Easy Ice Cream Cake

Roughing it up at the lake without a food processor, Bruce suggested that the gehawker (not sure of the spelling) would work better than a fork and he was right.  This handy tool helped speed up the process of crushing cookies (use plain chocolate wafers) into fine crumbs for the ice cream cake crust.  (Reserve [...]

Bagels in Burkina!

So here they are.  I finally figured out the process of how to post.  Of course I would have done this last weekend but we did not have Internet for a while and assumed it was a typical problem of living in Burkina.  Then when the repair man showed up and plugged the phone line [...]

More on Len’s 50th

The previous post was a nice synopsis, but there sure were lots of other really tasty treats…like the 7 Layer Dip, Meryl’s ginger cookies, those fabulous Bartwiches on the boat, Bruce’s midnight steaks, tons of everything bagels (which we did not even attempt to make this weekend) with belly lox, Sandy’s Baked Beans, the Magic Bars, [...]

Highlights of the weekend

Steamers! – If you can get Maine clams, and get BC to cook them, you are golden.  Despite red tide, we were able to get Maine steamers ($3.99/lb) and they were great! BC makes a broth to die for and several were just sipping it from mugs at the table.  Since he never uses recipes, [...]

Planning a lobster bake without a beach

Following Judi’s lead with the trial run, we are planning to cook 25 lobsters in buckets over firepits tomorrow afternoon.  Of course, it would be nice to do the real thing on a beach, but digging a trench and lining with rocks (wet rocks can explode, I read), this way seems much simpler.  Fears of [...]

Clafoutis….what the heck is a clafoutis?

Actually, we are long time fans of the clafoutis, which first grabbed our attention at French Memories on Charles Street in Boston. Not quite a cake or a tart, but a combination of both filled with cherries and some soft, almost custardy surroundings.  Here’s the one we made last night in a cast iron skillet from a recipe on Kim [...]

Brats n’beer

With no time to shop and me commuting over 2 hours per day this week, Len took over making dinner (well, first we ate the fabulous leftover gumbo that Peg made on Saturday).  We also had some bratworst sitting around.  Len found a great way to cook them – with beer and onions.  Basically, you [...]

the trial run

We completed the first run of the lobster bake and it went quite well; i didn’t believe that it would all cook in 45 minutes, but the recipe was right, soooo, wasn’t quite ready with the extras. there’s a little bit of prep work, salads done, chicken grilled, butter melted, broth for steamers. i would [...]

Bagel blues

Well, I tried again, using the King Arthur method.  The dough looked nice, but things went a bit downhill after.  They lost their shape in the water and looked more like bialies, then after cooking the way KA says – 25 minutes at 425, flipping after 15 minutes, they still tasted raw and tough.  So, [...]

Comforting sandwiches for dinner

B loves sandwiches, so to combat the cool and dismal summer weather, I decided to make some hearty sandwiches for dinner.  Of course, these involved grilled chicken, so someone had to stand out in the rain, but it was worth it.  THis recipe came from a recent issue of Martha Stewart’s Living magazine.  You marinate [...]