Passing On the Good Stuff
My grandmother, who grew up on a farm in White Oak, Virginia, told of having hobos come to the house wanting a meal and a place to stay. Though there were seven kids in the family to feed and care for, her mother always took in the stranger. He’d eat from the family table, bathe in their galvanized wash tub, and even use the family comb.
Granny said that it was the custom for hobos of the late 19th century to leave markings on trees or posts, letting others know, who provided the best food, where work could be had, or bad dogs hung out. She felt certain their farm was “bookmarked” or, at least, “tree marked” as a good site.
Mark This
I think about my grandmother’s “hobo tales,” when I run onto some great blog, recipe, or cooking hint. I want to mark it, so I can return to it or pass it on to someone, who might enjoy the discovery as much as I did.
So today I put a big smiley face on the site of one of my favorite cooks and food writers: Dorie Greenspan.
When Dorie Greespan makes cookies or cakes, she puts each spice into the dry ingredients in a separate spot. That way she can readily see if she’s added each of the individual spices. (Photo Chicago Tribune)
Cooking with an “Old Friend”
Recently I came upon Greenspan’s video on Food52 called Dinner with Dorie. It featured a Vegetarian Pasta for One with a Chocolate Fudge Sundae dessert. The sauce was homemade, but simple and easily expanded to serve more. So I’m passing on the recipe. Not only because it’s incredibly fast and fabulous, but because of Dorie’s heartwarming and informative video clip. You feel like you’re in the kitchen with an old friend. (The video is just 7 minutes long.)
Vegetarian Pasta for One as featured in the clip Dinner with Dorie.
Who is Dorie?
Dorie is a petite, crisply attired, soft spoken cook and writer, who started life in Brooklyn. As a teenager, making French fries, she literally burned down her mother’s kitchen and never cooked again until she married.
Now in her 60s, she speaks (and writes) with a great understating of home cooking, especially baking. Look for her to pop up on the Internet, preparing meals from one of her three homes in either Manhattan, Paris, or Westbrook, Connecticut.
“A Culinary Guru”
The New York Times called the three-time James Beard Award winner a “culinary guru.” And for good reason. Dorie has more than a dozen cookbooks to her credit and multiple awards. I have her Around My French Table and am eyeing her most recent Everyday Dorie: the Way I Cook. The new cookbook features 125 casual recipes, that she makes for family and friends.
Her goal, she says, is to insert a surprise ingredient into a dish. Something unexpected and attention getting. For added interest, she’ll work walnuts into the meatball mixture or dried cranberries into a pasta dish.
“I don’t do fussy,” she says, “I do inviting and comforting.”
That’s my kinda cook!
