From the category archives:

Gluten-free

Lavender Blueberry Pear Pâté de Fruits

by Laura 12 December 2010
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I first had pâté de fruits in France when I was in college.  My Dear Husband and I, then dating, rented a car in Calais with no plan and no reservations except for Christmas and New Year’s Eve, and set off to wander for a month.  It was pure bliss.  Our little rented Renault puttered [...]

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Quince Paste

by Laura 11 December 2010
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I went to a fancy grocery store this week in search of liquid pectin and kumquats thinking, They have everything, right?  I struck out, but I certainly had fun.  This kind of shopping is my own personal kid-in-a-candy-store experience: every kind of European butter, clotted cream, an olive bar the size of a swimming pool, [...]

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Rosewater-scented Turkish Delight

by Laura 10 December 2010
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Proust’s madeleine, Charles Arrowby’s toast, Edmund’s enchanted Turkish Delight. Don’t you love a character with a penchant for a particular food?  I first made Turkish Delight for my Honey Girl and my Sweet Boy years ago when we were reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.  I was more interested in the candy than [...]

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Dark Chocolate Caramels with Smoked Sea Salt

by Laura 9 December 2010
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I’ve made caramel for many years now, but when I saw this recipe in the December, 2006 issue of Gourmet magazine I had a feeling it would become a staple in our Christmas candy repertoire.  It has.  I make it every year now, and it gets a lot of wows.  Salted candy has been trendy [...]

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Irish Oatmeal with Cream, Kerrygold Butter, Celtic Salt, Warm Celtic Crossing Liqueur-soaked Golden Raisins, and Toasted Walnuts

by Laura 7 December 2010
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We had house guests this weekend and I was trying to think of something to cook for them for breakfast Saturday morning.  Sandwiched between rich, heavy meals, I wanted something healthy-ish that would be delicious.  I settled on oatmeal, and laid out these accoutrements.  It was a comforting bowl on a wintry morning: creamy oats, [...]

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Vanilla Cheesecake with Fresh Lingonberries and Cardamom Whipped Cream

by Laura 6 December 2010
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Our Honey Girl’s Mr. Right’s parents (Are you still with me?) visited us this past weekend from Alabama.   It was Mr. Right’s dad’s birthday, and I had it on good authority that a cheesecake would be something that would make the birthday boy happy.  Since they were visiting from the South, I thought it would [...]

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Cream Caramels

by Laura 2 December 2010
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Sometimes my recipe notes are a little amusing.  I usually scribble as I’m cooking and over a number of years, my sheets of paper can become quite a mess.  Being stuffed into a bursting-at-the-seams ring binder doesn’t help.  After twelve years of making this caramel, there is a lot of scratch to sort out.  So, [...]

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Butternut Squash Soup with Arkansas Black Apples, Cream, & Fresh Marjoram, Thyme, and Sage

by Laura 25 November 2010
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Do you ever walk into the grocery store with a plan and suddenly you’re so seized, so mesmerized by an ingredient, either new or in its most glorious incarnation, that you can’t even remember what you thought you were going to cook?  That happened to me today when I saw Arkansas black apples for the [...]

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Chocolate Fudge with Walnuts

by Laura 24 November 2010
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I have it in my head that I like fudge.  I mean, shouldn’t I like fudge?  So when we are traveling and I see a fudge shop, we usually pop in and buy a little slab or two.  I’m inevitably disappointed.  All the fudge I’ve tasted is grainy, overly sweet, and has the texture of [...]

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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
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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 Soup with Pancetta, Crème Fraiche, and Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

by Laura 26 October 2010
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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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