Martha Stewart's Cupcakes

This is really a fun book. While the recipes that are included are pretty basic, there are a ton of great decorating tips and descriptions that could transform even the plainest cupcakes into something special. Even if you don't follow the directions exactly, there are a lot of ideas that can be adapted in different ways to make the perfect cupcake.

Well-Preserved: Recipes and Techniques for Putting Up Small Batches of Seasonal Foods

I have never canned but have accumulated quite a number of books about canning. Maybe this will be the year? This particular book is interesting because it is a combination of canning directions/recipes and recipes that use the items after they were canned. Now I just need to get some equipment and the nerve to can.

Book Review, Let Me Eat Cake

If you are my friend on GoodReads, you will recognize this review, I am posting it here in case you missed it!

Let Me Eat Cake: A Celebration of Flour, Sugar, Butter, Eggs, Vanilla, Baking Powder, and a Pinch of Salt by Leslie F. Miller


I wanted to like this book more than I actually did. The concept was certainly compelling (a book celebrating cakes rather than simply being about making them) and it was edited by Betsy Lerner.



I think what put me off was how the author kept switching back and forth between personal memories (occasionally not cake related, she writes at length about her mother and grandmother's cooking), cake history, contests, cake shop visits and other cake related topics with little in the way of transitions. This gave a sort of scattered feel to the book. While these events were divided into different sections and chapters, she referred back to events that occurred in earlier chapters/sections fairly frequently so even though the topic changed, the chapters (she cutely calls them layers) really couldn't stand alone as individual essays. She also skipped around a bit chronologically, thoughts on her visit to Charm City Cakes are divided into at least 3 different chapters, which was odd and seemed out of order.



Some chapters (especially the more historically-focused) despite the obvious research that went into them seemed sort of thrown in at the last minute; they were very short and without much of the commentary the rest of the book was thick with. It was almost as if the book was both too large in scope-it is a celebration of cake, rather than a straight up memoir- and too small-she rarely ventures beyond the confines of the Baltimore area. Even the Today show competition she writes about is made up solely of local bakers. While Baltimore is home to several bakeries, it isn't as if Baltimore is some sort of cake capital in the country. When she does discuss cakes from other regions, one is not left with the impression that she actually traveled to these areas or tried most of those cakes.



Despite it being a book about eating cakes rather than making them, she does do a fair amount of cake baking in the book. I didn't get the impression she knew too much about baking before starting her book research and makes a few mistakes (repeatedly referring to vegetable shortening as lard springs to mind) which is fine, she doesn't claim to be an experienced baker, but these chapters take the book into more memoir territory which I felt was at odds with chapters about Marie Antoinette and the history of the cakewalk which were written with little personal interjection. The whole book sort of vacillated between being a personal story about a woman's relationship with cake and book that was more about cake in general and I ended up wishing that she had picked one form or the other. One's life can inform a more straightforward book about a topic and indeed that's what makes more readable nonfiction books stand out but she veered a little too close to the personal on too many occasions for a book that wasn't supposed to be a memoir for my taste.



I would have rather had a straight up memoir about her and her rather obsessive love of cake like Hilary Liftin's Candy and Me or more of a cohesive cake journey similar to Steve Almond's Candy Freak. All in all it wasn't bad exactly, I was just left feeling like something was missing.

Food Music

I complied over 70 of my favorite songs about food here. Do you have any to add?

My New Favorite Cookbook: Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects

Jam It, Pickle It, Cure It: And Other Cooking Projects is the type of book I wish I had written. It is sort of a cross between a DIY book and a traditional cookbook; full of recipes for homemade versions of pickles, marshmallows, jam and cured things like salmon that most people just buy at the store. The instructions are all very clear and the pictures are lovely.

Slow Cookers

I have a 4 qt Rival that I love but I was wondering if anyone has any experiences with larger or smaller slow cookers. Any recommendations?

My Spice Collection

I was cleaning out the cabinet the other day and thought I'd snap a picture of what (most of) my spice collection looks like. What does yours look like?

Food Fantasy Short-Sweet Dreams

"Sweet Dreams" from Kirsten Lepore on Vimeo.

Book Suggestion

I've been toting this book around as my "purse" book-something easy to pick up and read when unexpectedly trapped somewhere with nothing to do- but I've been tempted to take it out and read it ahead of the dozens of library books I have out right now. It is a really interesting mix of essays about food and eating by some of my favorite authors. Totally worth picking up.

Combining My Two Favorite Things

Obama Garden

I was happy to see that there is going to be a garden in the White House lawn. I've also heard that seed sales are up 200%. Are you planning a garden this year? Did you last year? I've always grown vegetables from plants, not seeds, but I have since I was a child. Last year we concentrated on about 10 tomato varieties but I missed growing zucchini and eggplants so I might go back to more of a variety.

Prince's Hot Chicken

Eating on the Cheap

I have gotten a lot of emails lately asking me for my tips on saving money on groceries. Generally I am pretty frugal food shopper and rarely have any food waste. I also only grocery shop once a week, some times less.

1. I read all of the local store ads and decide where to shop at by which store has the best deals on meat, seafood and staples.

2. I buy large quantities of meat when they are on sale and freeze them in meal sized portions.

3. I pay attention to cycles in sales, baking stuff goes on sale in December, yogurt about once a month, roasting chickens in the winter etc and stock up the best I can.

4. I plan meals around what is on sale rather than rushing out and buying (full price) ingredients for a specific dish.

5. I only buy and eat in season vegetables and fruit. It is tastier and cheaper.

6. I make a trip to Wegmans every 6-8 weeks to stock up on cheap staples like canned beans (about 50 cents a can), 28 oz cans of tomatoes (about $1) and Cabot cheese in large blocks.

7. When I open a new jar or container of something I add it to a running list so I know to keep an eye for it so I can pick it up when it goes on sale. This helps eliminate having to run out and pay full price for something I am totally out of at the last minute.

8. I keep a mental list of prices and deals. $6 for two jars of mayo sounds like a good deal unless you know that a store frequently has it on sale for 2 for $4.

9. I go to ethnic supermarkets for good deals on spices, sauces, produce and staples like noodles, panko, flours etc. I also try to stock up so I don't have to buy soy sauce at the regular supermarket for twice as much.

10. The farmers market is a great place for deals on produce, dairy and eggs. I always take one trip around before buying anything to make sure I am getting the lowest price. There is nothing worse than spending $6 on squash then seeing it 15 feet away for $2.

Vitamix

I know I have mentioned this before but I love my Vitamix. I am not a smoothie person (I am not a beverage person in general) but this blender makes me want to start drinking them. The peanut sauce I made was so smooth and frothy I honestly was at a loss for words. So, you helped me via comments and email re: the mandolin and now I want to know: what are you making in your blender? I want to use my beatific Vitamix more.