"The Kowalski's [grocery store] 30th Anniversary Cookbook" - Cranberry Blondies - Holiday party food

Date I made this recipe:  December 3, 2017 – Party food!

The Kowalski’s 30^th Anniversary Cookbook (Kowalski’s Markets is a local, family-owned grocery store chain) – A collection of Kowalski’s best recipes edited by Rachael Perron

Published by Kowalski’s Corporation

ISBN:  978-1-4675-7717-5; © 2013

Purchased at Kowalski’s

Recipe:  Cranberry Blondies – p. 301 (These bars come close to Starbuck’s famous Cranberry Bliss bars which is to say, yum!)

I must admit that I’ve been rather late to the Kowalski’s “party,” possibly because I didn’t believe they could compete with another local, family-owned grocery store, Byerly’s, but I was wrong.  Very wrong.  (PS, a few years ago, Byerly’s merged with yet another family-owned store, Lunds, to become Lunds & Byerlys.)

Whereas most of the Lunds and Byerly’s stores are behemoth, Kowalski’s is practically a bodega. Shelf space in most stores is limited, but no matter because what they lack in shelf space, they make up for in carefully curated products lines, many of which are local.  In fact, one of my business clients’ products is sold in Kowalski’s (Safesha—a moisturizing hand sanitizer made with natural ingredients.  It comes in Sweet Orange, Lavender, and Unscented.  I love this product.  For the record, L&B carries it also.)

Items I shop for frequently at my local Kowalski’s are deli salads, the salad bar, fruit, veggies, yogurt (They carry my favorite brand) and meat.  Although Whole Foods still ranks as my #1 in the meat department, Kowalski’s is no slouch.  I’ve found the meat department staff to be incredibly knowledgeable and helpful, and a couple of month’s ago, they did me a solid when the package of chicken I purchased was questionable.  In fact, let me just give a shout out to Kowalski’s in general because while I think Whole Foods edges them out in the meat department, they are #1 for takeoff in the Customer Service department.

Like other grocery stores, Kowalski’s developed its own line of grocery products, products that they sample frequently in-store on the weekends.  Many of these items, like their Kalbi Sauce (Korean sauce) become recipe ingredients.  We made their recipe for “Kalbi Meatballs” at our annual party a few years back and they were a hit.  We don’t always like using jarred sauce, but this sauce is pretty tasty, and the recipe was easy.

Most of the recipes in this cookbook are uncomplicated and easy to make.  If a recipe ingredient isn’t to your liking, the staff will help you find a substitute as it did when I made their “Date & Blue Cheese Spread” (p. 99).  We love blue cheese, but many of our guests don’t and so I asked what I could use instead.  The answer was either feta or a cheese called Quark which is also like feta but with less tang.  We used Quark and it was delicious.

The cookbook’s Table of Contents is comprehensive:

• Breakfast & Brunch
• Beverages
• Starters (Hot & Cold)
• Soups
• Salads
• Meat
• Poultry
• Fish & Seafood
• Pasta & Grains
• Vegetables & Sides
• Cookies
• Desserts

 Nothing amiss there!

Since I was on the quest for party food, I bypassed most of these categories and landed on these contenders:

• Crab, Spinach & Artichoke Dip – p. 76
• Make-Your-Own Baked Cheese Dip – p. 77
• Bacon-Wrapped Parmesan Dates – p. 82
• Date & Blue Cheese Spread – p. 99
• Mascarpone-Stuffed Dried Apricots – p. 102
• Cranberry Blondies – p. 301

 As we are wont to do, my husband and I make a huge list of possible party food and then start eliminating things, sometimes because we have too many other “like” recipes in the hopper, and sometimes just because on second glance, we just aren’t as enamored.  This time around though, our rationale was slightly different as follows:

“Crab, Spinach & Artichoke Dip” – We liked this one a lot, but felt that while some guests might not like the crab portion of this recipe, and so we made another spinach and artichoke recipe.

“Make-Your-Own Baked Cheese Dip” – The list of “add-in’s” became overwhelming and so we nixed this one. 

“Bacon-Wrapped Parmesan Dates” -  This was a strong possibility, but we would have had to make them on the day of the party and we hate doing that so this one was out.

As mentioned above, we made the “Date & Blue Cheese Spread,” substituting Quark cheese for Blue Cheese, and it was good, but not as good as the “Cranberry Blondies.” 

The “Mascarpone-Stuffed Dried Apricots” sounded good, and I could have made them a day before the party, so I liked that, but by the time we got to reviewing this recipe, we just bagged it in favor of…I can’t even recall!

This then brings us to today’s recipe for Cranberry Blondies, or as our guests called them “The citrus bars!”  This recipe comes close to Starbucks' Cranberry Bliss Bars, a bar I so love that I ate them by the pound the last few Christmases before coming to my senses!  Starbucks' bars are topped by drizzled white chocolate, but these bars incorporate white chocolate into the batter – po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe.  I think we could have drizzled also some more of the white chocolate onto these bars, but we didn’t.  Maybe next time?

These were easy to make and easy to frost and even better, they freeze well!  We stored them, un-frosted, in our freezer for about two weeks and then finished them up the day before the party.  If anything, I would double the frosting because I love frosting and I especially like a cream cheese frosting so there you go!

Cranberry Blondies – Makes 24

¾ cup butter, melted

2 eggs

4 tsp. vanilla

1 ½ cups flour

1 ½ cups brown sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

1 cup white chocolate chips

½ cup chopped pecans

Cream Cheese Frosting

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 tbsp. room temperature butter

1 tsp. milk

½ tsp. vanilla

2 c. confectioner’s sugar

Topping

½ cup dried cranberries, chopped

1 tbsp. chopped orange zest

Line a 13 x 9” baking pan with parchment paper, extending up over the ends of the pan.

In a large mixing bowl, stir together butter, eggs and vanilla until thoroughly combined; set aside.  In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt; stir into butter mixture until thoroughly combined.  Add chips and pecans; stir to combine.

Spread evenly into the prepared pan; bake in a preheated 350F oven until top is shiny, cracked and light golden-brown (25-30 minutes).  Cool completely in pan; lift bars out of pan with ends of parchment paper. 

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese, butter, milk, and vanilla extract with an electric mixer on low speed until creamy.  Gradually beat in the confectioner’s sugar on law speed until frosting is smooth and spreadable.

Frost the blondies with the frosting, garnish with the cranberries and orange zest, and cut into bars.

"The Art of Armenian Cooking" - Baked Cream of Wheat Dessert (With Honey Syrup)

Date I made this recipe:  September 25, 2017 – a late observance of an Armenian festival held on September 16 at St. Sahag Armenian Church, St. Paul, MN

The Art of Armenian Cooking by Rose Baboian

Published by Doubleday & Company, Inc.

© 1984

Purchased at Talk Story Books, Hanapepe, Kauai, Hawaii

Recipe:  Baked Cream of Wheat Dessert (With Honey Syrup) – p. 83

I have to confess that I know next to nothing about the country of Armenia but that didn't stop me from purchasing an Armenian cookbook a few years back just in case I needed it some day.

I am happy to report that today's that day!  Actually, a week ago was the day but I was busy.

A few weeks ago, I was driving through St. Paul when I noticed a sign that said that St. Sahag Armenian Church was having an Armenian festival on the 16^th.  First, I didn't even know this church existed, and second, there was a festival? I love festivals!  Unfortunately, I couldn't attend which is why it was fortuitous that I had the cookbook.

According to Wikipedia, Armenia is sort of a gateway country, with access to Turkey, Georgia and Iran.  Recognized languages are Armenian, Assyrian, Greek, Kurdish and Russian.  You can see a lot of those countries and language influences in the recipes and it was kind of fun for me to look through it because of that.  Interesting factoid about Armenia:  Chess is a compulsory subject in schools.  (https://sunriseodyssey.com/12-interesting-facts-about-armenia-that-you-might-not-know ) I think that's pretty cool except I'm pretty sure I would have flunked it!

Unlike the last couple of cookbooks I used, this one had a large Table of Contents as follows:

• Appetizers
• Beverages
• Breads, Quick
• Yeast Breads
• Cakes
• Candy
• Cookies
• Desserts
• Eggs and Egg Dishes
• Main Dishes
• Poultry
• Preservers
• Salads
• Soups
• Stews
• Vegetables

 Notice that Dessert("D" for Dessert) comes before meats and salads and soups and this is totally appropriate because of this saying:  "Life is short.  Eat dessert first!"

I would have loved to make "Stuffed Grape Leaves" (Appetizers) except the recipe made 40 and even half that recipe is a few more than we could handle. I wouldn't have minded "Baked Eggplants (Olive Oil)," also an Appetizer, but wanted to see what else this book had to offer.

Under Beverages, you can enjoy either "Turkish Coffee," "Armenian Tea" (flavored with cinnamon and cloves), or a "Madzoon Beverage;" "Madzoon" is a yogurt that should be available in Greek grocery stores.

The [Quick] Breads section showcased a mix of sweet and savory-filled breads and even though I am not a bread person, I was tempted.  Honey is a major ingredient in a lot of Armenian recipes, including the dessert I made.

As I've said before, I don't "do" yeast breads so I skipped over to the Cakes chapter and found a two recipes of interest:  "Madzoon Spicecake" (Madzoon is yogurt) and "Chocolate Madzoon Cake." The only reason I did not make the chocolate cake was because the frosting called for ½ cup of marshmallow fluff and I did not want to buy a container of it just for this recipe.  I looked to see how hard it would be to make at home and the answer was "not hard," but I would have had to buy marshmallows and didn't want to do that, either.  Sometimes recipes get bounced by me because of the ingredients which is sad and yet practical.

The Main Dishes chapter was a mix of stuffed vegetables, lamb dishes (lots of lamb dishes), pilafs, and even a meat pizza.  I pondered a few dishes but once again moved on.

I'd chat more about the other chapters, but that would mean I'd have to spend more time handling the book and unfortunately, I'm starting to break out right now due to my allergies to dust mites.  We all know cooking can be dangerous but so can handling dusty or moldy/mildew books!  The less I pick up this book again, the better. 

And so let's move on to the dish of the day, the dish that "had me at 'hello'" with the main ingredient – Cream of Wheat®.

Cream of Wheat® and Quaker Oats® Oatmeal were the two dishes my brother and I loved to eat in the winter.  I always ate my oatmeal with table sugar (granulated sugar) and milk (and raisins if we had them).  My Cream of Wheat® though, was always topped with butter and a bit of brown sugar.  I'm not sure why we ate them that way although it's probably because that was the "method" suggested on the package.

I must say that while I wasn't expecting to see Cream of Wheat® in an Armenian cookbook, the recipe sounded good and I thought "Why not," and so I made it.  It was good but fair warning:  this recipe is pretty sweet and syrupy, kind of like a sweet Baklava.  It also crumbled quite a bit when I tasted it just after baking which is why you should refrigerator it so that it holds together better.

Before I go, I have to mention that this recipe makes a 13 x 9 x 2-inch pan but as is usual and customary, I halved it.  The taste was fine and the recipe was just enough, but merciful heavens, some of these ingredient measurement divisions were too much for my math-challenged brain!  Seeing as how I had no idea how this was supposed to turn out, I was really tempting fate on this one but I think I came out okay.

Baked Cream of What Dessert (With Honey Syrup) – makes a 13x9x2-inch pan.

2/3 cup (1 1/3 sticks) salted butter*

3 tablespoons shortening

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar or omit brown sugar and use all granulated sugar – 1 1/3 cups

2/3 teaspoon cinnamon

1/3 teaspoons cloves

1 1/3 cups Cream of What

1 1/3 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup finely chopped walnuts

1 cup flaked coconut

1/3 cup milk

4 well-beaten eggs

For the Honey Syrup

1 1/3 cups sugar

1 1/3 cups water

1 1/3 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon lemon juice

*Ann's Note:  I only have sweet, unsalted butter in my refrigerator but I found directions online to turn sweet butter into salted butter by adding ¼ teaspoon of salt to every half cup (1 stick or ¼ pound) butter. 

Cream together butter, shortening, sugar and brown sugar.

Mix in cinnamon, cloves, Cream of  Wheat, baking powder, walnuts, coconut and milk.

Stir in the eggs, 2 spoons at a time.

Spread into a well-greased pan.

Bake at 350 for 30 to 35 minutes until well browned.  Let stand for 5 minutes.

To make the honey syrup, mix the sugar, water, honey and lemon juice in a pain and bring to a boil.

Pour Hot Honey Syrup over cake with a tablespoon.  Cover and let stand until all the syrup is absorbed.  Serve cold with sweetened whip cream or just sprinkle chopped nuts, coconut flakes or cherries over honey syrup.

"Caramel Knowledge" by the late, great local food writer Al Sicherman - Black Bottom (as in chocolate) Banana Cream Pie

Date I made this recipe:  September 4, 2017 – A tribute to a funny food writer

Caramel Knowledge – Bostess Bupcakes, Peanut Butter Coffee, Herring in a Cloud, Wienie Zucchini, and More Food and Culinary Musing for the Twisted Mind (Expanded Edition) by Al Sicherman

Published by Harper & Row, Publishers

0-06-096232-1; © 1988

Recipe: Black-Bottom Banana Cream Pie – p. 128

First, some of you may not be old enough to get the pun in the title:  Carnal Knowledge was a 1971 movie starring (singer/songwriter) Art Garfunkel, Ann-Margaret, Jack Nicholson, and Candice Bergman.  The story takes place at Amherst College in the late 40's, and the plot centers around an exploration of sexual mores at the time.  It also focuses on a contest between Nicholson and Garfunkel to see who can bag the most babes. 

That's about all I know of this movie (thank you, internet) but I do recall that the movie raised eyebrows, even back when it was released in the free-wheeling 70's. 

Second, the writer of today's featured cookbook, "Caramel" Knowledge, Al Sicherman, passed away last week and I am really sad about this.  In observance of his passing, I give you this cookbook.

"Uncle Al," as he was known, was a food columnist for the local newspaper, StarTribune.  Well mostly food.  Sometimes he included stories about other things:  Hmmm, I wonder who that remind me of?

Al's columns were hilarious.  I used to just laugh out loud when I read them, probably because I always felt we shared the same perspective of things which is to say, if something went wrong, surely there was a comedic moment to mine;  Al did a lot of mining.

During the course of his 26-year tenure with the "Strib," Al wrote two columns, his main one, sample titles of which you will see below, and a second one, "Tidbits," and authored two books, Caramel Knowledge and Uncle Al's Geezer Salad.  The Strib noted that even after Al retired from the Strib, he continued to write the "Tidbits" column until 2016.  Very impressive, Al!

All this from a man who started his career as an electrical engineer!  True story.

I'm very happy that Al switched careers (engineering was apparently not for him) and got a masters in journalism so he could go on to write his column.  And while I enjoyed his "Tibits" column, a column where he commented on new food products, it was the longer column that drew me.

Caramel Knowledge is a curated collection of Al's columns.  Like the book's title, the chapters are equally hilarious and often tongue-in-check.  Here's a sampling of his narrative style: 

"Carrots, you will no doubt remember hearing, are supposed to give you good eyesight.  I can attest to the truth of that contention.  I was always able to spot carrots being prepared – even at very great distances – and try not to be home when they were finally served."

His "chapter," Popovers (and Bagels) is funny because of the ending(s), titled "Follow-Up;" "More Follow-Up;" "Still More Follow-Up," and "Final Follow-Up."

Uncle Al was very thorough.

Right from the start, the book's Table of Contest gives us a glimpse of more humor to come. 

• "Using Up Parsley"
• "Things That Go Bump in the Oven"
• "Food for the Twisted Mind"
• "Great Culinary Expectations"
• "An Upper Midwest Festival of Hot Dishes"

 You have no idea how much I wanted to make something from the last column seeing as how "hot dishes" (casseroles) are revered in this state, but alas, nothing tripped my trigger.  A "Tuna (or Crab) Appetizer Hot Dish" came close, but no cigar which was unusual for me as I like tuna and crab.  I might have gone with the "Chicken Salad Hot Dish," but paused when I saw that mandarin oranges, a staple of a cold chicken salad, were to be arranged on top of the casserole and then baked for 20 to 25 minutes, ew.  Warm oranges?  I'm thinking "no!"

Here though, are some recipes that I thought worthy of my time:

• "Chocolate Bread Pudding" – p. 14
• "Eggplant Casserole Deluxe" – p. 27
• "Cornbread-Topped Bean and Bratwurst Bake" – p. 34
• "Mocha Brownies" – p. 35
• "Six-Legume Soup" – p. 53
• "Arroz Con Pollo" – p. 182

 And then there are the "also-rans" otherwise known as "No Freaking Way."

• Herring in a cloud (of blended sour cream and yogurt) – p. 135 (from the Food In A Cloud chapter).  Cloud or no cloud, I don't "do" herring.
• Kippers (Cured herring.  Brits eat it for breakfast – gaaaaa!) – p. 187 (from the chapter, A British-Mystery Dinner.  How appropriate as it remains a mystery to me why the Brits enjoy the food they do!)
• Steak and Kidney Pie – p. 189 (same chapter above) Never, ever.
• Spirals of Starch (lasagna noodles + mashed potatoes + cheese + butter) – p. 212 (from the chapter, Food for the Twisted Mind) These ingredients would be fine if sold separately but not so much when combined. 
• Cold Lime Cream Soup – p. 216 (from Great Culinary Expectations) Maybe it's just me, but the "lime" in this equation is a record-scratch moment.  Now, lime and tequila, that's another story!

I am happy to report that the recipe we selected, "Black-Bottom Banana Cream Pie" (p. 127-128), was delicious.  This might have been the first time I ever made the "cream" portion of a cream pie and was very happy with the outcome even though I had way more filling than I had room; my finished pie looked like a volcano!

Although this recipe is fairly easy, it will take a bit of time to assemble as you have to melt the chocolate, scald and add some milk, then eggs, then mix again, etc. but it was worth it.  The only minor critique I have is that I pictured the chocolate layer mixing in with the banana cream layer for some total creamy goodness but that is not what happened.  After refrigeration, the chocolate layer sort of separated from the banana layer and so I felt like I was eating two different desserts, not that I cared but that's what it felt like.

No worries.  We love bananas, we love creamy custard fillings, and we love chocolate. I could have done without the pie crust but that's just me:  I'm also a person who prefers frosting over cake, no apologies.

In conclusion, you were a good man, Uncle Al, and I'm glad I purchased your cookbook a long time ago so I had it at the ready to pay you tribute.  And how fitting really, that your book's title is Caramel Knowledge, seeing as how my last attempt to make caramel went haywire, leaving me with scars. After the tears were gone though, I laughed about the incident because as you know, food and kitchen disasters can be funny.  Really funny.  Thanks for sharing your humor with us.

Black-Bottom Banana Cream Pie – makes one 9-inch pie; serves 6-8

Bottom Filling:

1 ½ one-ounce squares unsweetened chocolate (Ann's Note:  A while back, baking chocolate makers switched from one-ounce squares to ¼ ounce squares.  Although I am often math-challenged, this means you will need 6 of these little squares!)

6 tablespoons milk (Ann's Note:  You'll also need another 2 ½ cups milk for the filling)

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons sugar

1 ½ teaspoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 baked 9-inch pie shell

Banana Filling:

½ cup sugar

6 tablespoons flour

¼ teaspoon salt

2 ½ cups milk

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon butter

½ teaspoon vanilla

3 ripe banana's (or bananas)

½ cup heavy cream, whipped

Prepare the bottom filling:

Melt the chocolate in a small saucepan; set aside.  Scald the milk in a saucepan. (Ann's Note:  To scale milk, bring milk to a near-boil (i.e. bubbles start to form), then pull it off the stove.) 

In a mixing bowl, beat together the egg yolk, sugar, cornstarch, and salt.  Gradually beat in the scalded milk.

Pour the mixture into the saucepan in which the milk was scalded and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the custard is smooth and thick – don't boil it.  (Ann's Note:  It seemed to take an awfully long time to thicken this mixture.  What felt like days was probably 10 minutes; be prepared!)

Stir the melted chocolate and spread over the baked pie shell.

Prepare the banana filling:

Combine the sugar, flour and salt in the top of a double boiler over boiling water.  Gradually stir in the milk and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thickened.  Cover and cook 10 minutes more, stirring constantly.

Beat the egg and egg yolk and beat in a small amount of the hot milk mixture.  Lower the heat under the double boiler so that the water stops boiling.

Pour the diluted egg into the hot milk mixture, stirring it in rapidly.  Allow the mixture to cook over the hot water for two minutes, stirring constantly.

Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.  Cool.

Slice 1 banana and arrange on the chocolate layer.  Immediately slice a second banana into the warm custard mixture and pour into the shell.  (If you wait a long time before you cover them, the first banana slices will darken.)  Chill.

Just before serving, whip the cream and pipe or spoon it over the top of the pie.

Slice the last banana and arrange the slices around the edge of the pie, inserting them into the whipped cream at a slight angle.  Serve immediately.

"Voracious" & "The Book Club Cook Book" - Red Flannel Hash and Angel Food Cake for National Library Week (April 9-April 15)

Date I made these recipes – April 9 – April 15, 2017 – National Library Week

Voracious – A Hungry Reader Cooks Her Way Through Great Books by Cara Nicoletti

Published by Little, Brown and Company

ISBN: 978-0-316-24299-8; © 2015

Recipe:  Red Flannel Hash (from the short story "The Best Girlfriend You Never Had" by Pam Houston) – p. 261-262

The Book Club Cook Book – Recipes and Food For Thought From Your Book Club's Favorite Books and Authors by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp

Published by Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin

ISBN: 1-58542-322-X; © 2004

Purchased at Arc's Value Village Thrift Stores, Richfield, MN

Recipe:  Mrs. Nesbitt's Angel Food Cake with Lemon Cream from the book No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt -  The Home Front in World War II by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

How is it possible that I just this year learned about National Library Week?  How?  Because I tell you what folks, the title of one of today's cookbooks, Voracious [reader] fits me to a "t."

Not too long ago, my brother commented on how he couldn't believe the speed with which I plowed through my book stacks as a child, and I wish I could show you film because his imitation of me was pretty hilarious.  According to his re-enactment, I would speed read a book, slam it down, pick up another, rinse and repeat.  I wish I had kept track of how many books I read but if memory serves, the answer is "a lot."

My love of books was such that when my 10^th grade English teacher asked us to think about a college major, I thought to myself "Well, I like to read and write and so English, final answer."  Three years later, I enrolled at Northern Michigan University as an English major and I never looked back.

Let me just say that the sheer volume of reading to be done as an English major made me happy that I was an unofficial student of the Evelyn Woods Speed Reading method[1]otherwise, I would have died on the vine.  Most of my classes were comprehensive reviews of literature from either a country (American Lit, British Lit) or an author such as Shakespeare, Chaucer, Milton, etc.  And by "comprehensive," I mean that we ready everything – everything - by these authors such that to this day, Shakespeare, who is most people's favorite, remains among my least favored, certain works excepted, for example, I loved Hamlet. (And if you ever get a chance to see the movie Rosencrantz and Gildenstern Are Dead, you must.  In Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are childhood friends of the Prince of Denmark and are only briefly mentioned.  This movie expands their roles and turns them into comedic characters.  My husband and I love this movie.)

Many years after these exercises in torture, I enrolled in law school.  Law school also requires a lot of reading (and analyzing but in a different way) and thanks to some friends who had gone before me, I did not bat an eyelash when each professor assigned 200 pages or more of reading to be done by the next class.  You should know that sometimes "the next class" was the next day.  Since each law school student took four classes a semester (sometimes five), that meant that we read 800 pages a night (4 classes x 200 pages per night).  Yes, you may insert a "wow" emoji here.

Alas, because all this class reading took up so much of my time, reading for pleasure was difficult and my library use decreased dramatically.  That made me sad but it was only a little blip in the scheme of things.  In fact, let's take a look-back at my library history starting with grade school.

Believe it or not folks, my tiny little Catholic school had also a tiny little library.  To this day (many, many years later), I still remember the layout and recall also, that I read every Nancy Drew book there was to be read.  Those Nancy Drew books pretty much got the ball rolling for me and libraries.

My next library was the town's public library that was housed in the combined junior high and high school.  I can't say as I remember too many townspeople coming in to check out books, but I sure did.  One of my mom's friends told her that when her daughter checked out a book about the circus, my name was all over the borrower card. I have vague recollections of the book and wish I could remember it so I could see if I could acquire it after all these years.

By the way, please tell me that you remember "borrower cards?"  Please.  If not, Google that term and you'll see exactly what I mean.  Borrower cards were lined paper cards that were housed in the front of the book in a little - what shall we call it – pouch?  The borrower in question wrote his/her name on the card and the librarian stamped the card with the due date and kept it so they would know when the book was due.  The librarian also stamped the "pocket" with the due date so the borrower knew when the book was due.  When the book was returned, the card went back inside its little pocket all set and ready to go for the next borrower.  It sounds complicated but it was really very easy.

When I was in 12^th grade, I became a student librarian, and let me tell you, a lot of power and authority came with the [use of that] stamp!  I loved stamping books!  Loved it.  Stamping [checking out] books was way more fun than shelving them or typing up library classification cards for the card catalog.[2]

In college, and in law school, my semesters were spent reading assigned books for my classes so reading for pleasure (and borrowing from the library) was out of the question.  But once the semester was over, and with apologies to DJ Khaled, all I did was "read, read, read, read, read."  In college, I took perverse pleasure in reading the "trashiest" (my mother's words) novels I could find; my mother's literature selection was pretty tame.  It didn't really matter the book's topic so long as it was entertaining and believe me, after reading serious literature during a 16-week semester, just about everything was entertaining.  I repeated this same process while on break from law school although this time around my "trashy" novel selection was pretty tame and not coincidentally, focused on law or law-enforcement related novels.

These days, I am happy to report that I am devoted to my local St. Paul Library (housed in a beautiful Carnegie library building) and am also a Friend(s) of the St. Paul Library (Friends are donors/supporters).  From time to time, I give to and borrow from the Hennepin County (Minneapolis) Library although the St. Paul system is closer to me.  (Happily, one card serves two library systems as well as the Ramsey County system of St. Paul.)   Right now, I finishing up the second of two books I borrowed and am on the wait list for the latest David Baldacci novel.  I have no problems with putting a book on hold and waiting for it although some authors seriously need to cut down on their pages because it can be a challenge to get through 650+ pages in three weeks! Just sayin'...

And now we come full circle to two cookbooks related to books and reading and I thought it would be perfect to make something from each in observe of National Library Week.  True confession:  I was/am way behind schedule on cooking and blogging, oh well.

Each book's Table of Content includes books that I read (borrowed from the library or purchased) as well as some I wish I had read.  Let's take a look:

Voracious – 23 books read out of 50

A sampling of what I read includes:

• Pippi Longstocking (Recipe: Buttermilk Pancakes – p. 64)
• Nancy Drew (Of course!  Note there are 64 N.D. books total) (Recipe:  Double Chocolate Walnut Sundae – p. 19)
• Anne of Green Gables (Recipe:  Salted Chocolate Caramels – p. 47)
• Homer Price (This book is a "classic" from the 1940's and recalls fictional character Homer Price's very bad but very funny day working in a doughnut shop) (Recipe:  Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Donuts – p. 53)
• Lord of the Flies (Recipe:  Nope, not even going to go there.  If you read the book, you can probably guess what the recipe was.)
• Great Expectations (Recipe: Pork Pie – p. 124)
• Moby Dick (I hated this book.  During the course of my high school and college English major studies, I think I was assigned this book to read three times, maybe four.  Hated it then, hate it now.  Hate.) (Recipe: Clam Chowder – p. 130)
• A Confederacy of Dunces (Hil-larious!) (Recipe:  Jelly Donuts which will make sense to you if you read the book – p. 191)

The Book Club Cookbook – a paltry 30 out of 100?  How is that possible?  (Likely answer:  because I haven't been in a book club for a couple of decades?)  A sampling of what I read includes:

• The Da Vinci Code (Recipe:  Rosemary Spaghetti – p. 85, and Death By Chocolate – p. 85)
• The Devil Wears Prada (Never, ever did I picture Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly while reading this book and yet it works, right?) (Recipe:  Sun-Dried Tomato and Goat Cheese Pizza – p. 95)
• The Grapes of Wrath (Recipe: Artichoke-Jalapeno Spread with  Tomato Bruschetta Topping – p. 167)
• Nickel and Dimed (Recipe: Mozzarella Sticks – p. 300)
• Jane Eyre (Childhood favorite) (Recipe:  Walnut Cheese Sandwiches – p. 210)[3]
• My Antonia (Recipe: Spiced Plum Kolaches – p. 281)
• The Poisonwood Bible (Recipe: Tropical Fruit Salad – p. 353)
• A Prayer for Owen Meany (Recipe:  Banana Pineapple Smoothie – p. 363)
• A Walk in the Woods (I have not seen the movie and don't plan to because the book stands on its own.  It's side-splittingly funny.) (Recipe:  Very Yellow Lemon Meringue Pie – p. 473.  By the way, this was a strong contender for a while.)
• The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (Hmong Eggrolls with Hot Dipping Sauce – p. 410)

If you have not heard of or read the last book, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, you must get on board right now.  MUST.  It's the story of a Hmong family that includes a daughter with epilepsy.  This family did not understand epilepsy but believed in their hearts that her ailment was because "The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down."  For the longest time, they tried traditional Hmong methods to rid the daughter's body of this spirit, but when that didn't work, they sought out western medicine assistance with mixed results.  This book chronicles the family's quest to fix their daughter and the inevitable clash of east meets west.  It was both heartbreaking and enlightening and I loved it.

Even though I could wax poetic about even more books included in these two cookbooks, we'd be here all day so let's get on with my selections:

From Voracious, I selected "Red Flannel Hash."  I love beets (thus, the "red flannel" and I love hash.  I opted not to make the poached eggs accompanying this dish but will include the recipe anyway; the hash itself is very filling. This recipe was inspired by the story, "The Best Girlfriend You Never Had."  I have not read this story, nor am I likely to read it, but this should not dissuade you from trying out both the recipe and the story. 

I have to confess that I also never read the book, Charlotte's Web (I know, I know:  what is wrong with me?  In my defense, this was just not in my children's literature library), and was sorely tempted to make Pea and Bacon Soup – p. 75-77 – but could not bring myself to do so because, you know...bacon.

From The Book Club Cookbook, I selected the absolutely delicious "Mrs. Nesbitt's Angel Food Cake" inspired by the book No Ordinary Time:  Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt – the Home Front in World War II by noted historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.  I love Doris and her books but this book weighs in at 759 pages and that many pages requires a time commitment I don't have right now.

I hope it didn't escape your attention that I have not read either of these two writings which is somewhat cosmic and certainly not planned, but there it is.

Before I get into the recipes themselves, let me just say that I think a James Beard Award is in order for the company(s) that decided to separate egg whites and egg yolks and to put each product in a carton for ease in use.  Brilliant!  Smashing! Capital!  Why am I so excited? Well, you need 10-12 egg whites for the angel food cake and the thought of separating all those eggs, never mind trying to figure out a use for the leftover yolks gave me pause.  Pause, I tell you!  You can find these liquid egg whites in most grocery store's eggs and dairy sections. 

Here then are your literary recipes both of which were fantastic.  As to the books, I waxed nostalgic over many of the titles in each but just don't have time to reread them all as I have plenty of books on my "To Read" list for this year.  As always, there are too many books, not enough time.

And although I am terribly behind on posting this salute to libraries, I once again have to commend our public library system and all the librarians and support staff working in them.  "Free" is a good thing – free access, free lending, free classes and services and frankly, free education.  When I was a youngster in 7^th grade, I had to give a speech for a class and I'll never forget my theme:  "Reading is your road to learning." (Feel free to quote me!)

Go "learn!"

Red Flannel Hash – Serves 4 generously

For the hash

1 ½ pounds fingerling potatoes, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes

1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes

2 medium beets, peeled and cut into ½-inch cubes

1 pound thick-cut bacon, cut into chunks

1 large yellow onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

4 thyme sprigs

For the poached eggs

¼ cup white vinegar

4 large eggs

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Set a steamer basked over a large pot filled with enough water to just reach the bottom of the basket.  Place the fingerling potato and sweet potato cubes in the basket and bring the water to a boil over medium heat.  Cover the pot and steam the potatoes for 7 minutes.  Transfer to a bowl.

Next, steam the beet cubes for 12 minutes.  (Ann's Note:  You may want to steam all vegetables a bit longer than directed to ensure doneness.)

While the beets are steaming, fry the bacon in a cast-iron or other heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat until lightly crisp. (Ann's Note:  I've cooked thick-cut bacon many times but it doesn't crisp the way regular bacon does.  It still tasted great but I don't think it ended up "lightly crisp" and I cooked it a long time.)  Add the chopped onion and minced garlic and cook over low heat.  Once the beets are steamed, add them to the skillet, along with all of the potatoes and the thyme.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are crispy, about 20 minutes.  Discard the thyme sprigs.

To poach the eggs

Fill a sauté pan or skillet with water.  Add the vinegar.  Heat the vinegar-water over medium heat until very hot, but do not let the water come to a boil, or even to a simmer.  You want it to be at the point where bubbles are forming at the bottom of the pan and steam is rising from the surface.

Crack 1 egg into a ramekin and create a whirlpool in the water with a spoon.  Gently slip the egg into the water and let it cook for 20 seconds.  After 20 seconds you can start very gently nudging the white around the yolk.  If the egg is sticking to the bottom of the pan, just use a spatula to loosen it. Cook for about 3 minutes – the white should look cooked, but you should still be able to see the yolk wiggling around inside.  Lift it out with a slotted spoon, place it on a paper towel to drain, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve on top of the red flannel hash.

Repeat with the remaining eggs.

Mrs. Nesbitt's Angel Food Cake with Lemon Cream – Yield:  8 to 10 servings

For the cake

1 ¼ cups egg whites (10-12 eggs) (Ann's Note:  Make your life easier and buy egg whites in a carton found in your store's refrigerator section.  You will need just over one carton for this endeavor so buy two.)

1 ½ teaspoons cream of tartar

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

½ teaspoon almond extract

1 cup sifted cake flour

¼ teaspoon salt

For the Lemon Cream

½ cup heavy cream

¼ cup confectioner's sugar

½ cup lowfat lemon yogurt

Preheat oven to 375F.  Beat the egg whites until foamy.  Add the cream of tartar, then gradually add 1 cup of the sugar, beating continually, until the whites stand up in peaks.  Beat in the almond extract.  Sift flour.  Sift together the remaining ½ cup sugar, flour, and salt.  Gently fold flour mixture into egg whites, ½ cup at a time, just until flour is moistened.  (Ann's Confession:  I used my Kitchen Aid and might have over-folded by just a bit but it didn't seem to matter as the cake baked perfectly."

Pour the batter into an ungreased 10-inch tube pan and bake 30-35 minutes, until the top feels springy to the touch.  Invert the cake pan and stand it on a bottle to cool.

When cake is completely cooled, loosen its edges by running a spatula or thin knife around the edge of the pan.  Gently shake the cake onto a serving plate.  Top with Lemon Cream and garnish with strawberries.

To make the Lemon Cream, beat the whipping cream and confectioners' sugar until soft peaks form.  Fold in the lemon yogurt.  Serve immediately.

Ann's Note:  Damn, this was good! 

---

[1] Remember Evelyn Woods Speed Reading courses?  When I was growing up, Evelyn advertised her services everywhere – comic books, magazines, newspapers.  I am totally joking about speed reading although I do set a brisk pace when it comes to reading books.  At any rate, those of a certain age will hopefully get this reference.  Please feel free to chuckle.

[2] Three words:  Dewey Decimal System. Loved it then, love it now.  That is all.

[3] First, I am doing you a solid by not requiring that you name all the authors of these books.  You're welcome.  If you were an English major though, it was/is practically a degree requirement such that all these years later, I can still rattle off most authors, even contemporary authors.  And as an aside, I'll never forget reading Jane Eyre for a high school class – maybe 10^th grade – and then getting tested on it.  One of the questions asked was "What was the name of Mr. Rochester's horse?" and I wrote "I don't know.  Trigger?"  This was absolutely incorrect but it made my teacher laugh.  Why?  Because at the time, singer and actor Roy Rogers and his wife, Dale Evans, were very famous "Western" stars and Trigger was Roy's horse.  Once again, those of a certain age...

"The Tasha Tudor Cookbook" - Date and Nut Bread for my late mother's birthday

Date I made this recipe:  January 25, 2017 – my mom's birthday

The Tasha Tudor Cookbook – Recipes and Reminiscences from  Corgi Cottage by (illustrator) Tasha Tudor, Featuring More than 80 of Tasha Tudor's Favorite Family Recipes

Published by Little, Brown and Company

ISBN: 0-316-85531-6; copyright 1993

Recipe:  Date and Nut Bread – p. 35

Today, January 25^th, was my mom's birthday.  The day before, January 24^th, was my dad's.  They've been gone now for several years but I always try to observe their birthdays by making something they would have enjoyed.  And this is how I ended up making Date and Nut Bread but not just any old date and nut bread, Tasha Tudor's Date and Nut Bread.

My mother loved Tasha Tudor's illustrations.  She particularly loved Tasha Tudor's illustrations in the [classic children's] book, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  The book, first published in 1911, was a favorite of my mom's and yet, I honestly don't recall her ever reading it to me or me ever reading it.  Interesting, that.

Before I get to Tasha Tudor though, I have to say a bit about The Secret Garden, a book I finally read this past summer and really enjoyed.

The central character of The Secret Garden is a young, orphaned British ex-patriot, Mary Lennox, who was living in India with her parents when a cholera outbreak killed her parents and most of the servants.  Mary's character is the book is most unloved: she is a sickly and petulant child, prone to temper tantrums and is spoiled rotten.

After her parents died, she was sent to England to live with her "hunchback" uncle, a widower, and his equally petulant and sickly child, Colin, at a house in the English countryside. Colin is the male version of his cousin, and when we meet him, he is bed-ridden, convinced he is dying.

Then one day, Mary and another boy, Dickon, the brother of one of the servants, stumble onto a "secret" garden. Turns out that Mary's aunt died after an incident in the garden, and her uncle's grief was such that the garden was left to rot and ruin until, of course, Mary and company saved the day. 

Thereafter, the book is as much about the restoration of the soul as it is about the restoration of the garden, and Mary and Colin and Dickon spend a lot of time in their secret hiding place/spiritual retreat, The End. Well, there's more to the story than that, of course, but why spoil things for you?  Suffice it to say that I enjoyed the story and could picture this "magical" garden in my head even though my life motto is (seriously) "Nature is not your friend."  But this is England folks, and the Brits are quite known for their fabulous gardens.  In fact, one of the songs I learned in childhood, English Country Garden, was featured on the TV show, Captain Kangaroo.  I'm pretty sure one of my early piano books contained that song (music) as well and now I'm sitting here thinking that I need to take up piano playing again!

So Frances wrote the book and then Tasha Tudor illustrated one of the versions and that is how my mother came to know both ladies.  But I must confess that I was a little surprised that the illustrations were a little on the shy side and not just in Tasha's version, but in many other illustrated versions I looked at.  I think back in the day, the emphasis was on the book and not so much the art but that's just speculation and recollection.

In addition to The Secret Garden, Tasha also illustrated A Child's Garden of Verses, The Night Before Christmas, The Doll's Christmas, and A is for Annabelle which rings a bell with me as I think I might have owned that book as a child.  You should also know that Tasha was a two-time Caldecott award winner, an award given to the artist who illustrated a "most distinguished picture book for children." And as you might imagine, The Tasha Tudor Cookbook is filled with delightful illustrations as well.

So anyway, one day mom mentioned in passing that she liked Tasha Tudor and The Secret Garden, and so I tucked that information away for future use.  And so sure enough, shortly thereafter, I was out Christmas shopping, stumbled upon a book, The Art of Tasha Tudor, and knew I had to buy it for mom.  If memory serves, this may have been the last Christmas present I gave her; she passed away in March 2008. 

Well, to say my mother was "gobsmacked" (a British term meaning "utterly astonished") is an understatement.  In fact, "touched" is probably the word that fits best as she couldn't believe I remembered what she said, much less bought her this book filled with Tasha's artwork, including illustrations from The Secret Garden.  Well, I am a list-keeper from way back and so was happy to have noted it and also put that notation to good use.

And then as luck would have it, I was [vintage] cookbook shopping online  one day when I once again stumbled upon a Tasha Tudor book, this time The Tasha Tudor Cookbook.  Huzzah!  Well now I was cooking with Crisco, wasn't I?

So as soon as it arrived, I made a note on my calendar to make something from it for mom's birthday and so I did and it was this Date and Nut Bread.  My mother made Date Nut (we left out the "and") bread all the time and the recipes are very similar and equally delicious. 

Back when mom made it, she chopped the dates herself and also chopped the nuts in this vintage nut chopper that I now own.  Thanks to advances in date chopping, I was able to buy my dates already chopped and ready to go, leaving me with only the nuts to chop and add to the mix.  And yes, I could have purchased already-chopped nuts as well, but I felt I needed to put some kind of labor into it to make it more authentic.  Besides, chopping dates is sticky business and I was happy to let go of that task.

This is an easy recipe as were the vast majority of the recipes included by Tasha in her cookbook. Her Table of Contents includes:  "Appetizers and Salads;" "Soups;" "Breads and Muffins;" "Main Dishes;" "Accompaniments;" "Dessert and Beverages," and "Christmas Treats," and while several recipes were tempting, I had to go with the bread, final answer.

Now before I get to the recipe, I have to share a few tangential stories with you about cosmic coincidences—or are they?

In September 2016, I once again visited my mom's only surviving sister, Mary, who lives in Michigan where I am also from.  My aunt's house is in Michigan's north woods and as you might imagine, there are lots of animals there, including deer. I'm mentioning deer because you should know that my dad was a wildlife research biologist who specialized in white-tail deer and who managed a research station a couple hours away in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.  Deer factor into our story.

Okay then, well as you can imagine, my aunt and I spent some time discussing my mom and what their childhood was like and it was great reminiscing although I couldn't help but wish that mom was there with us.  Or was she?

Because, reader, on my last morning there, I needed to run into town to pick up some things for my aunt, and just as I rounded the corner to her house and driveway, a doe and two fawns crossed the road in front of me.  Well that gave me chills because really, what are the odds that a momma deer and two baby deer would be there at that exact moment?  Plus, they paused for a minute to look at me instead of just high-tailing their white-tails outta there!  I have to say, I took this as a sign.  (Sadly, I didn't see a daddy deer but maybe he let momma and "kids" have their own moment with me?)

Later that day, I flew home, still thinking about the deer in the woods, and the next day I was channel-surfing and I kid you not, the movie The Secret Garden was playing.  Kid you not.  Honestly, what were the odds!  I have to say, it was a bittersweet moment for me and just kind of brought the whole mom thing full circle.

So Happy "Heavenly" Birthday, Mom, and thanks for the introduction to Tasha Tudor and to The Secret Garden.  And PS, thanks for "showing up" at Aunt Mary's. You could not have timed it better.

Date and Nut Bread- makes one 4 ½ x 9-inch loaf or two 3 x 6-inch pans

1 cup dates, chopped

½ cup sugar

¾ cup boiling water

¼ cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 farm-fresh egg, well beaten

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 ¾ cups unbleached flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup English walnuts, chopped

Great well one 4 ½ x 9-inch loaf pan or two 3 x 6-inch pans.

In a large mixing bowl, combined the dates, sugar, and boiling water.  Mix well and allow to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

When the [date] mixture has cooled, stir in the remaining ingredients.  (Ann's Note:  make sure your butter is really soft.) Pour the batter into the prepared bread tin.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes (less for smaller loaves) or until done when tested with a toothpick.  (Ann's Note:  mine baked for 55 minutes before it was done). 

Remove the bread from the oven, take it out of the pan, and place it on a rack to cool completely.

Ann's Note:  Tasha suggests slicing this bread very thin and then spreading it with cream cheese but when I was a kid, I must have put on an inch of butter (actually, margarine) instead.  Yum!