Vincenzo Displays Easter Breads in Preparation for Sunday
Pasticceria Rocco. 243 Bleecker Street. When Mary and I had our hot cross buns and cappuccino, this nice young man gave me a detailed tour of the pastries in all the glass cases. He knew I was from out of town. When we returned the next evening he was there and I asked if I might take his photo. He reached for the loaves (Egg Bread and Panettone) and was an enthusiastic subject. Friday, the devout are fasting and not considering eating the delicious breads until Sunday but you should have seen the Egg Cookies being wrapped up in white boxes and tied with string, flying out of the place! The Struffoli looked enticing, too.
Easter Egg Cookies, not the Egg Bread.
How to Revive a Slice of Cake
Place in a bowl and pour some cool fresh milk over it. Eat with a silver spoon. My father used to do this and I'd turn my nose up. Boy, was I wrong about this practice! Delicious
Carmela Baked All These Breads for St. Joseph Feast Day
Tuesday afternoon I met a friend for dinner. We used to teach in the same school but are in different schools across the city now. It was good to catch up. When we walked into the restaurant,La Tavola Italiana, I could not believe what I saw in front of me! A St. Joseph Feast spread from the day before. Later Carmela came out to speak with us about how we were enjoying our dinners and she was taking photos with her iPad to send to her family. She uses the iPad to keep the restaurant calendar for parties and other aspects of her business.
I asked if she made the St. Joseph Cavazunes filled with the chick peas and she said, “NO, they are Calabrese.” She is Sicilian and she makes Zeppoles.
I said that I’d photographed all the bread and would send her the photos but would she like to pose with all her handiwork and she did! I didn’t notice she put the iPad down onto the cloth in front until I saw it on the computer. She was gracious to allow me to photograph her. NEXT year we have to go to actual feast! It sounded like a terrific party.
And speaking of party? Click to hear Chicago John’s Italian Song Selection
Look What Jackie Baked for Mikey’s First Bday
My friend Amy ( mother of Mikey) brought in the leftover cupcakes her friend Jackie made for Mikey’s first birthday. Here they are on the counter at school for everyone to share
Carrot Cake, Paleo/Primal Style
You may remember I mentioned my being surrounded by friends and family eating different ways. Here is one, highlighted. My son and daughter-in-law have gone Paleo since January 1st. Meat and plants, no grain is the basic plan. A radical change. They are taking it pretty seriously and I don’t believe it’s a diet I could adhere to totally. But when I arrived Friday night the dinner was diced and sautéed rutabaga, shrimps on a skewer that were delicious,salad, and a cauliflower, broccoli, carrot medley (my name for it, not what it is really called) This cake was the dessert pictured below.
Mark never really baked anything I can ever remember. But he was proud of this carrot cake. After dinner he went out to the garage (where it is cool) and brought in in on a cakestand with a dome! I asked him how he made it since the diet doesn’t have any wheat flour or refined sugar. I mean, it looked like a carrot cake. He said he’d soaked 5 grated carrots in maple syrup and then drained the liquid off. He used coconut flour, an item I don’t have in my pantry. There were some dates in it. And if I heard him correctly, TEN eggs. The icing was whole fat cream cheese and grated ginger.
Whoa, no worries… I just searched found a link with the recipe for the Paleo/Primal Carrot Cake which sounds just like the ingredients he listed. I’m at Laura and James’ tonight so can’t check Mark and Erika’s cookbook and it is too late to call or text to ask.
Proud of the Paleo carrot cake he baked.
It was sweet but not too sweet. Incredibly moist. Satisfying. It reminded me of eating a baked good in Europe that was unfamiliar yet delicious. The ginger flavor was more pronounced on the second day which was okay by me but if you don’t like the pungent zing of fresh ginger you might want the vanilla in the frosting. I have no plans to go Paleo but enjoyed perusing their new cookbooks and finding Italian Pot Roast that sounded great for winter . I see they’re enjoying cooking and planning meals together, shopping for new ingredients. Real converts! Tonight for dinner there was spaghetti sauce on zucchini that had been cut on the mandolin and was used instead of pasta. They are feeling good and looking good and pleased with their change of eating habits.
In 1977 and my parents lived in Philadelphia and I lived there for a year with Mark when he was one, I remember there was a restaurant that specialized in a rich carrot cake if you want to compare recipes. What I remember about that carrot cake was how you didn’t want to eat a whole piece. It was too much.
My mom used to bake an occasional sourdough carrot cake in a Danish green enameled lasagna type pan and I found a recipe for that online.
I would feel comfortable serving the Paleo/Primal carrot cake to dinner guests. Thinking about carrot cakes. Diets. Nutrition. Ingredients. Eating together with family is the best, no matter what is on the plate!
First Jelly Roll I’ve Baked in Years and a Blooming Hellebore
Filled With Homemade Four Fruit Jam- Sour Cherries, Raspberries, Gooseberries and Currants
I brought the dessert.
Otherwise Known as a Lenten Rose
These bloom in the snow and are quite beautiful. Hellebore is a hell of a name, though. My friend is quite a gardener.
Matzoh Ball Soup and Homebaked Challah
Full Moon from my Driveway
Yes Sir, It’s National Pie Day!
GUEST BLOGGER Rob Bard, Pie Judge
(-and good friend! Our eldest sons went to school together when stationed at Ft. Knox, Kentucky in 1986 -87)
Here is what Rob says:
Watching Her Sisters Make Their Mother’s Nut Roll Via SKYPE
Yes, that is a bowl of melted butter used to brush on the dough
Marlene was in Virginia. Her sisters- Linda, Theresa and Georgeann were in Pittsburgh. I dropped by with the camera to document the occasion and made a slideshow of the beginning to end effort. I think there were fifteen long metal pans waiting for dough. They were rolling and filling and letting the dough rise to bake. Southwestern PA is known for perpetuating nut roll tradition. Not to be confused with nut horns or nut crescents.
The Pans Waiting for the Yeasty Dough
Vanilla Buttercream on a Six Layer Cake in Winter
You might remember the vanilla buttercream white cake on the front porch in late summer. The one I posted for Marlene’s birthday. (looks good in summer light- click here )
I made this cake by baking 1 cup of batter in 3- 8″ baking pans at a time. (350 degrees)
Did that twice to make six layers. Vanilla buttercream icing.
The insides of the cake will be revealed another time. I used the 1-2-3-4 cake recipe
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
2 cups sugar
3 cups of cake flour (with 2 tsp baking powder and 1 tsp salt)
4 eggs
1 cup of milk + 1/2 cup warm water
I used the Cake Bible method of mixing all dry ingredients with the butter and then adding the vanilla, egg and milk mixture to the dry mixture. Apologies to Rose Levy Beranbaum as she describes it so well in her cookbook but I gave Laura that volume and so it is in Columbus now. Laura and I did Face Time and she showed me the cookbook in her hands but when she read the recipes in the back for the wedding cake proportions and the breakdown for a smaller cake, I just decided to go with my grandmother’s and mother’s old 1-2-3-4 recipe. I couldn’t refer to the other recipes as I mixed and baked. I will have to borrow that cookbook back and commit it to memory, too.
20 Years Old + 3 Repairs- My Cookies Raw Inside!
Time for a new oven…..
And stove. (from Perla’s Appliance Plus Maytag Repairman statue post yesterday)
It was time! Past time. It actually went kaput the day before the cookie bake off in December. Fortunately Erika’s Uncle and Aunt own the appliance store and they came right over to deliver on a SUNDAY!
This model certainly livens up the old kitchen. And matches the range hood.
I felt a little sad about discarding the one my parents had bought when we moved into this house in ’91. But it wasn’t reliable anymore. Who knows how many meals I cooked for the kids on that one. A lot!
This one looks “high end” to me. But it’s not. (Well, from afar it does to the untrained eye)
The stainless finish is an update from the white enamel and black top. Those burners seem so flimsy compared to these cast iron ones.
My sister had just given me an oven thermometer after her visit here in the fall. She knew something was wrong. My signature cookies had to be pitched as the insides weren’t baked.
This is my justification for the splurge. I think it will inspire me to cook more!
Not sure why all the blue reflection but took this with the iPhone as I made breakfast. Seemed worthy of a post as it is what is happening in my life these days. Now to learn more about a convection oven.
- Made blueberry pancakes for breakfast on the detachable griddle/grill plate.
Molasses Cookies Mystery
Sunday, a beautiful box of homemade molasses cookies was left on my doorstep. My friend Steve brought them into the house. The sugar on the cracked tops is the fancy kind. I drove back from Ohio Monday night. Ate a couple with some hot tea. Mmmmmmmmm! Reminded me of the cookies my mother used to bake.
I have called three friends to ask if they are the one who dropped off these delicious cookies. My friend V said that another friend came to her mind when I told her I didn’t know who made them. I called.
Wasn’t her either!
Thank you for the delicious molasses cookies. Whoever you are.
(and then I got worried and had to look up grammar rules- whoever/whomever?? )
Most people knew I was away with the family. But maybe they thought I was driving back Sunday night?
Olga Melynchek Muraska’s Nut Horn Recipe Baked by her Daughter
My cell rang as I was in the check out at Giant Eagle. I was buying cheese and crackers and Clementines for the Photography Class reception that started in a little over an hour. Marianne said that she was baking her mother’s recipe for nut horns right then if I wanted to photograph them. She had made the dough the night before and refrigerated it.
I looked at the time. It was 4:44.
I was in the South Side but figured I could drive to the West End and then make it to the North Side for the last class/reception.
Make the dough the night before and refrigerate
Confectioner's sugar!
When I got there she had three pans of the cookies in different stages, just like a cooking show.
I started shooting to tell the story of the making of her mother’s recipe. I was amazed to find out that is confectioner’s sugar on the board where she rolls them out. Not flour!
The recipe says Nut Crescents but Olga always called them Nut Horns.
Marianne gave me a half dozen in a ziploc bag. Delicious. Remembering Christmases past.
Here is the recipe.
Remembering Olga link.
777th POST and Local Man Discovers New Use for Plastic Newspaper Sleeve-
Okay first things first. Cookie Table preparations are in full swing as you know. The pignoli/almond paste cookies are baked and are they ever tasty. There weren’t any real rejects so a fully formed cookie had to be eaten! And the Split Second cookies with Bonne Maman Apricot Preserves and Schwartau Raspberry Jam inside. I overbaked a batch of those last night so baked a do-over today! The baking is complete. Three friends brought up cookies tonight.Another friend made her grandmother’s fudge. Pittsburghers bake their hearts out at wedding time!
and now for something completely different…………….
Scroll down for the photos of Local Man Discovering a New Use for the Plastic Newspaper Sleeve
In addition to the usual canine clean up capture, my neighbor showed me a new use for the plastic sleeve that covers his newspaper. You know the slim bags, sometimes a color like green or pink or blue, that thing that keeps your morning paper dry! Well, how about protecting your tie?
His demonstration of an alternate use for the plastic sleeve made me laugh out loud. And if you want to learn all about how he and his dog were featured testing the Thundershirt and were interviewed by local TV channel(seriously, if you are a dog owner you might need one of these if your dog is afraid of thunderstorms) The little video clip is here.
And being a great neighbor and friend he picked up Matthew from the MEGABUS this afternoon when I was still at school. When I went to get Matthew, I interrupted a Ukelele impromptu lesson on the 12 fret blues or something close to that.
Anise Cookies
This recipe has been in a folder for ten years. I have now made it twice. I
Like anise but many do not care for it. The recipe has a name on it. I also baked Mrs Scarano’s strip cookies. Twice. Don’t like to double recipes. Taking the split second cookies out now raspberry Jam apricot preserves and Fig jam filled.
From the phone. I hope it works
What My Dad Gave Me in 1986
There was a time when we lived in Kentucky and the kids were young, I used this Kitchen-Aid stand mixer almost everyday. It still works perfectly. I wanted this mixer so badly when we returned after living in Germany for 3 years. I don’t remember any color choice except white or off-white/almond? A couple of years ago I asked for a new beater as the old one’s coating had started to peel. The dough hook, the whisk like beater beats egg whites to stand in peaks in short order. All so useful and good. Laura was just turning three when he got it and now she’ll be 27 in a couple of months. I used to ask each child what kind of cake they wanted for their birthday. That year Laura asked for a “Piggy Cake” although I am not sure why. Mark asked for a State of Kentucky cake and Matthew a GI-Joe cake. Good thing my friend J and I took a class in Cake Decorating in Grafenwoehr!
I was thinking about what to post for Father’s Day this year to remember my dad. This gift from him has mixed a lot of cake batter and bread dough in our house. Last year I posted a slideshow of my dad’s life in a minute. This year I’m posting a photo of his generous present that’s been well used and appreciated.
He’s been gone almost nine years. Missing him everyday, not just today. What special things remind you of your father?
So many possibilities.....
Jozie’s Mother- Genoeffa Sciulli- Baked a Biscotti Cake
The unexpected gift of cake! Her daughter Jozie brought it to me at Mama D’s retirement picnic down the hill in the park on Friday night. Mrs. Sciulli taught me how to make this cake in her basement kitchen a couple of years ago. It is like an Italian sponge cake, light and not too sweet, perfect with coffee. Just delicious. Today she baked one and sent it to me. So nice of her. I came home, cut a piece with a serrated knife and photographed it in the living room before I ate it. Mrs. Sciulli calls it biscotti but it is not like biscotti we think of biscotti, a twice baked cookie., hard and ready to dunk. This cake is light and eggy and has a beautiful crumb. Thank you Mrs. Sciulli. And Joz for bringing it to me. What a nice surprise! It is delicious.
Povitica
“hand-made, hand-rolled and patiently baked to perfection” Prepared in the Croatian manner by Strawberry Hill Povitica Company in Lenexa, Kansas. Since Matthew lives in Croatia I thought I would post this photo of the poppy seed bread and see if it looks like the bread in Zagreb. It’s expensive but delicious! They will mail order. 100% guaranteed. My son’s mother-in-law said it reminds of her mother’s poppy seed roll (she was Italian). I know several people who bake a poppy seed cake, too. Below is a Povitica recipe that has walnuts in the filling instead of poppy seeds.
The pattern of the swirled poppy seeds intrigued me, thinking about how they make it.
Recipe from Kansas City Star. The recipe is From: Mary Lou (Pozek) Elbertson of Crystal River FL
No mention of poppy seeds. Walnuts!
Povitica, Croatian holiday bread Recipe
To activate yeast:
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup warm water
- 2 cakes compressed or dry yeast
Dough:
- 2 cups lukewarm 2 percent milk
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 teaspoons salt
- 4 large eggs, use 1 whole plus 3 yolks
- 1/2 cup butter, melted (1 stick)
- 8 cups sifted all-purpose flour (approximately), divided
- Walnut filling:
- 2 pounds shelled and finely ground English walnuts
- 5 cups sugar
- 2 cups scalded milk
- 1 cup (2 sticks) plus 11/2 to 2 teaspoons melted butter or margarine, divided
- 2 eggs, beaten
To activate yeast: Stir 2 teaspoons sugar, 1 teaspoon flour and yeast into warm water and cover with plastic wrap; let stand for 5 minutes.
To make dough: Mix milk, 3/4 cup sugar and salt; add beaten eggs, yeast mixture, melted butter and 2 cups of flour. Blend thoroughly and slowly add remaining flour, mixing well until dough starts to clean the bowl.
Turn dough out on floured surface and knead until it is smooth and does not stick. Divide dough into 2 large pieces (they will weigh about 21/2 pounds each), or 4 small pieces (11/4 pounds each).
Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise 1 hour in a warm place. Dough will double in bulk.
To make walnut filling: Measure 2 pounds of finely ground English walnuts into bowl and add 5 cups of sugar; mix well. Heat milk and 1 cup butter or margarine to boiling; pour over nut mixture. Add eggs. Mix and let stand until ready to be spread on the dough.
If the mixture thickens, add small amounts of warm milk.
To roll each piece of dough: Spread white sheet or cloth so entire table is covered. Sprinkle with a couple tablespoons to a handful of flour (use sparingly). After dough is placed on surface, roll dough out with rolling pin to about 10 or 12 inches, spoon 1 to 11/2 teaspoons melted butter on top. Using tops of hands, stretch dough out from center until dough is thin and uniformly opaque.
Trim edges and save; spoon proportionate amount of nut mixture on the dough and spread evenly with rubber spatula until dough is covered.
Lift edge of cloth and roll like a jelly roll; trim ends and shape into a U. Place in loaf pan and brush with egg whites. Continue with remaining pan(s).
Cover pans lightly with plastic wrap and allow to rest for approximately 15 minutes.
Remove plastic and place in preheated 325-degree oven and bake 1 hour and 15 minutes. Check bread within 30 minutes and also at end of the hour to see that it is not getting too brown.
Laying sheet of foil on top of loaves will help prevent over-browning.
Remove from oven and cool on rack 20 to 30 minutes.
When cooled, put in food storage bag and wrap in aluminum foil if bread is to be frozen. Povitica bread can be frozen for several months.
Makes 2 loaves (one loaf yields 10 to 12 slices, including the end pieces).
Per slice, based on 10 slices: 641 calories, 23 gm fat, 92 mg cholesterol, 100 gm carbohydrates, 11 gm protein, 501 mg sodium, 2 gm dietary fiber.
Zest of an Orange
Used a kitchen plane to get the zest of an orange for an orange walnut torte.
The scent of the freshly grated rind is familiar and refreshing.
You don’t really need to see the photo when you read the title
In My Grandmother’s Hand
I might try to make something from her recipes tomorrow.
The Pineapple Upside Down Cake recipe. My father’s mother’s recipe box. Sitting on my kitchen shelf. Yellowed newspaper clippings between the file cards.. I was looking around for items to put on my Keep or Pitch blog and the antique radio from earlier this week reminded me how objects can tell a story. Or two. There are recipes for pickles and yeast rolls. Illinois cuisine. The edge of the file card is discolored as well. I am not going to pitch this in the downsizing effort. I sifted through the cards, read her notes, remembered how she made egg noodles and hung them to dry on the broom handle. Mary Alta Kerr Hendricks born Feb 7, 1892. She taught me how to knit. I sleep under one of her quilts now and am figuring out how to repair an afghan she knit. In her retirement, she worked in the flower shop in Lincoln, Illinois. Kept her lunch (a can of spinach and a hard boiled egg), inside the glass door refrigerator right next to the buckets of gladiolas and carnations for the bouquets.
What did your grandmother bake/cook that you remember?
I chose this recipe card
cause her handwriting
seemed clear and legible
through the camera lens.
Steelers’ Family Preparations- Pittsburgh and Beyond
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See Maura two years ago dressed for Super Bowl 43 and now at two years + @ the piano bench, Steelers hat by her side, ready for Super Bowl 45. Not my house- the mansion of Fifth Ave. with the huge gold and black banners on the porch at night.
And a friend at work, Ann and I, decided to knit obsessively and make four Steelers hats. Used a double strand of Cascade Superwash 220. I mailed mine to the grandchildren but forget trying to get a photo. We had fun trying. I think.
Sue B made the yellow pepper black olive topped salad for the AFC championship game and the cake was as Black and Gold as I could get it. No one would eat a licorice cake. A Brown Mountain cake (recipe) from Farm Journal with classic buttercream icing. No buttermilk in the house so I soured the milk with a T of vinegar and it tasted fine.
Smiley Cookies are from Eat ‘n Park and they were on the sign-in counter so weren’t consumed by me.
Mark has a Steelers flag to fly in the daylight and a blanket to keep warm and an Official Terrible Towel.
The last shot is the snowfall today. Hear there has been snow in Texas too. Thanks everyone near and far for the well wishes. And for putting up with the hoopla if you are a diehard Packers’ fan. (luv ya Rob)
A Longest Day
Sunday. Some things to cook.
We’ll wait for the game to begin.
Today a snowfall and weather reports.
I think I’ll knit one more hat!
The act of knitting reduces anxiety.
Hand Held Rotary Egg Beaters and Cupcake Display at DOZEN Bakeshop
My mother had a hand held egg beater.
Cupcakes are all the rage. These are $2.50 each. You can order Valentine Cupcakes now. Different flavors posted on a chalkboard. One was made with some East End Brewery Stout
Click blue link for information on DOZEN bakeshop in Oakland and Lawrenceville open Super Bowl Sunday 9-12 with special Black and Gold treats.
Rotary Egg Beaters
My mother had one
I think I did, too.
You can probably still buy one.
it wasn’t always a smooth operation.
The beaters got out of line.
And are cupcakes “hot” where you live?
Near my sister’s house the line is around the corner-
for cupcakes!
Joy in Winter
Spread the Christmas tablecloth and place the matching plate next to the mug of steaming hot tea. Take two Split-Second cookies out of a tin. The ones I baked for knitting. A bite of shortbread cookie with raspberry jam. Try the fig one. Nibble slowly, make them last. Sip the almost scalding tea. Savor the combination. Open the book you’re reading for book club. (Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner-1972 Pulitzer Prize- I’d never heard of it until Tess picked it). Listen to the furnace kick on. Wrap a shawl around you. Sip more tea. Read until you doze. Think of the cookies still in the tin. Repeat tomorrow.
It wouldn't feel the same if you did this in July.
My Friend Ellen Bakes
Usually cheesecakes but lots of other great stuff, too. And she made a tray of these chocolate cupcakes with tiny chocolate chips and cream cheese for the school meeting this afternoon. So moist and flavorful. Thanks Ellen. She said take some home and I did! Three for the little cupcake stands my friend Joanne gave me. One for Ray who came to fix the window and doors and one for Roberta who waited for him to come and for Steve who brought the lettuce home to go with the quesadillas. I had already eaten mine at school but wished I had been piggy and brought another one home. Thursday evening impromptu “dinner party” with dessert by Ellen. click to see Ellen’s fridge
Do you remember Ellen's refrigerator with the cream cheese and beer from July 18th posting?
Birthday Cake on the Front Porch
After I had baked the layers and let them cool, I knew I’d frost them before heading out to the Steelers game at Cj’s. Set a table on the front porch to photograph the effort while I waited for Steve to come home to go to the game. The occasion? Happy Birthday Roberta!
Vanilla cake with vanilla icing. 1-2-3-4 Recipe and Buttercream.
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