Pound cake got its name from its original recipe, dating back to 1796, which called for a pound each of butter, eggs, sugar, and flour. A successful pound cake should be moist, buttery, dense yet light and full of flavor. Here’s the recipe I have used for years and the one that gets the most requests,…
Category: Fun Facts
Balsamic: The Real Deal or Knock Off?
Did you know that real aged balsamic vinegar actually costs anywhere from $75 to $400 or more? Here are a few reasons why: Balsamic vinegar is NOT like other vinegars. What defines vinegar is the fermentation of alcohol — typically wine but also beer or cider — into acetic acid. Red wine vinegar, white wine…
The Magical Properties of Herbs & Spices: The Mysterious & Prosperous 6
We’ve devoted a post to foods that boost good luck and fortune for the New Year. Even an appetizer recipe as a formula for good luck , but what about herbs and spices? Ancient Pharaohs laid in their final resting places filled with spices of various kinds blended by the perfumers’ art. Plumes of ritualistic, burning…
7 Prosperous Good Luck Foods for the New Year
“Out with the old in with the new.” This age old wish rings true in most every home on New Year’s Eve and Day. Why not welcome in the year proper with the addition of your favorite foods to ensure good fortune? Here are the wondrous 7 to help lead the way. Fish Fish are…
Want to Spice Up Your Weekend? Have a Christmas Leftovers Party!
Want to Spice Up Your Weekend? Have a Leftovers Party! Plan a Christmas leftovers party for a day or two after the conclusion of the Merry Day to avoid wasted or food gone bad. Serve the fare in a similar fashion to the holidays, or create a variety of dishes from the leftovers such as…
Culinary Reflections “Travels Through Christmas” by Jackson Stones
“Travels Through Christmas” by Jackson Stones Through my work and holidays I have been lucky to have traveled to many countries. Some of these were during the Christmas period, so I thought of recalling some of those memories here. I remember some of the Christmas dinners, yet as I was writing this I noticed how…
Christmas Fare of Film & Song “Figgy Pudding” from “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” & a little history
Christmas Tradition ~ Figgy pudding is a very old Christmas tradition. Also called Christmas pudding, it is traditionally made on the Sunday before Advent. This was called “Stir-Up Sunday”. Making good old time Christmas foods is much easier today than it was in the distant past. To make an old favorite, like Figgy pudding, one…
Reflections: “Christmas I Knew” By The Co-Author of Our Cookbooks Ken Bayliss
If you have ever read, or seen the film of Dylan Thomas’ A Child’s Christmas in Wales you have an idea of my early version of Christmas. Growing up forty miles from him, and thirty three years after him, things were not too dissimilar. The coal fire, glowing red and encouraged by my father for…
Some Favorite Foods of Famous, and Infamous, People by Ken Bayliss Co-Author of The “Once Upon a Spice” Cookbook Series!
They say we are what we eat, yet if you look at what some famous people ate, you would wonder. For instance, Charlie Chaplin had a very difficult childhood and ended up famous and very rich. Yet one of his favorite foods was tripe, the stomach of a cow. Not only that but tripe stinks….
Christmas! Eat Drink & Be Merry! Holiday Fare of Film & Song! “Let it Snow!” Popcorn Garland
“Oh the weather outside is frightful But the fire is so delightful And since we’ve got no place to go Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!! Oh, it doesn’t show signs of stopping And I’ve brought some corn for popping The lights are turned way down low Let It Snow! Let It…
Once Upon a Spice 