Called out by The Pioneer Woman (she doesn't know it)

If any of you have not yet popped over to The Pioneer Woman's website, you should.  Just because it's something to see.  It's a phenomenon.  She has a huge number of followers, a cookbook, a memoir (of sorts), and now a children's book.  Plus, she's funny, a great photographer, an awesome cook (if you can get past all the butter), and she homeschools...on a ranch.  Let's just say she's got a lot going on.

I don't visit her site too often, mostly because it's a time suck for me.  I want to look at all the pretty pictures, check out all the new recipes, debate whether I'm willing to make them and my family's willing to eat them, etc.  But when I do visit, I'm always pleased.  Well I visited on Saturday and learned a little bit about cinnamon toast.

The Pioneer Woman will tell you there are several schools of thought regarding cinnamon toast.  And there is one that is the best, a couple that are pretty good, and one that it 'gross.'  You can probably guess where I'm going with this.  That's right, I'm owning up.  I make the gross cinnamon toast....and I like it.  I would have said it was delicious up until yesterday when I took TPW's advice, and tried THE WAY to make cinnamon toast.  Such a difference, I cannot even tell you.  Then again, I probably don't even have to, because you all probably don't make the gross version of cinnamon toast.  You may not even need TPW's advice, but obviously I do.  And did.  (And probably still do.)

Before:  I toasted, buttered, and sprinkled cinnamon sugar
After (a la The Pioneer Woman): I mashed up a mixture of butter, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla, spread it on the bread, and toasted that.  Crunchy, caramelized deliciousness!

So here's what I want to know...why hasn't someone tapped The Pioneer Woman for a cooking show??  I would sooooo watch her!  And take notes.  And learn how to bring back the butter.

Go make yourself some cinnamon toast--the good stuff.

Yummy Read

I've just finished a truly lovely, lyrical, dare I say delicious, novel. And even more special, it came to me in a somewhat roundabout way. I gave The School of Essential Ingredientsto a friend for her birthday after admiring the cover and thrilling over the gushing reviews. Last week I got an email from her, asking me if I'd read it and wondering if I'd like to, because she'd read it in a single sitting and LOVED it. How could I refuse? (Honestly I didn't even remember the name of the book until she told me). Despite her glowing review, I was a little wary. This is not my typical fare. Literary books tend to be a little deeper, and very often darker, than I like. My mixed-feelings about this book evaporated within the first five pages. It is written with such a delicate hand, full-to-bursting with evocative images and spot-on metaphors that I was instantly charmed.

It is about a girl who learned to cook while her mother was lost in books and how, all grown-up now, she enthusiastically teaches others. Not recipes or how-to's, just feeling and experiencing, adjusting to taste, doing what feels right. It is the story of seven strangers learning to cook and discovering that experiencing food in a new way fills the holes in their lives.

My friend told me that reading the book had made her want to cook something as soon as she was finished, and I couldn't imagine it having that effect on me. It has. Lately I've tried to get past my mini-phobia of dirty dishes piling up to do a little extra cooking. I ventured back the orchard and came home with a few more peaches and blackberries, a couple tomatoes, a handful of rosemary and a few sprigs of thyme. Since then I've make a peach cobbler, some homemade french fries seasoned with olive oil and rosemary, a chicken pot pie with fresh thyme, and homemade blackberry ice cream! Yay me!

Seriously though, I highly, highly recommend this book. I only wish the author had another novel ready for me to dive into.

Sidebar: If you're interested in winning a copy of my book, both Green Girl and Silver Strands are doing giveaways, so hop over there and get in on the action!

Food Network Junkie

I admit to having a little bit of a Food Network obsession. I don't watch much TV, and most of the TV I do watch is typically mutually agreed upon recorded programs I watch with my husband. When he's not home and I feel like watching, I invariably turn to the Food Network. And, really, I could sit there and watch just about any of those shows, because despite my MIL's reason for not watching (she can already cook), I feel like I learn a little something with almost every show I watch (even though, no matter what she'll tell you, I can cook too). Whether it's not to wash mushrooms and raspberries or the fact that cold butter is the key to flaky pastry.

Of course I have my favorites, and these change with my moods. If I'm in the mood for fantasy, I go for Barefoot Contessa. If I'm feeling competitive, Iron Chef is perfect, and if I'm feeling a bit cosmopolitan, I love to watch Diners, Drive-ins, & Dives. Its appeal is actually two-fold, as they highlight unique and excellent restaurants around the U.S. and they get the chefs to give quick tutorials on how to make a couple of the restaurant's specialty items.

I'd been trying to keep track of some of these spots, in the event that I ever visited the city in question, but I'm getting overloaded with must-visits. So, I'm thinking of dedicating one of my many currently blank journals to future culinary vacation spots and roadtrip stops. I do occasionally get the urge to try out one of the featured recipes myself (after cutting a couple ingredients, substituting a few more, simplifying and generally trying to cut fat and calories), so it's a win-win, even if the final product only vaguely resembles its inspiration.

A new favorite is The Best Thing I Ever Ate, where celebrity chefs and restaurant owners highlight their favorite foods in a given category. On Friday's episode, one of the guys' favorite snacks was a particular pickle, so they did a little piece on this homemade pickle company...and I think, just maybe, I can adjust my own delicious pickle recipe (a la Emeril) to make it a little easier. Awesome!

I will tell you that I'm sort a cooking celebrity in my house too. For years, while my boys were eating lunch or dinner, I'd stand at the kitchen island cooking and pretend I was doing a cooking show--my mom even made me a stand-up sign. The boys loved being 'audience members' and insisted on seeing into the bowl after ever step. I really could have used one of those overhead mirrors hanging from the ceiling in my kitchen... Maybe someday.