The lapse in entries to this blog isn’t for lack of desire to start the new year with some new menus, preferably ones that leave off the butter and cream cheese of the previous month’s. It’s lack of food that’s left me short on inspiration. I’m closing in on three weeks without a visit to [...]
Elegant doesn’t have to mean expensive. You can still ring in the new year with a bit of panache if you’re smart about where to part with a few bucks and where to save your pennies. Lower-end sparkling wines put the fizz in your festive cocktails for just a few dollars, as explained in this [...]
Even though I’ve spent more time writing about holiday sweets than actually making them, I’m about to gag on the phrase “Christmas cookie.” What I really need, like so many of the rest of us, amid this harried season is a cup of cheer — preferably brimming with something alcoholic. The newspaper’s A la Carte [...]
Readers of this blog post either are relaxed and ready for Christmas while the rest of rush around and finish shopping, or are still browsing for last-minute, edible gift ideas. If your interest is the latter, I don’t have to tell you that time’s running out to get in the kitchen and emerge with some [...]
It’s almost as anxiously anticipated in Oregon’s winter as snowfall on the Cascades — Dungeness crabbing’s return to the coast. The commercial season officially opened Thursday after a few weeks’ delay to let the crabs pack on a few more pounds. That’s good news for everyone who celebrates their holidays with a crab feed. My family already got [...]
I blame those cute, little star, snowflake and tree shapes for tempting me to embark on cookie baking at possibly the most hectic time of the year. Surely this year will be different, I always think. I diligently assemble ingredients, equipment and packaging, follow recipes and set to work decorating with years of art classes [...]
For all the creativity possible with Christmas cookies, the classics just can’t be beat. My family can’t do without Mexican wedding cookies. Chef Constance Jesser always makes peanut-butter blossoms with Hershey’s Kisses while her compatriot in cookie-baking, chef Sandy Dowling, continues the tradition of her Slovenian grandmother. “If I don’t make them, it’s not Christmas,” [...]
It’s that time of year, again. Time to break out the baking sheets, round up the cookie-cutters and don the aprons. The newspaper’s food section started pushing holiday sweets last week with a story on edible gifts. But the season wouldn’t be complete without our annual Christmas cookie spread. As in previous years, we tapped [...]
I’m not one to rush the season, but Rebecca Hill assures me that the Mail Tribune food section is already behind the curve with this week’s story on edible holiday gifts. Every year, Hill plans for several months to produce elaborate, edible sculptures in time for an event marked a full month before the traditional [...]
It’s fitting that Thanksgiving and football go hand in hand in many households, considering the holiday is a home cook’s Super Bowl. By now, you should have your game plan for the meal. Next up is leftovers, covered for a story in this week’s A la Carte. See Holiday 101 for a story posted today [...]
