food
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My Recipe For Madeleines
I received an e-mail a few days ago from someone who wanted to know if I had found a good recipe for Madeleines. They had just read the article I wrote back in 2003 entitled “When Recipes Go Wild“, where I had recounted my mishaps in making these beloved petite cakes and how they tasted like eggs. At the end of the article I said that I was going to continue until I found a good recipe and indeed, I did find one.
Looking through my kitchen drawer I did find the recipe, but what I didn’t find was the source of recipe. My culinary skills are not to the level where I can make my own recipes from scratch. I rely heavily on recipes and I then tweak them to my tastes, or skill, whatever the case may be. After much googling and searching in my usual haunts, I can’t seem to find the recipe that I use. Granted, I have tweaked it a bit, but by no means can I lay claim to it being My Recipe — it’s just the one I use.
So all caveats and disclaimers aside, here is the recipe that I use for when I make Madeleines. I hope you like it.
Is Starbucks The New McDonalds?
This morning I needed to run a couple of errands and since there are a few articles that I’m working on, I thought I’d take the MacBook, go to a coffee shop and write. As I drove the back roads to Publix to pick up some dog food for Gracie, my mind began to wander about where I’d go for a cup of joe. I thought about what was around where I live and my internal dialog went something like this.
Me: Let’s think about this for a second.
Myself: There’s a Starbucks at Nipper’s Corner.
Me: Yeah, but it’s kind of small and crowded.
Myself: Well, then there’s the Starbucks at Hickory Hollow.
Me: Yeah, but I’d prefer something new.
Myself: Umm… There’s a new Starbucks coming up at Nolensville and Concord.
Me: That would be fun, but only because it’s new and different (its not open yet).
Myself: You want different? We could go to the Starbucks in the Target at I-24.
Me: Again with the Starbucks. I’d prefer better coffee than that.
Myself: …
I: Too bad Perk Central couldn’t keep their customers and had to close.
Going Cold Turkey From “The Juice”
I’ve been hooked on “the juice” since I was a young boy. It’s what all the cool kids were doing, so it just seemed natural to follow suit. It started as an occasional thing, but by the end of high school, I was drinking regularly and within the first few years of college, it was starting to catch up to me. No longer was I able to slug back a six pack without seeing it’s effects on my system. College life had me hitting the books and spending untold hours in the practice room (I majored in Trumpet Performance), so I wasn’t as active as I once was and all that drinking starting packing on weight. That’s when I made the switch to Diet Coke. Yes, I’ve been talking about Diet Coke! What did you think I was talking about? 
I gave up Diet Coke a week ago Thursday and I went cold turkey. Why the sudden change? Well, Patty, a co-worker of Holly’s, said that aspartame can mess with your brain chemistry. When mixed with MSG, which is found in more food than you’d imagine, can really do some freaky stuff to your head. I knew that Diet Coke wasn’t a health drink, due to the aspartame sweeter, but hearing that it could monkey with my brain chemistry was the final push I needed to give it up.
Anyone Have A Recommendation For A French Press?
I’ve written in the past how much I enjoy coffee, most especially French Press coffee. Unfortunately, my french press broke, so I’ve been using my trusty old Krups AromaMaster
So this morning, I made my way to Starbucks and ordered up a French Press to go. It yielded enough coffee to fill a Venti (their large) and a tall (their small) cups and I’m enjoying every single sip. Then the thought ocurred to me that I should probably purchase a new press. So I headed over to Amazon.com to do a little “research” and I came across the Bodum Columbia 8-Cup Stainless-Steel Thermal Press Pot
It looks like great press, and all the reviews seem very positive, heck there’s even a video of the product, but I thought I’d ask those of you reading this blog to see what you think. So if you have any thoughts, or recommendations regarding french press pots, I’d love to hear it.
Homemade Biscuits – Round 1
When I got into cooking last year, my Mom gave me her Mother’s cookbook. It’s an old stitch bound notebook in which my Grandmother would write down her favorite recipes. There’s a wide assortment of dishes ranging from “Mincemeat Cookies” to “Cabbage Bundles”, but the majority of my Grandmother’s recipes revolve around baking. My Mother has told endless, dreamy tales of how my Grandmother was such a great baker. Unfortunately she didn’t pass on her knowledge, so all we have is this small notebook.
With Thanksgiving coming up my thoughts have been centered around cooking and one of the things that I’ve been wanting to try are Grandma’s biscuit recipe. So this weekend I thought I’d give it a shot. I have never made biscuits before and I’ve never seen them made either, so I didn’t have high hopes for the results of my labor. As long as the biscuits came out edible, I would be happy.