De Baking Psychopath

"Necessity is the mother of invention," the saying goes. In my case, necessity usually comes in the form of needing to get rid of some ingredient that I've hoarded. In this case, the culprit is raisins. I'm not a huge fan of raisins; they tend to be tough and get stuck in teeth, so the only way I accept them is when they are cooked or baked so they are plump. I had been itching for awhile to try a cinnamon raisin bread sometime for the reputation of the glorious toast, and finally I decided to take the plunge! This recipe from Dorie Greenspan's book does not disappoint! The dough is plush, soft, and stretchy. The crust is buttery and crisp, the raisins juicy, and the cinnamon gives it such a wonderful smell and flavor. And yes, the toast was phenomenal! The peanut butter and marmalade sandwich made with this bread was probably the best PB&J I've ever eaten. I definitely will put all those raisins to good use with this bread. R...

Michael's birthday request: British Meat Pie . I used bacon fat for the crust. Best. Crust. Ever. Bake or Break always has the best recipes. This cream cheese and blueberry coffee cake was no exception. Another Bake or Break recipe: Pecan Cake . Fabulous. I used Greek yogurt instead of buttermilk and the cake turned out delightfully springy in addition to moist and nutty. Chocolate frosting was optional but delicious. I picked up some fresh figs from Trader Joe's and tried this fig and olive oil loaf cake from Tracy Shutterbean . It was dense, nutty, and delicious!

Back in Philly! We visited in mid-August, and we had a blast, as usual! Lots of good food! Bread from the Metropolitan Bakery, Wilbur bacon, cannelles from a small bakery stand in the farmer's market. Cheesesteak. Visit to old-school Italian bakery Termini Brothers. Yum, cannoli! Picnic in the park: whitefish salad and crackers, a variety of sushi rolls, pizzelles from Termini's, and fruit from a local corner grocery. Grilled cheese from the Valley Shepherd Creamery stand at the Reading Terminal Market. And of course, pork sandwich from DiNic's!

Let me introduce Wilbur!! Over the summer, we heard about an opportunity to buy half a Berkshire hog through Shannon and David's farmshare company, and after much deliberation, we took it! We got about 100 lbs of meat, including lots of pork chops, loin roasts, shoulder roasts, a gigantic ham cut in two, over 10 lbs of bacon, 13 lbs of ground pork, 10 lbs of fatback for sausage making, and a fresh ham hock and shank. Of course we had to name our piggy, so after much deliberation, we settled on Wilbur! Yes we're a little morbid, but c'mon, Charlotte was the true hero of that book, not the whiny pig. So far, we've made pork chops a couple different ways, pulled pork, bacon in many ways (in fried rice, stir fry, and normal breakfast style), and used ground pork in bolognese sauce. We have been not eaten this much pork since we moved back to the States, and we've never had such good chops and bacon!! The meat taste is just so rich and has great texture. ...

Hey everyone, I apologize for the long silence, but rest assured that I'm still alive, eating, and even occasionally baking! I'll try to do a roundup of recipes recently tried and a couple photos soon! Hope everyone's doing well, I think of you all and this space often. Stay tuned!