Oranges and olives

Today I did something I’ve avoided doing for years: I shopped at the Pennsylvania Macaroni Company.  Yes, it’s a famous Pittsburgh-area foodie destination; yes, they have all kinds of delicious things like amazing cheese and orgeat syrup and amazing olive oil and real Italian imported everything. It is indeed hard to fathom that one might …

Impromptu

So, I’ve had this apartment for over a week and haven’t been in it for more than a few hours at a time. Why? Because while there was furniture and various amenities, there was no Internet. I need my Internet.

Condiment wars

We had some delicious scrapple yesterday, courtesy of my mom. The glory of the food was nearly overshadowed, though, by discussions of the toppings available to put on them. First, catsup vs. ketchup. As it happens, Both terms are acceptable in general, but for unknown reasons some people find the “catsup” spelling not just wrong …

ScrappleFest!

Oh, to be in Philadelphia this weekend! Specifically, to be in Reading Terminal on Saturday, for what will be a wondrous day of pork consumption: ScrappleFest! From the Philadelphia City Paper: Check out ScrappleFest this Sat., March 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free to the public, the event is a celebration of Philly’s …

The Deadliest Pecan Pie in the South

For Thanksgiving, I was a baking fool. I made bread (using the no-knead recipe I blogged a while back) plus a nice pecan pie. For pecan pie, I use a recipe from Comfort Food by Holly Garrison. Mom gave me this cookbook years ago; it’s my go-to cookbook for really rich desserts and classic American …

Eat, drink, share

Quick thoughts: 1. The photo above is of a loaf of no-knead bread I made over the weekend. The recipe (from the New York Times, "No-Knead Bread") was as easy as promised. I didn’t give the bread quite enough time to cool, because I was running late, but my family gave it very high marks …