Hot weather’s coming. I’m ready for it. I’m tired of the cool, rainy spring we’ve had. I’m planning ahead for all the fun things I’m going to do in the hot sunshine of the summer days that will soon be here! Antique shopping. Hammock testing. Barbecuing. Working on the Sailboat. Iced Tea Sipping. You can see, I’ve got a list going already! When the temperatures go higher and I’m looking for a cool dessert, I [...]

Hi everyone! I’m so excited today.  Not only is this my very first post as a Culinary.net contributing writer, but I made fudge.  Not any ordinary type of fudge. Cake Batter Fudge. Yes. The ooey, gooey, sweet, sinful taste of yellow cake batter in fudge form.  Chocolate fudge…. you’ve met your competition. Raise your hand if you’re guilty for licking that giant wooden spoon after mixing up some cake batter. C’mon. You know you do [...]

The Chiquita Banana Jingle. Chances are, you can sing, or at least hum, a few bars of the famous Chiquita Banana jingle. The song first hit the airwaves in 1944 when Miss Chiquita made her debut. It was written to help teach Americans how to ripen and use bananas, which were, at the time, an exotic tropical fruit. At its peak, the jingle was played 376 times a day on radio stations across the United [...]

When it comes to food, very often “simple is best.” With quality ingredients and a simple, no-frills approach, you can sometimes come up with a dessert so delicious that you want to make it time and again. I find this applies to making ice cream  – a good custard base is the key to success. Today, however, it’s not an ice cream recipe that I’m going to share with you. It is my dear friend [...]

A few weeks ago, I attended the Eighth Annual Asheville Bread Baking Festival. The city of Asheville, nestled in the mountains of Western North Carolina, provides a wonderful backdrop for a bread-baking event. The theme for this year’s festival was “Local Grain, Local Flour, and Local Bread”. The event featured experts on local grain production, milling, and baking with local and heirloom wheat. During the bakers’ showcase, local artisans showcased their beautiful breads and other [...]