Flour Arrangements

Pie By

Suzanne — Thu, 16 May 2013 05:49:50 +0000

Few things have stunned me more than my daughter throwing up in the backseat of the car while we raced along the highway. My mind, suddenly jolted from reminiscing about a fun weekend in the snow, tried to focus on comforting — from the distance of the front seat — my sad, sick child while [...]

Hot-Diggity

Suzanne — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:52:44 +0000

The day before birthday parties at my house, I’m usually scrambling to assemble an elaborate birthday cake. But for Eliza’s birthday celebration this year, I got off easy: I made cupcakes and baked mini corn dog muffins. I’m thinking I could get used to this. Despite my slacking, the festivities did, in fact, include an [...]

Raspberry Surprise

Suzanne — Thu, 02 May 2013 05:43:49 +0000

Ever since I made a miniature version of my mom’s Grasshopper Pie recipe, I’ve experimented with all kinds of petite tarts and desserts. Eliza asked me to make her favorite of my diminutive experiments — Raspberry Cream Tartlets – to take to school for her birthday. The day before her birthday, I used a mini [...]

Devil’s in the Details

Suzanne — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 06:01:37 +0000

The recipe for the first cake I remember baking, a Kahlua Chocolate Cake, comes from one of my mom’s closest friends. My mom asked for the recipe the very first time she tasted Stephanie’s rich, addictive cake. It’s one of those desserts that people fall in love as soon as the first bite hits their [...]

Flour Power

Suzanne — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 03:35:09 +0000

The other day, Eliza asked if I knew that whole wheat bread was healthier to eat than white bread. Before I could answer, she added, “Oh, and brown rice is much better for you than white rice. Did you know that, too?” I told her that I was so glad to know, and then I [...]

Out of the Frying Pan

Suzanne — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 05:27:45 +0000

Almost always, I can pinpoint with elaborate detail the source of a much-loved dish. Usually, I can tell you who made it and then shared the recipe with me. Or if it came from a magazine, I can name the magazine — sometimes to the issue — that dazzled me into trying a recipe the [...]

Toasted

Suzanne — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:08:24 +0000

This summer’s camping itinerary made it onto our calendars months ago. Following a tradition now in its fourth year, we’re looking forward to monthly trips to different islands in the San Juan archipelago with a group of families. Considering the varied commitments pulling us all in different directions, the consistency of this enterprise strikes me [...]

Piece of Cake

Suzanne — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 05:30:12 +0000

One of my favorite lines from Russell and Lillian Hoban’s book, A Baby Sister for Frances, comes at the very end of the story. Frances, a young badger, is in the kitchen with her mother, who is baking a cake. “Oh, yes,” her mother tells her, “you may be sure that there will always be [...]

Minted

Suzanne — Sat, 16 Mar 2013 17:19:25 +0000

We didn’t eat much junk food at my house growing up, but we did indulge in dessert most nights after dinner. Often, we finished our meal with a simple bowl of ice cream, but sometimes my my mom — a master of sweet, indulgent treats — served us something much more exciting. In late summer, [...]

For the Birds

Suzanne — Sun, 10 Mar 2013 20:21:51 +0000

My daughter Eliza eats like a bird. I mean this literally. Almost without exception, when I ask her what kind of bread to bake, she asks for bread with seeds — Seeded White Bread or White Bread with Sesame Seeds or Multigrain Pumpkin Seed Bread. And after I bake seeded bread for her, as the [...]