There's no Pretending about Good Cooking.

Perhaps I should just make a goal of one post a week. That might be a better way to ease into things.

This post has somewhat of a double entendre. Last weekend (in most ways) was incredibly productive for me. Not only did I assist in the putting up (and taking down) of a successful three-night showing of Horton Foote's Dividing the Estate, but I also cooked an entire meal for the cast to be used in the show each night. A meal that was apparently far more delicious than I had even imagined. As cooking is a passion along with pleasing others, I'm sure you can understand my delight at being so well received. With that said, I would like to take the time to describe part of the meal to you through this quote from "Pauline".

"Everything certainly looks good. Sweet potatoes with marshmallows and pecans are my favorite."

And so it was good. Of course, there was far more to be had than the aforementioned traditional southern dish I vowed I would never make (though I assure you I am not, by any means, above eating it). There were also poached green beans, maple-roasted ham, and cheddar garlic biscuits. Are you drooling yet? Good. Fear not, though, I will not leave you mopping up your keyboard empty-handed. Should any of the dishes listed here strike your fancy, I plan to divulge the recipes just for you. These recipes were found elsewhere and then adapted for my own purposes. Keep in mind that I do not tend to measure and thus many of the measurements for "flavors" are just rough estimates.

Baking Powder Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

As adapted from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook

2 cups Flour

1/2 tsp Salt

4 tsps Baking Powder

1 tbsp Sugar

1/2 cup Vegetable Shortening

2/3 cup Milk

1/2 cup Grated Cheddar Cheese

2 tsps Dried Parsley

1 tsp (to taste) Garlic Powder

1 tsp Finely Ground Black Pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease two 8-inch cake pans (or whatever works). Combine all of the dry ingredients (including the cheese) in a large bowl. Cut the shortening into the mix until it resembles coarse meal. Add the milk and stir until it forms a ball around the utensil. Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead 14 times. Pat until 1/2 inch thick. Cut into rounds. Place touching each other in the cake pans and bake for 15-20 minutes. If cut with a 2-inch cutter, it should yield about 16 biscuits.

Sweet Potato Casserole

Adapted from a recipe found on Allrecipes.com

For the Potatoes:

4 cups Sweet Potato, Peeled and Cubed

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

2 Eggs, Beaten

1/2 tsp Salt

4 tbsps Butter, Softened

1/2 cup Milk

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

All of the spices listed below are used to taste. If you want it to have a kick, up the chile powder. If you love ginger, up that.

1/2 tsp Ginger (Powder)

1 tsp each of Chile Powder, Salt, and Finely Ground Pepper

For the Topping:

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1/3 cup Flour

3 tbsps Butter, Softened

1/2 cup Chopped Pecans

1 1/2 cups (estimated) mini-marshmallows

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Put peeled, chooped sweet potatoes into a pot with enough water to cover. Boil until tender. Drain and mash well.
2. Mix together sweet potatoes, sugar, eggs, salt, butter, milk, and vanilla until smooth. Transfer to a 9x13 baking dish.
3. Mix together sugar and flour. Cut in the butter until coarse. Stir in the pecans. Sprinkle over the sweet potatoes.
4. Bake for 30 minutes or until the topping is lightly brown. Top with marshmallows and bake until lightly browned.

Humor that Flies Over Head

I apologize. My intention for this blog is to post in it as near to every day as possible. Sometimes, though, time gets away from us. Last weekend, time made quite a show of itself in the form of my great-gram's 100th birthday. Having lived many years with the belief that that side of the family was infinitesimal as compared to my mother's side, it was quite an experience to be standing in my gram's tiny house with no fewer than 1 great-gram, 5 great uncles, 2 great aunts, 1 aunt, 1 father, 3 second-cousins, and numerous family friends. I heard many stories about the town, family members I don't know, and my dad as a kid. Each story was as incredible and amusing as the last.

That being said, though, this post is about one of the moments of humor experienced not with my family, but with(in) the book I was reading.

"...'I'm also a master of boil-in-the-bag. Eating for one. Living on my own. Bit of a crusty old bachelor. Actually, in the papers, that always means gay, doesn't it? Not gay, just never met the right woman.' And for a moment, he looked rather sad."

--Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book.

Teehee! I love how things like this can be slipped into young adult fiction! I don't know if it's a bigger reflection of Gaiman's audacity or of the changing times. I'm sure many who read this book will giggle at the line just as I did, and just as my father did when I read it to him. Of course, there are others who will immediately ban the book just based on this one sentence. And when asked to defend their argument, they'll suddenly come up with many other provocative lines that they never saw before. But then, what good is a piece of literature if it doesn't tick someone off?