Tag Archives: cooking

What I ate Thursday….the picture less edition.

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Yesterday was so fast and furious that I forgot to take pictures of what I ate.  That said, I hardly ate anything.  One of my favorite people at work brought me a bowl of chili from a local coffee shop in Stockbridge, Ma that I’ve wanted to try for a long time.  I had that for lunch, it was hot, spicy, I had to open a window.  Seriously, I opened a window.  Then last night I went to see a high school production of Julius Caesar and then went out to dinner with friends.  We went to a 99 Restaurant, it’s a chain, I had mozzarella sticks, french onion soup, balsamic chicken, and a dessert called a peanut butter explosion.

Ok quick post today.  I got a phone call as I started this saying that the food order was being delivered so I’m finishing this in the kitchen.  So I gotta run and get cooking for a Valentine’s Day Brunch that is on Sunday!  Have a great day everyone!

To recipe or not to recipe, that is the question……

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I just finished cooking for a workshop of hungry actor’s who were training at a month long intensive in Shakespeare.  Sunday night, as I was sitting at the bar soaking in the end of our time together, I was approached by one of the participants who said “I find it fascinating that you didn’t use any recipes during the workshop.”  I’ll tell all my blog readers a secret.  I don’t believe in recipes.  It’s not that I don’t believe in them but I have the voice of many culinary instructors in the back of my mind saying “A recipe is just a guideline.”

Truly, a recipe is a guideline or a map, if you will.  I will often google a recipe to get a basis for how I want to make something and then make it my own.  When you see recipe’s on this website that’s mainly for your benefit.  Often, when testing a recipe for you all, I have to stop what I’m doing, write it down and it makes the process much longer.  Working without recipes and creating something by tasting it and changing it is what creates the magic that I love in the kitchen.

That being said baking is completely different.  When you make you have to use a recipe because the measurements are so precise.  So in this new year I urge you all to be a little more free with your cooking.  Add something sweet to a salty recipe.  Find something in the fridge that needs to be used up and create a recipe around it.  Cooking can be as much fun or as much of a chore as you want.

Happy Holidays, or maybe not!

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Christmas is finally over.  As I was driving home from my sisters house on Sunday, after all the kids opened their presents, I was trying to think of something inspiring to write here.  Truth of the matter is that it was nothing life altering.  I had little nephews running around yelling ‘Uncle Ron, You’re fat.’  As I was playing with one of my nieces toys the same child laughed maniacally saying ‘Look, Uncle Ron is playing with a girls toy, ha ha ha!’  If the child only knew!  The best was the childhood nickname that reared it’s ugly head once again, I don’t have time or energy to go into the origin of that story at this moment but it will happen at some point.  Christmas usually is a pity party for me.  No other holiday, except for Valentines day and weddings, do I feel more alone.  I do have to say though that there hasn’t been a time in my life, at least not recently, that I’ve been happier.  So don’t go worrying about me!

Since this is a food blog let’s chat about food for a moment.  If there is one thing I’ve learned this year it’s that Christmas, for my family, equals butter!  It seems like every time we turned around we were out of butter.  My poor brother in law probably made five trips to the grocery store for more butter.  It was in the turkey, stuffing, apple pies, mashed potatoes, gravy and many others I believe.  I used 1.5 pounds myself just for the crust for 3 pies.  Needless to say my nephew might be right, at least I’m feeling fat.  On Christmas evening, when I got home, I had a sweet potato and piece of tuna for dinner.  I feel healthier already!

 

A Foodie’s Life- Episode 6, Pasta Alla Vodka!

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This week on the show I include two of my favorite ingredients, pasta and vodka!  I really do love my vodka, some nights too much.  I made this for a dinner party about a week and a half ago.  I’m actually having more people over tonight and they’ve asked for the same thing, so I’m making it tonight!

Anyway, here you go!  Enjoy it!

 

Cinnamon Snickerdoodle Coffee and Cookies!

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I am drawn to food because of the memories that it creates.  For me there is no more special memory than being transported back to my grandmother’s kitchen in Hagerstown Maryland and the smell, feel, warmth of fresh snicker doodles coming out of the oven.  So, as I was perusing the coffee aisle at the grocery store the other day trying to decide between the mocha hazelnut and breakfast blend, I spotted a cinnamon snicker doodle coffee.  I knew I had to come home and try it.

I had all ready had my customary one cup of coffee but I still pried open the bag as soon as I got home.  I felt like I was ten again.  I was transported back to that kitchen, that smell, those cookies coming out of the oven.

Both of my grandmothers passed so many years ago that I’ve lost count but they are the ones that have taught me that there is no better way to tell someone you love them than through food. I’m convinced that the women in my life who have cooked for me ever since I was a little boy are the ones who gave me my passion for food.  Last year one of the participants at a workshop I was cooking for said “When I eat your food I feel like I’m eating food made by someone that loves me.”  That was the best compliment I’ve ever gotten.  And maybe that’s why I’m shying away from restaurant cooking now?  I’m a firm believer that you can taste love in food.  Sounds strange, I know, but it’s true.

In honor of my grandmother here is her recipe for Snickerdoodle cookies.  What are your food memories?

 

Ron’s Grandmothers Snickerdoodle’s

Mix Together

1/2 cup softened shortening

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

Sift together and stir in

1 cup plus 6 tablespoons of sifted flour

1 teaspoon cream of tarter

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Chill dough, roll into balls the size of a walnut.  Roll in a mixture of 1 tablespoon cinnamon and 1 tablespoon sugar. Place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.  Bake until brown but still soft.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.  These cookies puff up at first and then flatten out with crinkled tops.