How do you improve perfection? Butter does it. This is not an ad (unfortunately no dairy pays me), but rather a cook’s mantra: butter makes everything better. For example, take two of the world’s best cheeses—a soft, sweet-silky Brie and an aristocratic, richly robust Gorgonzola, add as much butter as each cheese will hold (and [...]
Sweet Leisure
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Monthly Archives December 2009
CONDIMENTS FOR CHEESE
Take an assortment of fine cheeses, arrange them on a cheese board or tray and you have a great dish for a party. Dress up the tray with cheese bling-bling and it’s even better.
The following cheese condiment recipes come from The American Club in Kohler, Wisconsin. This AAA Five Diamond resort hotel is famous not [...]
IRISH COFFEE
There is a trick to making Irish coffee. Connoisseurs agree that the cream on top of the coffee should float in a neat, separate layer without seeping. Again, tricky. In order to learn the technique, you might have to make the drink over and over and over again—-which is the perfect time to remember your [...]
CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT TRUFFLES
ATTENTION HOLIDAY SHOPPERS: Aisle 11, 13 and 20 are impassable, the checkout line stretches around the block and the parking lot is full. Oh, and don’t forget the weather outside is frightful. “Nuts!” you might say, and you would be right. ‘Tis definitely the season to stay home and make your Christmas gifts.
Which brings us [...]
GOLDEN VEGETABLE SOUP
Call it a chameleon—not that it changes color from its vivid sweet-potato orange—but this soup is so versatile it perfectly fits into a variety of dining situations. With a little tweaking, it can be vegetarian, super low calorie or even fat free. Serve it cold at picnics or barbecues or hot at family fall and [...]
TURKS AND CAICOS
Just returned from a fabulous trip to my favorite archipelago, Turks and Caicos—40 islands and cays strung along the blue neck of the Atlantic Ocean like gorgeous shimmering pearls. I stayed on the main island, Providenciales, or “Provo” as locals call it, in Ocean Club West—a peaceful, lushly landscaped resort with individually owned condos renting [...]
