I’ve been getting a steady stream of inquires on the brick oven, like…when are you going to get off your butt and do more baking in that thing? The trouble is I have a fuel issue…i.e., I don’t have enough. Being so focused on building the thing it didn’t occur to me how much darn […]

File this under the “you know it’s spring when…” category. This is a particularly perfect specimen, made by the immensely talented Grazina (a.k.a. “Gina”) Biciunas-Santoski, owner of Healthy Food Lithuanian Restaurant on south Halsted street in Chicago. I just happened to be there for breakfast yesterday morning, wolfing down my usual order of kugelis (a […]

It’s your lucky day. Today is Cinco de Mayo, the anniversary of the battle of Puebla in 1862, when Mexican forces defeated the occupying French under Napoleon III. So the legend goes, the bulk of the fighting was done by simple Mexican farmers armed with nothing more than rakes and shovels. History has since revealed […]

By now everyone, regardless of whether they follow horse racing or not, knows what happened at the Derby on Saturday. A filly with more heart than leg strength ran herself out trying to beat Big Brown, and had to be put down just moments afterward. I can say it has cast a pall over Louisville, […]

The weathermen are saying there’s a decent chance of rain tomorrow, which might change things for you last-minute wagerers out there. Sloppy tracks mean fortune favors the “mudders”, i.e. horses that run well on wet ground. This year Visionaire is being touted as a mudder to contend with. Take it for what it’s worth.

It’s 70, the sun is out, the flowers are in bloom and the mint juleps are pouring. Oh, and the horses are running, that too. Today is Oaks day, that being the day of the all-fillies “Oaks” race over at Churchill Downs. Oaks day was once upon a time ladies’ day at the track, however […]

This morning was our annual crack-of-dawn family pilgrimage to Churchill Downs to inspect the entrants for this year’s Kentucky Derby. Everyone who knows me knows what an astute judge of horse flesh I am, so I can only hope you waited to call your bookie in anticipation of this late breaking baker-on-the-scene report. Actually I […]

Longtime reader a frequent commenter Sally C. remarks: I have to assume if one has a fruit tree in their yard that they know if they pick off the bloom to make an infusion, they will have no fruit there. Excellent point.

You can make infusions. Which is to say you can extract the flavor and aroma of flowers using boiling water or steam. The result can be used as a component of a sorbet, a “fruit soup”, juice, jelly or sauce. An infusion, if it’s concentrated enough, can also be used in custard. The milder variety […]