Suvir

New year, new thinking, new beginnings, new recipe, new tastes - new life! A reflective guest-post by Ellen Tarver

I’m making my peace with food. And I won’t give up. 2012 will be a year of adventure—learning from both successes and failures—and of new tastes and discoveries.

I’m more determined than ever to leave the children’s table behind me, to care about what I eat, and to shop in the produce aisle and not the frozen foods section. What an exciting year this will be!

This is how I ended my blog a year ago, when I wrote about how Suvir Saran’s recipes and encouragement had changed my life and awakened and educated my palate. And I was right—2012 was a year of great culinary adventure and excitement.

Everyday, A Day of Celebration with Yvan Lemoine

Yvan Lemoine came into my life as a gift from Michael and Ariane Batterberry of Food Arts magazine. Michael had brought Yvan to the Food Arts Magazine and Culinary Institute of America joint conference on Pastry Arts. It has been several years since, and Yvan had been an indelible mark on my life. Now, through his book, Food Fest 365! Yvan has left an amazing mark on all our lives. We only need be hungry, able to cook and share, and if that is so, Yvan will enrich our world with foods that are sweet, savory, spicy and everything in-between.

Winter - Solitary confinement (almost) and a surprise gift, lead to happy cooking (and thinking)

Thrilled to have spent a few days at the farm last weekend and the early part of this week. The highlight was having an advance copy of Kristine Kidd's book sitting at the kitchen counter. Now I have reason to cook, even if alone and for none but myself or Charlie when he is also at the farm. Weeknight Fresh & Fast: Simple, Healthy Meals for Every Night of the Week is a wonderful cookbook with great recipes and attractive photos too. Best still, these are the creations of Kristine, the very talented and gifted food editor at Bon Appetit whilst Barbara Fairchild was the editor-in-chief. Try these recipes and you will eat happily, healthily and without fuss. 

You can follow more of what Kristine does by visiting her blog.

Best Ever Banana Bread

Every holiday season, in my previous life, when I was with my ex and lived at the Hudosn Mews in Greenwich Village in NYC,  our neighbors Susan and Joe would leave a beautifully packed bag of banana bread on our door.  This is Susan’s mother’s recipe.  I love this recipe because the cake is exceptionally moist, not cakey, and it is lightly spiced with Indian spices – cinnamon, mace, and powdered ginger. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream and candied nuts of any kind. Better still, make it in small tins, and you can give your neighbors and loved ones an edible jewel of a gift.

Rose Levy Beranbaum - A rose unlike any rose even a rose would know

 

How blessed we all were in North Country to have had Rose visit us with her able assistant Woody. The class at Battenkill Kitchen, the appearance on Dinner at Eight with Sally Longo and her stay at our farm shall always enrich our lives forever. Thanks Rose!

Thank you Michael, for having brought Rose into my life. We miss you and we are grateful you touched our lives. Thanks Ariane for all you did for us then, and all you do now. We are indeed blessed to have known you both, and to have you Ariane, still sharing your magic with us through Food Arts.

Thanksgiving with an exotic twist, guest post by Bonnie Deahl

November 25, 2010

When November rolls around each year we reflect on events that have influenced us and have made us change the way we live our lives.   Make it a point to stray from your comfort zone and do things you have never done.  This is where lives are lived fully…

Whipped Cream Cake - Heavenly Taste Makes Me Homesick!

Baking and eating cake could not get any simpler. In Rose Levy Beranbaum's new book - Rose's Heavenly Cakes, she shares a recipe for Whipped Cream Cake, that takes you to heaven without much effort. Rather, with absolutely no effort. This is easy cooking and heavenly living at its best. Buy the book, bake the cakes and share magic with all your loved ones.

The Washington County Fair! by Jack Tiggleman.

As luck would have it, our visit coincided with the Washington County Fair, and being the Michigan redneck I am, I begged Suvir to take us. Fortunately for me, it's his favorite week of the summer.

Before heading out to the fair, Suvir treated us all to some of the best eggs I have ever had.

Who needs meat?

When Marry Ann Joulwan invites us to dinner, we know we are in for stupendous food. And most importantly, we know we will eat well, eat without fuss or frills, but eat beautiful food that is incomparable in taste and satisfying beyond description.

Sticky, Tasty and Easy!

When a Vermont girl (Zoe Francois) meets a Trinidad boy, and moves to Minneapolis, you wonder what life would show them. Certainly you think of unsavory comments and stereotypical prejudice et al, but this girl has found just the opposite. Go Minneapolis! What she has also found is critical acclaim as a baker, and this last week, we were lucky to have eaten Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls made by her, using Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. WOW!