Welcome to flamingobear. We're the Martin family. Jenn cooks a lot. Tim eats it. And the trees are awesome.
When I picked up my youngest from preschool the other day, she was clearly troubled. You see, for lunch she had brought some homemade cheese bread and proudly showed it to her friends. However, X (our own He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named) insisted that it wasn’t cheese bread. It couldn’t be cheese bread. His 5-year-old logic: it was white. Cheese is yellow. Therefore, it was not cheese bread.
“The smell of good bread baking, like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight…”
-M.F.K. Fisher in The Art of Eating
But what about the sound of good bread making? Yes, the sound, at least when it comes to these yeasted cranberry-pecan pumpkin loaves.
The boing, boing, boing of fresh cranberries bouncing, just like Tigger. While trying to stuff as many of these crimson beauties into the dough as possible, some inevitably ended up on my kitchen floor. Oops!
Steve Sullivan. I hear the name and immediately think of the baker and founder of Acme Bread in Berkeley, California. Tim’s mind, on the other hand, jumps to the left wing and alternate captain of the Nashville Predators. Likewise, to me, Pecorino is a cheese. To Tim, it’s a mispronunciation of Pekka Rinne, the Pred’s goalie.
Much like Krispy Kreme and its famous “Hot Now!“ donuts sign, I think Southern cooks could benefit from a “Hot Now!” biscuits sign. Call this neon biscuit beacon an updated version of hollerin’ or triangle-ringing – the modern day equivalent of the traditional dinner bell. Or breakfast bell. Or supper bell. Or all three as scratch buttermilk biscuits are welcome at each, sometimes even in the same day!
My husband’s fantasy football season is over. My home team Titans didn’t make it into the postseason. My father-in-law’s beloved Packers exited in week 1 of the playoffs. Three reasons why my attention for football can now be fully directed where it really belongs – to food for the Super Bowl!
Sorry for the posting lull. I was, sadly, beginning to think I’d left my cooking karma back in 2009. First I suffered through the “mocha meringue massacre“. Then, I made granola, and it bit the turned to dust. (Why, oh why, does my granola not clump!?) So, I was a bit wary of having a third strike.
So, really, Shakespeare, what IS in a name? When it comes to the baby you’re carrying in your belly, lots. Lots of pressure to make your child’s name unique but not too unique. Pressure to come up with a name with longevity – one that is suitable for an infant as well as an elderly adult.
No doubt about it, turkey is the star of the Thanksgiving feast. Following close on its heels (do turkeys have heels?) comes dressing. Farther down the hierachy of Thanksgiving essentials fall cranberries. However, this bread could change all that. Studded with cranberries and walnuts, scented with orange, and sporting a double-decker braid, this bread is centerpiece worthy.
Move over Thomas, there’s a new English muffin in town – the homemade version with lots of nooks and crannies! This recipe comes from Alton Brown, who Tim refers to as my “gateway drug” because he was the first person to get me hooked. On cooking, that is!
