Southern Sweet: Buttermilk Pie (from Oak Alley Plantation; Vacherie, Louisiana)

It was 1992, and I had been in college (the first time) for a year.  I was newly engaged that August, and I talked my now-ex into taking me to the 100th Anniversary of Peter Illyitch Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker.  I love the ballet anyway, but the prospect of going to that particular production, even in…

Don’t eat no meat? Oh that’s okay. I’ll make…Lamb Shanks Braised in White Wine and Garlic

I’ve never cooked lamb before.  I’ve had it, sure.  Mostly in Greek restaurants or Greek-run steakhouses, and it’s always been tasty and rich.  But cooking it myself?  I used to be intimidated by it because it was never fixed in my house growing up.  It seemed difficult.  Well, I was wrong!  Pleasantly wrong. INGREDIENTS 1.5…

If someone asks you if you’re a god, you say yes! : Double chocolate Heath cookies

With the holidays coming in just a few short weeks, the baking season is upon us.  Even with the weight of grad school papers and presentations and the like bearing down on my shoulders, stealing my sanity, I have made time for baking in the last two weeks.  In a way, this has helped me…

Sweets and spicy: Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies

Autumn arrives, and we all do it.  We all get into the mood for crisp days and evenings and for our homes to smell like cinnamon from all the baking we want to do.  Well, here’s a recipe that takes chocolate chip cookies and spices them up for autumn. INGREDIENTS 2 c. flour 1 tsp…