Not Your Mother's Cookbooks

I don’t know if you have a weakness like me for new kitchen equipment and tools, but if you love spending time kitchen cooking or baking up this and that from my books, you probably do.  Of course we all…

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After finding Cher’s dining room, I was off and running to look for a photo of John and Yoko’s Dakota apartment dining room which I once read a description of. It contained a real Egyptian sarcophagus. I failed to find…

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We always see these wonderful looking whole snapper at the Asian market and they look so inviting.  Here is the Chinese method for steaming a whole fish in the steamer baskets over a large rice cooker; it retains the texture…

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Recently I was invited to an open house and wanted to bring bread, but didn’t have time to make it from scratch.  So this was my opportunity to use Bridgeford Ready-Dough, easily found in the freezer department of all supermarkets. …

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Sometimes you want fresh bread, but don’t have time to make it from scratch. So this the opportunity to use commercially made Ready-Dough packaged by Bridgeford, easily found in the supermarket freezer department. Using the three 1-pound loaves that come in one package, you can make the best Italian flatbread focaccia.

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Unless you have children, you might not realize that modern children’s literature is a booming part of today’s world publishing market. While many of the titles fall unheralded to even the most avid reader, it has been close to impossible to escape the sheer delight, the astonishment, and novelty generated by the British Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

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Plain ol’ hunks of pure chocolate, one of children’s most requested pleasure foods, is given the medicinal power to nourish and revive bodies exposed to debilitating toxic vapors and high altitude broomstick falls. Served in the Hogwarts school hospital wing,…

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Ink is one of the oldest tools of magic. Whether needed to write a spell or symbol, magical ink can invoke or banish potentially dangerous beings. To make invisible ink appear, hold the paper over a candle flame to gently…

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You want some dessert, but are satisfied with a few cookies or a slice of cake, not more than that. And you don’t want it hanging around the house for days, worrying about eating too much, have to give away the rest, or have to freeze it. If you are half of a couple or live alone, small batch baking is not a new concept for you, but a practical way to bake.

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This is a fudge-like little chocolate cake, adapted from my old chocolate truffle cake I made during my restaurant days. It is for intense chocolate lovers and because of its unique texture, tastes best within an hour of baking, while…

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