Favorite Thanksgiving Memeory

 This is the month that evokes food memories. it could be the gently spicy taste of pumpkin pie or the heavenly smell of roast turkey. We're all like Proust and his madeleines when it comes to Thanksgiving.

Here's the question of the week - what is your favorite food memory of the holiday?

Cotton Candy Dreams

Ever since I was very little - we're talking toddler here - I've loved cotton candy. I don't know why, Maybe the airiness  or the way it melts on a little tongue. It could be that I enjoyed it the first time at the Wildwood Crest, New Jersey Boardwalk after a fun day of splashing in the ocean waves. My love intensified when I received one when I was three (yes, three!)My parents sent away to Boston for it as a birthday gift which I can still remember.

Jokingly I had asked for one for Christmas after seeing it at this cool discount store Five Below.I got it.

It doesn't come with the sugars so I had to order them from Amazon. These were around $17.95

There were a lot of flavors to choose from, but I thought the raspberry - grape - cherry trio was the best choice and the most flavorful. It does comes with the cones. These are a little too big for the machine which comes with long skewers and a scoop . Which one is the best? I do like how the cones look but the sticks are easier to twirl the floss around. This is the machine after a simple assemblage.

It's just adding the sugar with the scoop that comes with it and putting it in the center disc.

This was the first try, using the grape flavor.

It looks kind of thin , I guess two scoops would give it a thicker , fluffier look. Still it's a fun snack and a surprise dessert for company. I plan on getting the watermelon and sour apple flavors next, possibly the bubble gum too.

Marcel Proust  had his madeleines. I have my cotton candy. It's just as fun as getting it at the shore or when I was three. There is nothing like it.

Black Friday Kitchen

If there's ever a time to restock your kitchen it's this weekend, starting with today , Black Friday. There's so many deep discounts that that it pays to replace the appliances and gadgets that you have. Get to your big box stores, malls or internet for some good deals that will benefit your holiday cooking and baking.

One of the biggest and most important items to buy for your kitchen is an air fryer. It really is a time saver and makes cooking dinner that much easier. Right now Target has their air fryer brands such as As Seen On TV (which is what mine is) on sale for half price - only $69.97 instead of the regular full price of $129,99. I can't  begin tell you how vital one is  to cooking. It's something that will get used four to five times a week. Target also has the mini fryer at $39.99 along with other version that can fry up to three and four quarts at prices under $60.00 Another big item on sale right now is the Instant-pot. This another must have for any kitchen and if you don't have one now is the time to buy. Again Target seems to be the go to store for them. Their pricing is amazing, with the store slicing off thirty dollars off of most prices.If you don't feel like leaving the house or waiting for Cyber Monday., then check out Amazon. They too are having a sale on some of the Instant Pots offered. The sales prices are not as good as Target's but you can still save anywhere from $20 to $80 and shipping is free if you have an Amazon Prime subscription.

One of the best stores to shop at for  kitchenware is Macy's . You can buy a variety of much needed gear at very good sales prices. Calphalon is now priced $200 below its' usual sales price. One lavish set has everything a home chef needs from a ten inch frying pan, a five quart Dutch oven with lid and two sauce pans. That kitchen classic, Pyrex is also discounted. Macy's has their mixing bowl set on sale for just $27.00 instead of the usual $47. This is a must buy because you can not only use the bowls for leftovers but for mixing cookie dough in this upcoming holiday baking season.Even Pyrex measuring cups are a few dollars off and again these are important in the kitchen all year long.Martha Stewart has long been a standard at one of the US's oldest department stores. Now all her baking utensils have discounts that novice and pro bakers would love. Her non stick doughnut pan is only $5.99, perfect for those who want to bake those yummy rings for holiday brunches. The madeleine pan is twenty dollars off  at only $11. This is a great gift for those enamored with French pastry. The spatulas and cake pans are also discounted. Cookie makers  should buy the OXO cookie press at only $29.99 The designs include Christmas themed ones with wreaths trees and snowflakes.

Take advantage of  this Black Friday weekend and Cyber Monday  to restock your kitchen. The deals are incredible and perfect for the home chef looking for bargains. Start shopping now.

Kitchen Wants And Needs

Every home chef wants the perfect kitchen. It has to be perfect for cooking and baking, outfitted with the best equipment and appliances. Yet is all of it worth it?Or will it just be a room full of unused junk? What makes a kitchen want and kitchen need?

Writing about food makes one want every gadget and appliance under the sun. That's what happened to me. I read and saw what professional and home chefs have and instantly craved their gadgets and gewgaws. I still have a madeleine pan from four or five years ago. I really wanted to make them but never got around to making them. The recipe is very labor intensive, involving melting butter and high speed beating. Now I recently bought two doughnut pans, one for plain baked ones and the other for fancier ones. Will I use them? Hopefully.  Should home bakers have all these fancy pans? Yes, if you're really into baking. The pans and the molds are not that expensive and if you have the room go for them. What home bakers really need is two cookie sheets, especially around the holidays and for bake sales.Also a roll or two of parchment paper will always be needed, especially if you make a lot of meringues or meringue based desserts such as pavlovas and Eton mess.Do you need icing and cookie guns? Again if you do a lot of baking. Cookie guns are great for making those buttery bakery style cookies and they can create a variety of pretty shapes. Sturdy , long lasting loaf and cake pans are a must. One loaf pan will suffice while two or three simple cake pans are all you need.

What about those gadgets that are more or less like appliances? All home chefs should have a crock pot. That's a given.It's wonderful in making homemade tomato sauce and slow cooked chili.It's also good for making homemade soups and chowders like minestrone and corn chowder. Many have embraced the all encompassing Insta-Pot which is like a crock pot on steroids. Using it a lot will pay off the price which can range anywhere from $59.00 to $99.00, depending on the make and the store selling it. They can cook everything from pasta to pot roast. Some can even be used for baking  - a boon for those who have participate in bake sales and cookie exchanges. Assess your needs before springing for one. If you feel you need something that can do a lot freeing you from the kitchen , then buy one. However if it's just one or two people or you need slow cooking once or twice a month then opt for the crock pot. Air fryers are another popular kitchen must have. I'm a big fan of them , using mine at least three or four times a week. Air frying is a lot easier than oven roasting and stove top frying. My favorite part is the beeping timer , letting you know  when the food is done. Another plus is that air fryers cook in half the time of a regular oven.Get one. You won't regret adding it to your arsenal of gadgets. Now there are smaller versions of these pods , and they 're selling for only $29.99 at Target.

It's up to you to decide what you want and need for your kitchen. As with any purchase think about if it's a need or a want. If you can use it buy it. Make that your rule for future kitchen buys.

A "Sweet" Taste of Cake

If you want a perfectly made cake look no further than Yotam  Ottolenghi. This famed British chef and baker can create the ideal one, rich with flavor and moist with texture. Now fans and home bakers can whip up exact copies, thanks to his and Helen Goh's new recipe book, Sweet  based solely on treats from the oven.

Chef Ottolenghi and fellow baker, Australian , Helen Goh, give the world their best recipes. Chef Ottolenghi wrote about  two of them in yesterday's New York Times Food section. He and Ms. Goh have been together as fellow bakers and partners since 2006. She started in the savory side of Ottolenghi's vast food empire and later graduated to the sweet side.It was at this point that he recognized that saw his own restlessness and insatiable drive for perfection. They made the perfect team.  They share a passion for precise measuring and timing along with weighing the right amounts to create the perfect sweet. She also brings her Australian and Malaysian heritage to the table as well. The site sells the famed Aussie cookie yo-yos, a crunchy sandwich cookie filled with  passion fruit buttercream while the pastry shop offers  billowy powder puff cakes and her famed chocolate one that an Australian newspaper once called the "world' best" Her Malaysian influence is seen in Chef Ottolenghi's bakery , especially in her chiffon cakes and pandain infused pineapple tarts. She has also brought her cupcakes, scones madeleines and cheesecakes too, that also features cakes from his childhood..

Chef Ottolenghi and Ms. Goh gave two of their recipes from the new book. One is that famous chocolate cake, the other is a pistachio and rose water semolina one.The chocolate one is deep in flavor and rich,It is also a buttery one, using a cup plus one and a half tablespoons of the unsalted kind.To offset the cocoa's intensity,  a teaspoon and a half of instant coffee granules.As for the chocolate itself, both dark chocolate pieces and a half cup of Dutch processed cocoa. The flavor is magnified by the addition of a choice of icings. -a rich  chocolate ganache or an espresso cinnamon marscapone topping. If this is too intense there is pistachio and rose water semolina cake, This relies on pistachio and cardamon for a mellow blend of taste along with almond meal. There is a lot of butter needed too, namely a cup of it plus one tablespoon. That and four large eggs create the golden crumb.It can be served plain with just rose water syrup drizzled on top but it can be made lusher with a rose cream made with both creme fraiche and Greek yogurt. More rose water and confectioners sugar sweeten it. The cake is decorated with candied rose petals,easy to make just pesticide free rose petals, egg whites and granulated sugar.

Chef Ottolenghi and Ms Goh have created the ultimate baking  cookbook. The recipes are richly satisfying. Get it and bake!

The Stove Or The Microwave

Nothing beats food roasted or baked in the oven. The aroma, The taste The texture. Nothing beats a microwave. The convenience. The ease. The thing is which one is better? It's an interesting debate.

Since I had my new stove installed, I have only used the microwave -which was only bought in October mind you - a handful of times. The toaster oven - once used almost every day - now sits  collecting dust. I';ve forgotten the last time I needed it. The stove, a sleek Frigidaire  unit, is like a new toy, I love the computerized oven and the fact that it dings loudly when preheating. I used to think it was a hassle to bake a meat pie in the oven.It took too much time. There was a chance of burning . However,q1 I was wrong about that. Baking a meat pie  does take anywhere from forty-five minute to an hour, but that gives me enough time to finish up the day's laundry and cleaning chores.Plus the aroma. Nothing beats that aroma, the rich smell of chicken, beef or turkey with gravy. Then there's that crust. Delicate and golden, the perfect foil for the lush inside. Another plus is baking again.Microwave cakes tend to be more like puddings. Anything oven baked has a fine crumb and holds its' shaped well. I am excited , especially since I received a madeleine pan for Christmas. The oven sparked an interest in not only cake baking but cake decorating. I've bought a cake icer which I can't wait to use and all natural food coloring.

I do like my microwave. It's a Haier., the company that manufactures all sorts of appliances from televisions to air conditioners to all sorts of kitchen appliances What is great about their microwaves is that the timing can be fine tuned right down to the second. I didn't have this with my previous one. It was hard to program in the half minutes. This one allows me to exactly time the dishes. Microwaves are also great in saving time, especially when there are gnawing hunger pains. I can have a whole dinner done in five minutes. Microwaves are also great in helping to quickly melt ingredients such as butter and chocolate for cake and cookie recipes.I know I'll need it when I make madeleines which require two sticks of melted butter. It'll also be good when I have to melt chocolate chips for fudge. What is problematic is that microwave dishes tend to go either under or over cooked.  . Sometimes the required cooking time is not enough.which results in meals with ice cold centers or it's too much cooking resulting in a black inedible mess. Also some dishes such as meat pies  along with some leftovers don't taste as good.There's a paleness to them as well as a mushiness. I think any leftover pasta and Chinese food tastes's better reheated in a microwave. along with baked apples and poached pears. The last two are quick and easy desserts that I like to make, especially when i want a hot dessert in a snap.

In the end which is better. The stove is good for most cooking. It's the one home chefs should rely o all the time. As for the microwave , use it when there's no time or ingredients have to be melted. They should be copacetic with each other, helping to create excellent meals , desserts and treats.


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The Illustrated Kitchen Bible Your Bible

Every home chef should have a cookbook that not only has recipes for every meal and holiday but also chapters about methods and techniques. It should be more than a book, but a bible of sorts that can be marked up and used for reference. Luckily there is a great , epic cookbook that fits that need.

The Illustrated Kitchen Bible:1,000 Family Recipes From Around The World  (DK Publishing) is the must have book that should be in every kitchen library. Author Victoria Blashford-Snell, a Cordon Bleu trained caterer and cooking instructor has compiled a cookbook to rival the classic Fannie Farmer.It is a huge soft cover book with over five hundred pages of all sorts of recipes and detailed ,illustrated how tos. This is the perfect bridal shower gift for any couple staring their own kitchen or for the newly graduated moving onto that first job and first apartment. Home chefs should also have this as well. What I love about it is the vast array of recipes from all over the world. It seems every country under the sun is represented and it's a great way of introducing variety to family and friends. Ms. Blashford-Snell tells readers how to plan and shop, the crucial ingredients in any meal.Another plus are the how tos at the back of the cookbook.There is everything from the simple how to hard boil an egg to the more elaborate butterflying a leg of lamb. Every method is carefully explained so even novices can successfully carve a chicken or shuck oysters, peel and poach fruit or prepare vegetables like an experienced professional chef. There are even pages  on how to grill, bake and make homemade jelly and jam.

The recipes are so amazing. The chapters run from Starters and Light Bites to Desserts and are well illustrated with drool worthy pictures.There are decadent dishes and healthy ones. The starters are perfect for any summer party from the chicken satays to the shrimp cocktail Mexican style. There are the elegant mushroom vol-au-vents for evening cocktails and zucchini sticks for that Sunday afternoon  pool party. The section on bread is one of my favorites. It's not just a recipe for a loaf of white bread, there are ones for English muffins,, rye, croissants (!) and the Italian breadsticks, grissini.It's followed by sandwiches including the classic BLT. Pizza and the Provencale version, the anchovy rich pissaladiere are also represented. Home chefs with families will appreciate the section on kitchen staple dishes such as.arroz con pollo and macaroni with three cheeses. There are endless chicken recipes , from fried to tandoori style as well as recipes on the red meats,from steak and ale pie to roast rib of beef.Seafood is represented in simple baked porgy to the more elaborate salmon in puff pastry. Desserts are a sweet tooth's dream along with being a salute to the EU. There is German Black Forest Gateau to the French madeleines to the Italian panforte..US desserts such as cupcakes with buttercream frosting and muffins grace the pages as do the British treacle tart and Irish Barm Bracks. Pie and cookie recipes round out the dessert chapter.

The Illustrated Kitchen Bible, 1,000 Family Recipes From Around The World is the must have book for every kitchen. It's like having a cooking school and endless recipe file all in one book. Get this book today.It's as important as the stove or the fridge .

Return Of The Classics

It's a super treat when childhood classics come back. There's nothing like having a Yodel or a Twinkie with a big glass of milk - no matter how old you are.  We re like Proust with his madeleines.Our first  foodie loves will always be our eternal ones.

With this Hostess is making a big comeback. We have Apollo Global Management and Metropolous and Company to thank for this. They bought Hostess after the company liquidated in 2012. Granted you can find Twinkie recipes as well as the squiggle cupcake  one up and down the Internet. Twinkies are nothing more than pound cake fingers injected with a butter cream type filling. The cupcake is your basic devils' food with a marshmallow middle. The problem is baking is time consuming  and who can eat a dozen Twinkies or squiggle cupcakes? (well, we all could but that would be lethal)

My childhood favorite, the Keebler Fudge Sandwiches are completely gone . I have looked for them, even for recipes but there are none.A Canadian company,Dares' makes something sort of similar .I have yet to try these but some fudge fans claim they're sort of alike in taste.Luckily other childhood must haves , such as Yodels and Ring Dings along with those plain but tasty Yankee Doodles. are making a return. No matter how old you are there's nothing like having these as a snack or a cure for a bad day.


Hostess and Drake fans rejoice. Your faves are coming back with a vengeance. Pick up a package and enjoy them with a big glass of milk.