or something horrible will happen to you, but those who are willing to adapt to the riggers of change are the one’s who will rise victorious or at least with a more positive attitude.

I teach an online micro business course and I have noticed that those individuals that learn the most are the one’s who cast failure to the wind and jump in with both feet. My father died three years ago, but about twenty years ago he said something quite profound and I did not realize it until now. He was an accountant and saw all of the economic turmoil coming even back then. He said, “There will come a time when you will have money, and can’t spend it.” What he meant was everything, everything, will be so expensive, so out of reach, we will have money in our pockets but we will not have enough money to purchase the things we need, and “wants” will be of no consequence. I am by no means a pessimist but it is coming to pass.

The one thing you can do and it won’t cost you a thing is learn, learn all you can. Go to the library, read; read about history, read about science, the Internet is a breeding ground for those who seek knowledge. There really is nothing new under the sun. Join social networks and learn about whatever interest you. If you can afford it, go back to school, college or take lifelong learning courses. Don’t just sit and settle. It sets a terrible example for our children. I know you’re tired, I’m tired too, but “life” like “learning” is for the living, so get up and get learning!

Knowledge really is power!!!

The Recipe Writer's Handbook

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

If you have lived for a while on this earth you will notice that there is very little new under the sun, with the exception of perhaps technology, which we're not talking about here. There are creative and interesting ways to use sugar, chocolate, spices and herbs in baking. There are fascinating ways to decorate cakes, cookies and all things sweet and edible. If you are a seasoned cook/baker you probably already know about this little jewel of a book, but if you are not this may be something you will want to look into. Originally written in 1997 by Barbara Gibbs Ostmann and Jane L.Baker The Recipe Writer's Handbook is something all bakers should have on their cookbook shelf. Why? Because one day you will be (perhaps not a "baby-boomer") but a generation "X" boomer or generation "Y" boomer and you will be passing on knowledge to the next generation of bakers. This sort of information is helpful.

This little book is designed to teach you to "think" your way through a recipe to make important decisions and trouble shoot problems concerning format, syntax, spelling, cooking terminology etc." Those who attended at professional culinary art program probably already know this, but trust and believe if you live long enough it will escape your memory.

You may not think you will, but one day you may want to put all your recipes to pen or in today's case "Word," and publish all those dynamic dishes that have made you famous or not so...famous. Publishers are always looking for ways to take a bigger piece of your pie, so this book can assist you in structuring your recipes in such a manner that publishers will think you had help...well you did it just didn't cost you an arm and a leg.

The more you know, the more you can deliver and you won't have to rely on the publisher finding culinary writers to "clean up" your recipes.

I have the old copy (original 1997) and plan of purchase the revised and expanded copy soon. The chapters in my copy are well written and the information is invaluable. Here's a hint of what's in the book (1997 version).

Chapter 1 The Philosophy of Recipe Writing
Chapter 2 Recipe Writing Style
Chapter 3 The Style Sheet
Chapter 4 Recipe Testing
Chapter 5 Cooking Terminology
Chapter 6 Preferred Spelling of Commonly Used Food Words
Chapter 7 Generic Terms for Brand Names and Trademarks
Chapter 8 Metrics
Chapter 9 Nutrition Analysis of Recipes
Chapter 10 Copyright, Plagiarism and the Ethics of Recipe Writing and more (15 Chapters in all).

The new revised book is on Amazon for under $10 (used) and I have emailed the authors to see if they might be revising it again (it's 2009). As I mention before if this is old news, no sweat, but for those baby bakers out there, just another resource for your baking arsenal.

Mom made a "FEAST!"

Monday, January 12, 2009

I am going to tell you a story so just roll with it. Once upon a time there was a little child who loved his mother very much. Mom and dad worked very hard to provide "little man" with everything he needed and most of the things he wanted. One day it was discovered that mom was going to have a baby; twins to be exact. This made "little man" very happy. When the babies arrived home, a very interesting thing happened. Mom decided to stay home with the babies until they got bigger. This made "little man" really, really happy. He had his Mom and sister and brother home when he arrived from school each day.

One day "little man" explained to his teacher that he was just so happy his Mom was home with the babies because she now prepares a "feast." The child went on to say, "Mom is COOKING US DINNER AT HOME, she made a chicken in-the-oven, and green bean casserole, rolls, and a pie and we are so happy."

So why was the child so happy? This little story is true and was provided by a teacher in a public school system in the south. It was reported that most of the children in the school eat out for dinner every night, rarely getting a home cooked meal. And we wonder why our children are obese, diabetes is on the rise and our little ones suffer from all sorts of allergies, headaches and insomnia?

I will continue to say it until I am blue in the face. GET BACK TO THE BASICS! GET BACK TO THE BASICS! GET BACK TO THE BASICS! Please parents, understand that it starts with you. Don't talk about how busy you are, or how you have to work late and don't have time. Learn, take a cooking class or two or three. Learn how to organize your food pantry and LEARN TO COOK! I teach private classes and I had maybe two inquires last year. Today people want to be entertained, but you better wake up and get educated about food preparation. Look, just think about!

We have already lost two generations, how many more must we lose.

Attention Home-Based Bakers – Is Your Online Business Revenue Struggling

Friday, January 9, 2009

What purpose does a website serve today if it’s not generating revenue? I teach a home-based bakery course and work with home-based bakers who sell their baked goods either for a living or part-time to generate extra income for the household. As our economy dips further into a recession everyone is searching for ways to make extra money. It would be wrong to say all these little earn extra money schemes are effective, most aren’t and few people will tell you that.

When economic times are tough expendable income becomes more precious than gold, silver, and diamonds (combined) and trying to pry it from the super glue drenched hands of the everyday consumer is near impossible. I have friends and acquaintances who constantly want to send emails asking me to purchase this or that from their site and I want so badly to say, I am not spending the extra income I have on sweet smelling stuff, candles or other items that end up cluttering my home. If I am going to spend extra money on anything it is usually going to the theater, movie, out to dinner or planning a dinner party with family and friends.

There are simply too many online businesses chasing too little online revenue. The whole Web 2.0 social networking genre has created a multitude of online businesses whose main focus is to build followers and databases of contacts without a clear definition of how they will generate revenue.

For the home-based baker one way to create a sustainable income is to create forums whereby all consumers who purchase from you; receive your product over time. A sort of get your money up front ventures. For example, one home-based baker devised a plan to ship out miniature pound cakes (6 ounces) to retiring teachers across the nation who belongs to a specific organization. The organization has a database of retiring teachers and each time someone retires they receive a gift card congratulating them on their retirement and pound cake. The gift is personal. less expensive than flowers, rarely thrown away because it’s delicious.

I still believe people involved in the food business are some of the most creative folks on the planet. The one item people will always be interested in spending their expendable income on is FOOD!

Saturday, January 3, 2009

Can you prepare a simple dish of Peppered Steak? As I look at all the ingredients involved in making this seemingly simply "skillet" dish, I began to realize the endless amount of knowledge about both ingredients and technique needed to make it a reality. Then I got to thinkin about the basic make up of this dish and...

Slow food. I know there are those of a different generation who want to think that this concept is something new, but it’s not. According to slowfoodusa.org, slow food embodies “the pleasure of food with a commitment to community and the environment.”

I'll stop now and tell the truth, I was not thinking about that as I prepared to make my Peppered Steak.

What I was pondering however was that in many parts of the world, our nation, even my community, the idea of "Slow Food" has never changed, it’s just that we now acknowledge that if we are to exist and produce food, healthy food on a global level we must change the way we think about food, the community and the environment.

Okay, I haven’t really said anything profound or anything you haven’t heard; but what most people don’t realize is that it is not so much about the food, it’s about the people, people!

I am going to make a statement and it has nothing to do with anyone outside the United States. I'm talking about Americans in the U.S.

“People don’t cook.” There I said it. What American’s are learning to do is “dabble” or work at cooking in an “amateurish manner.” Good old down-home cooks have gone the way of the Dinosaur.

Why do we watch cooking programs? So we can dabble in the kitchen. Do we really want to know the cold hard facts about cookin and what it's really all about? No. We want to dabble and throw a steak on the grill like Bobby Flay or garnish a plate with seasoning salt like Emeril, and shout BAM!

Folks don’t want to really cook, that’s like work, and that’s hard. Cooking involves thought, analysis, decision making and possible failure. Why would we want to get involved in all that since we have deal with "life" on a daily basis? It’s easier to just pull out a George Foreman grill and lay marinated salmon fillets on it for the allotted time. Right? Right?

Then I started to think about all that is involved in cooking. The physical energy needed along with the complex layers of knowledge to make really good food; not to mention the tiny tidbits of information that's usually shared at the hip of a mother or grandmother, (not in any cookbook) no wonder folks don’t cook.

What really brought it home for me was when I watched my daughter’s boy friend who loves to bake carrot cake, fill the carrot cake batter to the rim of the cake pan; never realizing that it would run over and cause a horrible mess in the oven. It did.

It was at that point that I knew we must teach people to cook. No, not watch Food TV Network, but really cook. We need a little old down-home grandma in every household, staffed by Mama Lula, Mama Mazolla, and even men like my grandfather affectionately known as “Poppie.” The unsung heroes and sheroes who appreciated the knowledge needed to prepare a good meal; who wanted (from the heart) to prepare a good meal. We now have two generations that don’t have a clue, no really, they don’t have a clue and for me that is scary. I can just see myself in a senior center having cardboard like substances shoved down my throat, being pawned off as the redeemable by-product of the new “Slow Food” initiative of 2025.

Food TV Network stop creating celebrity chefs and let’s get folks back in the kitchen learning about the craft, the act, dare I say the art of cooking.

I personally don't want a 30 minute meal, I want the real deal, even if it takes more than 30 minutes!

Career Options 2009

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Are you threatened by a potential job-loss? Recently I had an opportunity to speak with a woman who loss her job. She had been in the retail business most of her adult life and benefited from the base salary and the commissions received from sales. There was never any doubt that this would be her lot in life, until unemployment made her think, perhaps life would deliver an alternative.

I met this woman just after the demise of her job. She was still fairly hopeful and upbeat and wanted to look at another career field, but really did not know how to do about it. We met through a mutual friend and ran into each other at the Farmer’s Market. She asked if I had time for a cup of coffee and so we drove to a local coffee shop in Cary for a chat.

As we talked about her future and mine, she started to talk about all those dreams from yesterday. She wanted to be a nurse, then a designer, then she finally settled on cake decorating, something she thought she would be great at since taking a Wilton Cake Decorating class. We talked more about developing this cake decorating “business” so to speak, and she decided she would give it a try.

Last week I received a call from my cake decorating friend who started with customized Christmas cookies and miniature cakes. She sent me a photo of one of her cakes and it was beautiful. She is officially on her way to a promising future while collecting unemployment and looking for another job in retail.

I share this story because it may help someone struggling with finding their way in a most unpredictable economy. The woman I spoke of looked to her gifts, something we often take for granted. It might be carpentry, jewelry making, can you sew, paint, is pottery your thing? In this world of Internet searches, Wii and online gaming, it may be time to get back to the basics a turned to our natural God given gifts for answers to our economic and emotional well being. Share your gifts, it might just provided a way for you to earn some much needed extra income?

Home for the Holidays

Thursday, December 25, 2008

This Christmas I spent the holiday week with my daughter’s boyfriend’s family. It was a large boisterous group full of love and laughter. This was sort of the pre-Christmas party slash family reunion at the end of the year, you know a “let’s give it a last hey yall experience.” There was a lot of finger food, special dish contributions, wing dings, mini smoked sausages, seven layer salad and Chris' famous Carrot Cake, seen here to your left.

It has been many years since I participated in this sort of family holiday get together and I forget how wonderful they really are. I am sitting here writing this Blog and thinking about the upcoming New Year and what it will bring in the way of opportunity and future family gatherings. It continues to amaze me how family and food go hand in hand during these special times of the year and what an important part food really does play in the physical and emotional well being of people.

Next year one of my resolutions, besides to lose weight, is to feed the masses, to join a church or become part of a soup kitchen that feeds the hungry and helps those less fortunate than myself. I have always been so busy trying to make a living that I often forget to take the time to create a life and pursue a way to use my gifts.

As I look back over an absolutely divine life filled with God’s grace, the next 50 years will be filled with serving others less fortunate than me. No traveling to the Greek Isles or sunning on white sandy beaches, just serving human kind, making a real difference. This year I am wishing everyone a wonderful New Year and prosperity in every conceivable form.

Jae's Oven Fresh Cinnamon Buns

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Well, my daughter, who is 28 years young finally learned to make cinnamon buns. She loves them and has wanted to do this for many years. What stopped her? Fear of failure. I kept telling her that old adage "if at first you don't succeed" well that didn't work, but for some reason on Monday, she got up the nerve and did it and this is the result.

No, it wasn't easy and they were not perfect. I know they might look good but this was her first try. They were to bake for 25 minutes and they really could have stood 18-20 minutes. They were a bit dry, but that's what learning is all about. I recently spoke to a man who was attempting to recreate his mom's potato rolls and did not know where to get fresh yeast. (fresh yeast is another blog) We talked for several minutes before also finding out that the recipe a family member had may not be the mom's original recipe. He was quite desperate since he wanted to serve these luscious rolls for Christmas dinner. I provided a couple of well respected sites where he might find a good recipe and told him to try the recipe three times. The first time to see if it works, the second time to get the bugs out...if it did work, and the third time would be a charm. He said he did not even want to trust messing up the first time.

This leads me to this question. Why is it so hard to get people to attempt new culinary endeavors? Why do people insist on having recipes work on the first try? What ever happen to "if at first you don't succeed try, try again." I know, I know, food is expensive, but you have to learn some way, right? What are your thoughts?

I teach cooking classes for a living and recently took my show online. I'm gonna teach personal one on one cooking techniques online. (you know schedule a time online and walk folks through the recipe) I'm hoping it will be a blast. With all this technology, I'm looking to reach those lurkers, fearful foodies, cooks and bakers who hide in the booth in the back in the corner in the dark...just dying to jump out and shake their culinary booty! I know you're out there and I'm coming to teach you...you little novice cook, you little budding baker...I see you.

Let me know your thoughts!

Cheap Meat

Thursday, December 4, 2008

One thing I have done to cut corners is ask the butcher at my local market to provide me with "Shanks and Bones with the meat on." For example I located a veal shank and lamb shank with very little meat, but enough meat to make a savory experiment. I asked the butcher how often he had these cuts and he said often but no one really purchases them because it's not enough to feed a family of four. My response was "I'll take it", I'm a family of one and sometimes two (empty nester) and this would be perfect for us. I now have the butcher's phone number and call him on Monday and Thursday to see what he has for the week. Okay, so you want to know how much I paid for the shanks? $3.01 for the veal and $1.03 for the lamb. No way...yes way! This was for the package of meat. Now, we don't eat a lot of meat (anyway) so I stretched it using lots and lots of vegetables. (mushrooms, onion, garlic, sweet and hot peppers etc)

I still have the veal in the freezer and I prepared the lamb into a wonderful lamb curry with couscous, of course served with marinated cucumber and red onion. There were no left overs, but now days I consider that a blessing, I know I'm not wasting food.

Go with the inexpensive cuts and cuts attached to a bone...you really can work wonders.

Share how you save on meat purchases at the supermarket?

The Novice Baker

Friday, November 28, 2008

Recently a dear friend, who is not a baker attempted to bake on of the pies in my cookbook, Little Black Book of Pies. Again, I would like to emphasize she is not a seasoned baker or cook; but what many might call a true novice in the kitchen. She read the recipe and wanted to make the buttermilk coconut pie on page 77. We discussed and reviewed the recipe and I attempted to walk her through the process step-by-step, preparing this most delicious pie. During this process I discovered that novice bakers know far less that I anticipated.

My dear friend did not know there are measuring cups for both solid and liquid ingredients. Why? Because when using a glass cup, the edges have a tendency to curve and allow you to pour more solid ingredient than you may need. It is far easier to measure solid ingredients with a metal or plastic measuring cup. Will this effect the taste of the products? Yes, if you are not measuring accurately and you pour in more sugar, for example than needed the baked good may taste too sweet. Remember, baking is a science and although you can get away with a lot, it is often not as forgiving as cooking.

My friend also did not know that when melting butter in the microwave you need to place it in a container at least twice the size of the product you’re melting, since butter like milk and other ingredients are likely to bubble and spill over the sides.

After the pie was finished I received a call from this new budding baker and she described the pie as “tasty” but a bit too sweet. Why? Well after participating in a “BSI” (bake scene investigation) I discovered that she measured both dry and liquid ingredients in a glass measuring cup.

In my new cookbook, Little Black Book for the Novice Cook, I discuss the difficulty of baking and how the whole process can be most stressful. The pie was also baked in two “deep dish” pie shells; even though the recipe called for two “regular pie shells”; A standard pie pan is 9 inches in diameter and 1-1/4 inches deep while a 9 inch deep dish pie shell is 1-1/2 to 2 inches deep; another issue involve this new baker not thinking the eggs she purchased looked “large”enough so she used six large eggs instead of the five large eggs called for in the recipe.

I point this out because just changing one or two items in a recipe can alter the texture, flavor and final product. Have you ever changed a recipe and made the product “better” or “worse” for doing it? I once decided to use margarine instead of butter in a cream sauce for a baked fish dish and it was absolutely terrible, greasy and completely uneatable. Are there times when we should just leave well enough alone and stop tinkering with a recipe? What are your thoughts?

How much are you willing to pay?

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Well, it is official, we are in a recession. Oh no, don’t call me a pessimist, I heard it on CNN. No really...you know everything you hear on CNN is try? :-) Well, let's just say I'm a realist and have lived long enough to know that if you do not take responsibility for your actions, you are doomed to pay a costly price. Lesson learned…all good things come to an end. Now with that said let me Blog on.

Cooks and bakers, this is where the rubber meets the road and for many of us we are being forced to answer the question how much are we willing to pay? As I stroll down the grocery store isles and look at the price of food creeping higher and higher I have to wonder how much folks are willing to pay for the convenience of fast food; you know the stuff we make, quick, fast and in a hurry. You know those foods in the refrigerator and freezer section of the grocery that can be popped in the microwave to provide instant gratification.

I have been telling the students in my cooking and baking classes for years that they must learn to cook and bake, well; instant food is expensive and a dinosaur that will one day become extinct. Why you ask? Because it addresses the needs of millions, who have no time, no time, no time? In fact, for the first time in the lifetime of many Americans “time” will no longer be an issue, money will. The painful, honest truth is that when you cannot afford to buy convenience you buy the basics; rice that must be cooked, beans that must be cooked, meat that must be cooked and vegetables that must be steamed.

For those who are married to convenience foods, what would it take for you to begin to look at preparing food the good old fashioned way? Before I go on I should probably ask for your definition of convenience food. Some folks will say its fast food (restaurants only); others will say it is anything that makes life easy, like canned biscuits, frozen breakfasts boxes in the freezer selections and cold cuts. The dilemma is this, it takes a lot more effort and money to make thousands of frozen breakfast boxes than for you to scramble an egg, fry a couple slices of bacon and toast a slice of bread. Okay, I hear ya! It all takes too much time, but think about it this way, you probably won’t have a job in the next six to eight months so why not learn to eat real food? No, seriously, on the real, this whole economic disaster is going to cause millions of people to reexamine how they live, what they eat, where they work and what their future will look like.

It’s not all about “you”, it about how we all fit into the world and learn to survive with what the world has to offer. Now, with that said…how much are you willing to pay? Still not willing to give up those microwave sausages?

Liquid Food

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

All of my life I have known about the wonders of liquid food. It is cheap, relatively easy to prepare, filling and almost always taste better the next day. Most folks will tell you that liquid food is alright, but just does not satisfy that urge to chew; I beg to differ however. Oh yeah, what is liquid food, you know, yeah you do…soup!

I can remember my mother making homemade soup as a child and it was always absolutely delicious. I like to think I make the best split pea soup on the planet and the best gumbo in the universe, but you’ll have to ask superman when he comes next year (2009) to save the world.

Have you every just wanted something to eat but just couldn’t put your finger on what you really wanted? I do it more often than not now that I am a baby boomer. I don’t like the taste of restaurant food, too salty; and I don’t care for the heaviness of Chinese, Indian or Italian. There are times when I just want something savory and smooth. Soup almost always satisfies my taste buds. My favorites are Buttermilk Bay Clam Chowder, Thick and Hearty Fish Soup, Silky Cream of Corn Soup, and Mama’s Smoked Turkey Split Pea with Diced Carrots. I have about 10 others that I won’t bore you with, but I can say, when times are tough and money is short, knowing how to pull together delicious savory soups is truly worth its weight in gold.

Do you have a favorite soup from you childhood?

I know the most inexpensive soup my mom ever prepared was split pea and my grandmother made a heavenly navy bean soup that was great with a side salad and hearty whole wheat loaf. Look this is the kind of food that feeds the body and soul and will last all day. In lean times, liquid food can and will see you and your family through the day, particularly if it’s hearty. Remember any soup can be enhanced with vegetables and bits of meat. For example if you don’t want to use ham in your split pea, purchase inexpensive packages of smoked turkey wings or legs. Remove the skin, cut off as much meat as possible and boil until tender. This liquid makes a wonderful stock and the meat will satisfy those carnivores who must at least see something that once lived in their soup!

All recipes are not the same

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Recently, I started organizing my cookbooks and setting them up like a library. I love cookbooks and I, like many foodies and cooking fanatics can read them like a novel. I had a little time on my hands before Thanksgiving this year and decided to look at the cookbooks I have from a number of different countries. I won’t go through all of them but I share some info about three. There is a Japanese cookbook( my ex purchased for me while we were living in Japan), an Ethiopian Cookbook(I purchased from the Blue Nile Restaurant in Ferndale, Michigan) and a Jamaican cookbook given to me by my niece.

There’s one thing that I noticed each of these cookbooks have in common. Each cookbook assumes that the cook has a rather intense background in cooking; speaking specifically to the seasoned cook. None of these books are for a novice. These are not your ordinary Betty Crocker Cookbooks and you must already know who to braise, chop fine and handle Scotch Bonnet peppers.

I think the lack of experience in the kitchen is one reason why people do not cook more creatively and stick to making the same foods day after day. I am forcing myself to use my creative juices these days because I find myself becoming bored with food. I never thought I would say that and I’m sure no one reading this Blog shares my view? Right?

What can be done to keep food from becoming a bore? Should we turn to a new cultural experience? Should we put some pep in our step and add curry and hot sweet paprika? I’d like to know what folks are doing to spice up their culinary love life.

The stinky antibiotic aka "The Stickin Rose"

Friday, September 12, 2008

I have been a huge fan of the “stickin rose” for more than thirty years. I would eat it in everything if it did not have such an abusive aroma and pungent taste causing an offensive breath that could and have waken the dead. I have learned from experience that the more you chop or crush garlic the more potent it is; and when left in its raw form the flavor is quite subtle. If you are looking for a more gentle flavor try the elephant ear garlic, those jumbo cloves that often remind me of shallots in a strange kind of way.

What would garlic bread be without garlic or roasted garlic leg of lamb? My most famous memory was a wonderful garlic soup I had when my ex and I was in Orlando, Florida. It was a light cream soup garnished with little garlic croûtons. The flavor was delicate, but definitely garlicky. I am not into making garlic ice cream or using it in truffles but I do think it is one of those wonderful jewels that would be missed if left out of a dish. Do you have a favor garlicky dish? What is it? How much garlic can you stand at one sitting? Let me hear from you!

Salad Dressing

Friday, September 5, 2008

I have been looking for a tasty, healthy salad dressing recipe for years. I don’t want that traditional lemon juice and olive oil dressing and I don’t want anything white, like the ranch and bleu cheese dressings. I am looking for something different. This search has taken me back to the early cookbooks where the photos were all black and white or none existent. I do not eat salads every day, but I may eat them every other day and I want something delicious, but different drizzled over the top. I don’t know if I am the only person who is tired of all those traditional salad dressings, but there are times when I don’t want to eat salad because I can’t find a dressing that is simple, healthy and tasty.

No, I don’t want a bottled brand dressing so please don’t email me with your favorite brand. I just want something different, simple. I created an avocado salad dress, avocado, orange juice, lemon juice, salt and white pepper. I am going to have to make it again so I can decipher the correct amount of each ingredient, but it turned out to be a heavenly dressing. Has anyone every happened upon a dressing recipe and discovered it was a real hit?

Cookbooks with No Photos

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

I just returned from a visit to a used bookstore and sat on this hard floor for more than an hour looking through cookbooks dated pre-1950s. I was specifically looking for books that do not have photographs. I know we have moved into a time when we now eat with our eyes and not our mind, okay so some of you don’t know what I mean, but believe it or not there was a time when I could just write about the food and it would get you drooling. Does anybody out there remember those times? Oh, okay.

Well after teaching cooking classes off and on for more than twenty years, I now know that folks in the U.S. have come to a point where they no longer have an imagination. Where did it go? I think when these colorful, frilly cookbooks and cooking magazines came into being; we started to eat with our eyes. I guest you could say we did what you folks are doing today with video games and television. Instead of going out to play, using your imagination, popsicles sticks and good old fashioned dirt, they twiddle their thumbs, text and play.

What would happen if we went the way of yesterday and removed many photos from our texts? Could you live in a world without food photographs in newspapers, magazines and books? What words could describe this Sweet Potato Pie?

Food TV Network

Thursday, August 28, 2008

It's Sunday morning and I am sitting in the big comfy chair at my daughter’s listening to her chop vegetables as I write this Blog. I am watching the marathon of cooking shows that come on every Sunday morning instead of attending my favorite place of worship. Today I needed to write, and relieve my mind of the stresses that filled my head with a fog of disdain.

Food TV Network has been on for 15 years and the transitions have been truly amazing. It started with just a few celebrity chefs and grew to include a colossal number of cooks who could entertain. If you pay attention to the new cooks on Food Television Network you will see that they do not have the cooking experience, knowledge and finesse of people who actually cook everyday. Chefs cook for a living, but real, down-home cooks cook for their family everyday; it’s not about money, pride or prestige, it’s about love and life.

A down home cook, a cook dedicated to cooking from the heart fills each dish, each pot or pie with their own secret touch. Cooking for a good old fashioned cook is about preparing the tastiest most flavorful food for the folks around the table. If I can just offer Food TV Network a word of wisdom after over thirty years in the kitchen; educate your new celebrity cooks first, and don’t toss them out in front of the wolves, saying god knows what. For example, one young cook said "you can use parchment and wax paper interchangeably;" not true. If a cook were to follow that piece of advice they might burn their kitchen down.

Today, there are very few programs on Food TV Network or any other network that I enjoy. I still check out the new stuff, just to see if there is anyone really doing down home authentic cooking; and there are a few. Ina Garten, Nigella, Oliver, and Tyler. I thought the new guy Aaron McCargo, Jr. of Big Daddy's House would offer something a bit different, until he attempted to make a sweet potato pie. The pie was lumpy and just not what I expected. Oh, let me stop, I sound so critical, and I don't mean to be. I guess I just would like to see simple food and regular folks, not necessarily trying to make to laugh, just showing me the ropes and some new techniques. Onward and upward, until that date comes I will continue to watch the "foodie" shows and skip through the channels to view the new folks. And maybe at some point Food TV Network will come up with some new ideas like those created by SFA (Southern Foodways Alliance.)

Lemon Curd - A Matter of Taste

Monday, August 25, 2008

Last weekend I was invited to afternoon tea at the Washington Duke Inn on Duke University's campus. This was the weekend students were returning to school for more academics and college time fun. Let there be no mistake college is not all about the books!

If you have never been to the Duke University Campus, you are in for a huge surprise. It is nestled in Durham, North Carolina and the Gothic architecture is amazing. Every since I moved to North Carolina I have been taken back by the abundance of trees and the picture perfect landscaping that is characteristic throughout the state. As we enter the gate leading to the Washington Duke Inn there is little doubt that this would be a memorable occasion.

Much to my surprise there were only two tables occupied with Tea time guest. The dining room was stately, the wait staff attentive and gracious and the intimate setting perfect for an afternoon with friends or a romantic soirée with Price Charming. Please note, do not come here if you need a full course meal, this is tea. The staff served finger sandwiches, the traditional, cucumber, tuna, chicken, pimiento and that southern favorite of all finger foods, deviled eggs. There were small cakes, truffles and miniature fruit tarts. The "Pièce de résistance" was the scones. They were absolutely perfect; not dry, moist in the center, crisp all around, just divine. There were two flavors, walnut and cranberry. The scones were served with three spreads; crème fraîche, lemon curd and strawberry preserves. Hence the title of this Blog "Lemon Curd - A Matter of Taste."

I am old school; I can remember the lemon chess pie, the lemon meringue pie, lemon tarts, lemon bars, lemon sugar cookies and lemon curd. Perhaps lemons are not popular today because they are a bit expensive or because we just stop preparing foods that use lemon as the star of the show.

The lemon curd served at the Washington Duke Inn was superb. Smooth, tart and refreshing. I started to feel sad because no one would ever experience this wonderful moment unless they came here for tea. No one would partake of this heavenly lemon curd unless they were nibbling on these magnificent scones. Then I began to realize that lemons are a dying breed and perhaps this is the way of the world. In the next few years perhaps lemons will make a comeback and become the reigning queen of the flavor palate. Nope, I don't think so either.

The next time you are wondering through Durham, North Carolina and it's around 1 p.m. or so, mosey on over to the Washington Duke Inn for tea and try the lemon curd with your scones, you know the old sayin' "try it you'll like it," I promise.

p.s. the Organic Blackberry tea was fantastic too!

Say It's Not So Mrs. Fields...

Monday, August 18, 2008

The Queen of Cookies, Mrs. Fields has filed Chapter 11. Recently I watched a news report that said the Mrs. Fields Cookie Company was filing bankruptcy because people were no longer shopping in malls, filling that occasional sugar rush with a Mrs. Fields' chocolate chip cookie. I was sad to hear about Mrs. Fields', the same way I was sad to hear about the Miami Bake Shoppe at Northland Mall, in Southfield, Michigan closing some forty plus years ago. They had the best sugar cookies on earth, or so I thought. I know I certainly don’t shop the malls like I use to, not only because of tough economic times, but also because the malls do not have the variety they had of yesteryear. Maybe it’s me but the clothes hanging on the racks are wrinkled, and the styles are just shabby; and I don’t mean shabby chic either. I now shop on the Internet or by mail order since there really is more variety and the cost is most affordable.

It does not surprise me that Mrs. Fields went under with rising cost for flour, sugar and the like. I can only predict that other small food franchises will follow suit. People are starting to take notice of their waste lines and although fast food chains may not be feeling the pinch, there is no doubt in my mind they are feeling a bit of a sting. When you begin to get coupons from Starbucks to come back later in the day and get a Frapp or Latte for two bucks, you know something's up. I don’t know about you but I have steadily watched food prices creep higher and higher and observed folks in the grocery purchasing more hamburger, pasta and prepared foods from the deli. What does this mean? When folks cook for themselves they cook “cheap” and when they ask someone else to cook for them, their willing to pay more for what they conceive to be better-tastier, dare I say healthier food.

Recently my daughter’s best friend visited and informed me that the people in her city, Atlanta just don’t cook. Everyone eats out or purchases prepared foods. I then saw a news story on a company in Atlanta no less, called Fresh and Fit. The company prepares homemade food for busy people who do not have time to cook. This is a wonderful idea, but the cost starts at $18.00 per person and I don’t know about you, but I rarely spend $18.00 per person for a homemade meal.

So what are we to do about our need for healthy, affordable food?

Well, I don’t have any life shattering ideas or suggestions. What I know to do is the same thing our forefathers did, get back in the kitchen and cook.

No, it’s not rock science, it basic cooking 101. I remember all those women who cooked for a living. You know the one’s that you saw catching the bus in urban areas over fifty years ago. Today they're gallantly called personal chefs, but years past they were good old fashioned cooks. Nonetheless, times have changed and few can afford to have a personal cook/chef come to their home and prepare meals.

I suppose we could start a community cooking club and feed everyone in the cul-da-sac for a modest contribution, or start home-based bakeries that provide families in communities with fresh, healthy, affordable baked goods, or perhaps we could just go back to diner days, when little homespun restaurants served tasty, not so healthy foods fashioning the culture living in the neighborhood.

Look, all I know is something has to give. At some point people are going to realize that it is not someone else who must figure out how to feed their family reasonably priced food. I am a little old fashioned cook in North Carolina trying to provide people with options. I have been on this earth over a half century and there is nothing better than getting back to the basics and starting from scratch. If you know of something better please email me and I will gleefully try your recommendation. Until then I will keep writing my little cookbooks for those good old fashioned cooks, who want pure and simple down home food. Look, for some of us a salad is still lettuce, tomato, a bit of grated carrot, thinly sliced red onion, croutons and salad dressing, e.g.vinegar and oil. Simple, right?

Thank you Chef Paul Prudhomme

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

I have been cooking and baking now for more than twenty five years (dare I say thirty) and although I can say that my mom, grandmothers, grandfathers, friends of my moms and others have been most influential in my culinary journey; there is a man who really helped me see the light when it came to putting dynamic flavor in food. I know this Blog will probably never be read by Chef Prudhomme it is good enough for me to put it out in the universe for God to see. I was first introduced to Chef through his first book titled Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Louisiana Kitchen. I prepared at least seventy-five percent of all the recipes in his books and all were not only reliable but absolutely delicious. I have followed his career being there through the passing of his beloved Kay and as he weaned and leaned his culinary talents. Through it all the favor of the food did not suffer and I respected that enormously.

I know there are people who see his name and think “oh yeah, that Cajun Chef,” but Chef Paul is so much more. He really brought about the need and appreciation for flavor to American food. It is not about cayenne pepper, it is not about spicy food; great Louisiana cooking is about the blending of flavors, the slow cooking and braising that makes food not just good but great.

There was one particular meal I would prepare for my father who lived at 1300 Lafayette in Detroit years ago. We would shop for all the ingredients and then I would go back with my little daughter in tow and prepare dinner for him. The meal was straight from Chef Paul’s cookbook. It was the Seafood Stuffed Whole Fish, with carrots, zucchini and yellow squash. I always served hot butter rolls and a light dessert lemon mousse or his favorite Maple Butter Cake, a simple butter cake with a seven minute maple syrup frosting. He never wanted anything different, the same menu each time I would visit. I have to say the seafood stuffing was spectacular and with the Shrimp Butter Cream Sauce. Yes, the food was rich, but it was not consumed often, usually once a month.

Chef Paul, I would say as I cooked, you are truly a culinary genius. I do not know of many Chefs today who put that much thought into their recipes. It is clear that the man knew exactly how he wanted the food to taste and strived to give the best flavor and texture possible. Today I use his natural syrups to sweeten foods and I enjoy all of his lean recipes. I too no longer cook like I use to, but don’t think I can’t when called upon to do so. I hope to make Chef Paul’s Turducken® this Thanksgiving and serve it to a whole new generation of people who don’t have a clue. I have made it several times in my lifetime and his recipe reins supreme. Last year I saw a Turducken® in a box and my daughter and I both had to laugh out loud and shuddered to think what was inside the box.

Let me end by saying thank you Chef Paul Prudhomme for changing the way I cook, the way I eat and the way I create recipes. It is not about just about the food, but the flavor, texture and technique. You are America’s real Iron Chef.

* Many years ago I met Chef Prudhomme in the parking lot of the Riverwalk while visiting New Orleans, he had just had lunch at Mulate’s. I asked him if he had any advice for a budding chef and he said “yes, try to figure out a way to keep your money.” In other words, irregardless of how much you make it really does disappear like snow in a furnace. Interesting!