Last year, as part of the Foodbuzz Project Food Blog contest, I tackled one of my kitchen fears:  Bread making.  For one who considers herself reasonably capable in the kitchen, I had a big fear of yeast and kneading bread dough.  It took a challenge to encourage me to go one-on-one with a sourdough recipe.  The good news is that jumping right in made a molehill out of the (yeast) mountain I feared so much. ...

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Sometimes I feel like a baking poseur, I come here and share my latest baking experiment and end each post with instructions.  As if I would know better than you how to prepare these confections that catch my eye.  Truthfully, each attempt is shadowed by mild anxiety, especially when a recipe calls for kneading dough.
Fortunately, each trial has rewarded me with either success or at the very least, lessons on how next to proceed.  I’m ...

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It’s been raining in my neck of the woods all day today, Mother Nature’s declaration that summer is behind us.  It’s inevitable that on days like this, my mind wanders back to past visits to Ireland which claims part of my heritage, where some of our closest friends reside and where I feel at home away from home.
In Ireland I’ve met the sunniest people I’ve ever known, despite the fact that each back door I’ve ...

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First and foremost…my heartfelt thanks for helping me advance to the next stage of Foodbuzz’s Project Food Blog contest–yippee!  Now the challenges get harder!  For this round, the objective is to create an “ethnic classic that is outside your comfort zone or are not as familiar with“.
While I had a vague notion to select an African dish for this challenge initially, another idea fell into my lap and it turned out not to be a great ...

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When it comes to baking my own bread, taking baby steps has been my top rule.  I’ve always been intimidated by the idea of kneading dough, the fears of over- or under-kneading pervading my thoughts and squelching any optimism I might entertain.  Quick breads were a happy compromise as they kept me from coming face-to-face with the bane of my bread-baking fears:  yeast.
Then out comes the New York Times recipe for No-Knead bread and the ...

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