On days like today, Google makes me cry for both confusingly uplifting reasons as well as the terrifying visions of the future its actions conjure in my head. But while this best-indie-movie plot line and/or Kafka tale develops, Google’s search engine reliably solves my problems. The latest: What the hell is mixed peel? I went hunting with the goal of making this Alice in Wonderland-related Looking Glass cake. However, mixed peel not being an ingredient stocked at my local grocery, before the baking could begin it seemed I would need to DIY a key ingredient. The internet to the rescue, I was in business with a pile of citrus and a Googled recipe. This is one of those super easy… Continue reading »
Mad Hatter Tea Party: Not Too Dry Tea Biscuits
You may have noticed something of an overarching theme in this site’s construction, but while Alice in Wonderland comes up here and there, I have yet to post any recipes for roasting Jabberwocky or to offer any advice on adding pepper to soups. That being said, when I came across this now out-of-print cookbook riffing on the classic tale, it seemed like a match I surely could not ignore. It was easier to ignore it once I caught the triple-digit price tag on existing copies, however. Still, even while I waited for a version more within my budget, there were a few treats from the book posted online, so I decided to see where that rabbit hole would lead. Whether… Continue reading »
Pumpkin Carving in Wonderland: The Cheshire Cat
“Oh, you can’t help that,” said the cat. “We’re all mad here.” To be clear, this bit of on-brand pumpkin carving is not a design of my own invention, but I liked how it came out so much I wanted to share the results. If you, too, are a fan of Lewis Carroll and would like a mischievous kitten of your own to keep you company during this spooky season, the pattern is here. For those who lack the patience to actually cut out and trace the design onto the squash of their choosing (stares at shoes), it’s also very friendly to freehand sketchers. Now, when I was a kid my dad would make me an ingenious pumpkin carving tool… Continue reading »
On Goat Mountain: Maryland State Fair 2013
As a child, Labor Day was synonymous in my mind with the day before I was launched into another school year. Usually, wandering through the animal barns and staring wide-eyed at the midway attractions of the county fair provided a welcome distraction. (I still haven’t been able to get that mermaid in a jar out of my mind.) Now the date carries less stress-induced fanfare, but the nearby Maryland State Fair scratches my itchy nostalgic bent. The only thing missing is the cafeteria with its rows of sliced lemon meringue pie and fresh-cut tomatoes stuffed with cottage cheese. These whippersnappers with their deep-fried Twinkies. Why, in my day… Anyway, with the sun beating down hot enough to melt us all… Continue reading »
Food, Wonderful Food: Youngstown’s Brier Hill and Greek Festivals
I made a pilgrimage back to Ohio last weekend. Ostensibly it was to catch up with the folks and perhaps check out the Brier Hill Italian Festival. I’ve long loved local festivals of all sorts in any community, but I knew there would be bonus points if I stumbled on the making secrets of Youngstown’s famed contribution to the pizza dialectic. (I would share them with you here, of course.) When all was eaten and gone, however, I flew away with something quite unexpected, if not as neatly original (and admittedly quite solipsistic). At one point in the weekend, my dad mused aloud how different things might have been if I had never left suburban Ohio–if, well, New York, and… Continue reading »
Having My (Double Chocolate) Cake (and Nibbling at the Edges)
I mentioned that it might be a little quiet in Wonderland this summer, but even I wasn’t expecting the silence to be so drawn out. And the longer the gap, the harder the re-start. I have a small stack of draft posts, but I haven’t been quite sure how to put what was holding me back into words even for myself. Today, it was put into pictures with way more power that I ever could have generated. That’s not to imply that I have lost interest in researching or testing recipes, writing about or photographing meals (and eating remains a central priority in my daily life, one way or another). There is something so energizing about sharing food with friends… Continue reading »
