I don’t know that I’ve ever had apple fritters before, but the idea has always sounded great to me. So I decided to make some. There are hundreds of recipes out on the web and they’re all very different from each other in terms of proportions. I settled on a bit of a hybrid from…
Falafel and Pita Bread
I’m not sure when I first had falafel – probably sometime during or after college. It’s not something that was easy to come by in Kansas, where I grew up, and I don’t recall seeing it very frequently in outstate Minnesota either. Whenever I first tried it, I enjoyed it. I’ve made it a few…
Double Crust Chicken Pie
I’m not sure exactly where this recipe originated. I got it from my mom a long time ago, and I’ve modified it some to simplify it because I’m lazy. This is a great meal for a cold day – hot, full of carbs, and very rich. This uses baking mix (a.k.a. Bisquick) but if you…
Sweet Roll Dough
This is a super easy dough that I use for crescent rolls every holiday dinner. The kids love these, and I don’t complain about it either. The dough can also be used for cinnamon rolls and other pastries very easily. Ingredients 5 to 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour 2 packets yeast (instant is probably…
Remote Work
With SARS-CoV-2 spreading across the world, and the dramatic and sudden impacts it’s having on our everyday lives, I’ve been thinking quite a lot about the nature of remote work. I’ve been working remotely (notice I don’t say “from home” here) for over 20 years. Between 1999 and 2004, I worked remotely for at least…
Blueberry Tart
With recent advances in automated harvesting technologies, blueberries are really inexpensive. I remember when they were $3-4 per pint as a good price – now you can frequently find them in the stores for half that. I really like blueberries, but generally only either very fresh just off the bush, or baked in desserts. Here’s…
Violin
So, I made a violin. This was a really long process, starting around 2003. I don’t know quite why I decided to do this, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. I started by getting the book Violin Making, Step-by-step by Henry Strobel. I’d read that it was a good introduction to…
Mozzarella Cheese
One thing our kids really like is cheese. A few years back, I got the book Home Cheese Making by Ricki Carroll, along with a starter cheesemaking kit. One of the first cheeses I made was her “30-minute Mozzarella” which seriously takes under 30 minutes from start to finish. The supplies you need to make…
Chocolate Cheesecake
This is, without a doubt, the best chocolate cheesecake I have ever had. I make this recipe at least a couple times a year, and we always manage to eat the whole thing within a few days. This recipe is adapted from Luscious Chocolate Desserts by Lori Longbotham. I haven’t found any bad recipes in…
Crepes
Starting when my daughter was about two years old, crepes have been one of her favorite breakfast meals. We started out referring to them as “flat pancakes” and although that term has mostly died out in our household, we still manage to have them a few times every year. It’s been a tradition for the…