Kitchen Disasters

Brunch with Julie Van Rosendaal and friends

September 30, 2011

If you told me that I’d end my brunch at Julie Van Rosendaal’s by stomping across her breakfast bench in my dress boots and spraying her windows with canola oil, I’d have dismissed your prediction as crazy. Sane or not, you’d have been right. My table manners are usually more refined, but we were trying [...]

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Food Processors – Too Much of a Good Thing?

October 15, 2010

I’ve been sitting on this post for a few days, not sure what to say. I had planned a feature-by-handy-feature appliance review, but feel I should issue a PSA instead. You see, I broke down and bought a food processor a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I find myself embroiled in a fervent love-hate [...]

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Peach and Blueberry Upside-Down Cake Recipe

August 23, 2010

If you drop an upside-down cake on its head does it revert to plain old cake? Sadly, no. It just becomes yet another item to file under “Kitchen Disasters.” The only advice I can give you, other than not to drop the final dish, is to resist the temptation to make this in a spring [...]

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Broken

August 19, 2010

In place of my scheduled peach post, I’m paying tribute to three fallen friends who gave their structural integrity in the name of food. Yesterday, as I carried a box laden with cake, bowls, wooden cutting boards and knives to the car, senseless tragedy struck Christie’s Corner. One small misstep on the back porch and [...]

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Candied Flowers — Part 2

July 7, 2010

Ten days left to my sister’s garden wedding and I’m beginning to panic. My mom and I are making the wedding cake, and planned on decorating it with blooms from our gardens. But none of the flowers are paying any attention to their carefully co-ordinated schedules. In an ill-advised burst of speed, the rambling rose [...]

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I’m back!

June 28, 2010

I’m back. Andrew’s back. The cats are back. And we’re all pretty please about it. Even the Gerber daisies perked up for the occasion. After three months of camping out in my parents’ guest room we’re once again residing in our own home. And loving the renovation results. Of course, now the living room looks [...]

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When recipes fail

February 25, 2010

Dull winter days. Steaming hot bowls of soup. A hunk of cheese and a slice of bread makes it a meal. Wouldn’t you just love the recipe for this delicious, nutritious, palate-pleasing cold weather solution? Well, I’m not giving it to you. Not because I’m mean or precious. I’m withholding the recipe because my would-be [...]

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Leaky Pipes

February 22, 2010

Technically, our leak wasn’t as bad as this photo. Emotionally? I felt like I was the Dutch kid asked to stick his finger in the dike. One false move and lives would be lost, houses swept away and my name would forever be synonymous with “failure”. Those of you who think I exaggerate forget the [...]

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Marcy Goldman’s Apple-Raspberry Patchwork Crostata

January 6, 2010

We have a tradition in our house. One of us usually kicks off the new year with a kitchen disaster. Last year, I discovered dried beans can, in fact, go stale. This year? I botched the pastry. What else? I learned the hard way parchment paper isn’t always my friend. On the upside, I didn’t [...]

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Microwave mistakes

December 18, 2009

In the immortal words of my disaster-prone husband, “It’s okay! The fire’s out!” Only it was my turn to bellow this comforting phrase as I doused the flaming object in running water. Ever wonder what would happen should you soften butter in the microwave and use the foil wrapper instead of a plate? Well, wonder [...]

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Moroccan-Inspired Nectarine and Plum Chicken

September 24, 2009

I wish you could reproduce this recipe exactly as I made it. But you can’t. Unless you mess up your preserves like I did. A few weeks ago, I attempted a homemade mixed-fruit ketchup. But I was so busy “multitasking” I missed the small but crucial word “EACH” in the ingredient list. Instead of adding [...]

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