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Laura

Snow Light

by Laura 12 November 2010

The snow light has come today to Minnesota, leaden and soft. And it smells like snow is coming, the first of the season. The sky is ashen, colorless; soon the long winter will be here. I’m suddenly aware that the birds have gone. I snapped a few pictures on the trails this morning with one [...]

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Teeny Tiny Spritz Flower Cookies

by Laura 11 November 2010

These are my Honey Girl’s favorite Christmas cookie and the first thing I bake each season. When my Dear Husband and I were first married, my sister-in-law Osa gave me a little Spritz press and inside the box was tucked a little printed recipe. It’s a magical one. The dough is supple and soft, it [...]

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Cookie Baking and Candy Making Plan for Christmas 2010

by Laura 7 November 2010

Every year around this time of year, I pull out my thick, green ring binder. It’s full of lists from Christmases past: menus and recipes, card lists, ideas, letters my children have written. I lug it along with a stack of cookbooks and magazines to a greasy spoon and have a long breakfast all by [...]

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Fall Supper: Pork Tenderloin with Autumn Sauce, Butternut Squash & Buttercream Potato Gratin, and Dark Magic Gingerbread with Butterscotch Sauce

by Laura 3 November 2010

Thumbnail image for Fall Supper: Pork Tenderloin with Autumn Sauce, Butternut Squash & Buttercream Potato Gratin, and Dark Magic Gingerbread with Butterscotch Sauce

I remember the first day I joined my book group. They had been meeting without additions to the group for about a decade, so I was a bit puzzled about why I had the good luck to be invited. They were smart and well read and covered a wide political and religious spectrum. But most [...]

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Pumpkin-shaped Iced Sugar Cookies for Halloween

by Laura 31 October 2010

Except for the years we lived in Tokyo and didn’t have an oven, my Honey Girl and I have made these cookies together every year for each of her 19 years. The icing has become neater, and the faces more symmetrical over the years. And I sometimes miss those wonky cookies with their messy icing [...]

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Dark Magic Gingerbread with Butterscotch Sauce

by Laura 28 October 2010

My friend Sonja says that every time she makes this gingerbread the whole room swoons. With that kind of recommendation, and a name so apropos for Halloween, and our Honey Girl flying home from college for a long weekend to celebrate with us to boot, I had to try it. It’s from A Measure of [...]

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Pumpkin Soup with Pancetta, Crème Fraiche, and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

by Laura 26 October 2010

It’s a blustery day here today. It’s raining, and it’s the first really cold rain of the fall. When I headed to the market, I was underdressed, damp and shivering, and clueless about what to cook for dinner. Then a display of pie pumpkins caught my attention as I entered, and I couldn’t help but [...]

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Spiced Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust, Madeira-soaked Currants, Pickled Figs, and Caramelized Walnuts

by Laura 21 October 2010

I know, another apple pie. And on the heels of an apple pie. But I had another peck of apples, and a visitor who loves apple pie, and, just in case you’ve also eaten your fill of rather plain jane apple pies this fall, I thought I would fancy up a pie with some interesting [...]

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All American Apple Pie

by Laura 19 October 2010

I struggled with apple pie for some years trying to find a way to avoid the typical apple pie pitfalls. The apples shrunk away from their top crust, the fillings were watery or were made gummy by various thickeners, and, even with apples suitable for pie baking, they were often disappointing in texture and flavor. [...]

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Pickled and Candied Brown Turkey Figs

by Laura 13 October 2010

This summer I was treated to a storybook week in Santa Fe: beautiful meals, four delicious operas, and charming company. It was my first time in the city, and I was overwhelmed by the quality of the light, the vastness of the sky, and the lavender mountains at sunset. It was an unexpectedly beautiful place, [...]

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