Traverse City Record-Eagle - Sally Ketchum: In The Kitchen

In the Kitchen: Spring, Jefferson, E.E., me
Dear readers, you'll have to forgive me if I wax poetic, even a little sentimental, because I have a terminal case of spring fever. In a poetic moment, I feel earth spontaneously giving up spring to me. Oh, I have other reasons, too -- like a soup recipe and a love letter from a man in Interlochen.
In the Kitchen: Here's to wonderful readers
Writers like to be read. Journalists love readers and appreciate feedback -- even negative feedback, because it means that someone is reading their "cherished" words. I guess it is something like publicity; you know, the politicians say that even bad publicity is publicity and that's good. Over the years, I've had such a variety of mail and e-mail that it's impossible to anticipate what's next.
In the Kitchen: Start steak with doodles
Doodling is good. Doodle experts say that doodling keeps our minds from drifting off the subject at hand. But, beware! If we try turn our doodles into art, then doodling is a distraction. For serious writing -- school, business or love letters -- I am a huge proponent of "prewriting," warming up to write in various ways. Doodling is one of those ways. I'm going to push this technique today; I'm going to start with a kitchen doodle, see where it goes and aim to end with Alphabet Soup with Doodles.
In the Kitchen: Woes of a week
Country living is usually serene, at least in magazines. But serenity fled our country kitchen last week. Consider the pancake problem: The local country store doesn't carry a good brand of pancake syrup. I shouldn't complain, but He-Who-Must-Be-Fed likes certain elements of his life to stay the same.
In the Kitchen: Pork Pie only thrilled half
Ladies, are the roses wilted yet? Your Valentine roses? (Of course, we know that you gentlemen readers are off to work, shorts unseen, but covered with little red hearts to warm you.) But, ladies -- surely roses arrived Saturday, or chocolates. I, of course, wore my rubies and pearls all weekend, as I wear my emerald earrings at Christmas. He-Who-Must-Be-Fed loves them -- for two reasons.
In the Kitchen: Across culinary curriculum
Happy Groundhog Day! I don't know whether that puppy is seeing his shadow in your yard or not, but as to the question, "Are we northerners tough enough to get through more winter?" The answer has got to be: "Yes, we can!" That settled, after watching some TV panels discussing education, I felt the old teacher in me rising.
In the Kitchen: More than manners
Today, America observes Martin Luther King, Jr.'s 1929 birthday, and today I think of my first experience meeting a black person, a steward in the dining car of one of America's great railroad lines, The Great Northern.
In the Kitchen: New kitchen strategies
For more than 10 years, I've written New Year's resolutions that relate to cooking and kitchen in the year's first column. This year, because I am not only trying to take leave from bad habits, but also be a better food and kitchen manager, I have a long list, but I'll keep my resolutions to 10 and report what else is happening in this cottage home of ours.
In the Kitchen: Two hopping tales
These are two different tales, but they have similar settings -- crowded stores, big bargains, accidents and endings. Therein lies the tale, a message: The ends are far different. The first story you know -- a Wal-mart store employee opening the doors is trampled to death by frenzied shoppers seeking bargains. The second one involves people's reactions.
In the Kitchen: Suspect cookie exchanges
Cookie exchanges might bring people together, but I've got to say I'm suspicious, if not cynical, about these gatherings now. Some years back the ladies of our subdivision in Williamsburg, mostly working women, attended an evening cookie exchange. First, it was disastrous because each woman was really too busy with her own family to give up an evening during the holiday season.
In the Kitchen: Eating through lazy days
In our family routine, we sometimes have truly lazy days, maybe unplanned or traditional, like New Year's Day. Sometimes we are just too tired to dig into a new day after we've finished a doing the taxes or blowing 8 inches of snow off the long drive. As the years pass, we find we are having more lazy days. Thus, the question is, how are we going to eat when we aren't going to do anything -- like cooking?
Sally Ketchum: Soothing mind, body, soul
More wordplay: When we say the word, "soothe," we can draw it out as when we say, "ooze." Then we end the word, "soothe" with a little puff that blows out some of our worries and misery. As a food writer, I'm supposed to know about food and drink. Both -- like most things -- can be for good, sustenance and pleasure, or the evil, indulgence and ruin of health.
In the Kitchen: Shaping food attitudes
Hunting for interesting food subjects, I thought of how my father and brother ate, and also how my mother, who fed dad, Dick, and me, approached food. Young and uncritical then, I just ate. Actually, as mother cooked up various meals of suspicious quality, she not only fed my dad and brother, but also shaped their attitudes and preferences about food.
In the Kitchen: Best, worst of mealtimes
While I'm thinking of the coming winter meals -- those soups made with real soup bones, gravy-smothered pot roasts, and stews with dumplings -- I think of the "ends" of meals, too, the afterglow or the disappointments, fortuitous or dismal closures.
In the Kitchen: Planning dinner around school
Back to school also means hectic days with different schedules for different kids. We are so busy nowadays, and also, it seems more kids are determined "to do it all," and kids doing all is mighty hard on the parents, especially working mothers. Fatigue after a hard day can leave even the most creative, brainiest of cooks left with that question, "What can I fix for dinner?"
Hands On: Restaurant owner opens up kitchen for demos
Chef Gio, of Gio's Trattoria Grill, is more than happy to welcome visitors into his new state of the art kitchen. In fact, he will even share recipes and cooking tips with interested food-lovers.
In the Kitchen: Do I dare eat a peach?
If Shakespeare wasn't thinking of peaches when he said, "the ripest fruit falls first," James Whitcomb Riley nailed the elusive spirit of the fruit when he wrote, "The ripest peach is the highest on the tree." But, it is T.S. Eliot that said it all with his middle age, yearning, Prufrock pondering, "Do I dare to eat a peach?"
Firefighters douse TC kitchen blaze
Fire crews extinguished a weekend kitchen fire in Traverse City at 1018 Washington St. at about 8 p.m. Saturday.
In the Kitchen: Good, bad & pretend cooks
I got to thinking about home cooks the other day. It occurred to me that there are good cooks who know they cook well and good cooks that don't know it. Likewise, there are bad cooks who think they cook well, but also bad cooks that admit they can't cook well. Further, some folks don't cook at all!
In the Kitchen: The truth about chard
How can one not like chard? Beautiful, enticing chard, and now in rainbow colors? Magical chard ... watching the half bushel of chard simmering down to a few cups of a spinach look-alike vegetable, only begging for a spoonful of butter, margarine or olive oil spread.
In the Kitchen: Add bling to your baking
Knowing that when my kids went back to school, the teachers' first assignments would center around, "What I did this summer," I always tried to give my children exciting and educational experiences to report. But my ploy never worked, in fact, it usually backfired.
In the Kitchen: Potluck dishes have stories
Good luck, bad luck, in an American summer, it's often potluck. We hear "potluck" and a long table laden with slow cookers and salads comes to mind. It's funny, isn't it? Common words do have specific meanings, but we hear them so often that the words are reduced to just a label. "Potluck?" Gotcha.
In the Kitchen: Love stories around food
One June some years ago, He-Who-Must-Be-Fed made reservations for dinner at Ellsworth's Tapawingo, asking for our favorite table because it was our anniversary. When the menu arrived, the line across the top read "Happy Anniversary Ketchums!" Happy memories flooded back at the unexpected message printed on such an impressive menu. Call it true love, call it looking at love through rose-colored classes or naïve romanticism, but that dinner is part of a love story.
In the Kitchen: Cooking shows you care
The cook has concern, even worry, about target diners. Cooking for yourself is easiest. Then, you might, as He-Who-Must-Be-Fed does, spoon chili from can to mouth over the sink. In this case, "fine dining" then means the right brand, with beans. My friend Glenn says that good cooks cook best for those they love.
In the Kitchen: Spring brings light & fancy
These are the days, the warm days of May and June, when women get spring fever of a feminine kind. It's a spring fever different from the lustier urge that men feel. In spring, men yearn to cast lines into cold waters, hear the crack of baseball bats, linger at motorcycle showrooms and bring out well-worn, but bright, short-sleeved shirts. But women yearn for gentler things.
In the Kitchen: Oil & water a delightful combo
If you put Republicans and Democrats at the same dinner table, you might be apt to say that oil and water don't mix, as the old adage predicts. But then, there is also the saying, "Politics makes strange bedfellows." The handy thing about the old saws is that there seems to be one for every point of view.
In the Kitchen: Spring thoughts of asparagus
The sun is bright today, so bright that the light reflecting off the snow is glaring -- a case for sunglasses. The fishery next door brought in heavy equipment this week, the kind needed to move the snow from the pier, and this morning I saw a truck going up and down the pier. These are signs of spring in far northern Michigan.
In the Kitchen: Might be manners, or education
I suppose we all pretty much watch what we eat. Certainly food writers are especially aware of their Peas and Quick breads. Most folks watch intelligently, not compulsively. Seems like common sense to me. But, sometimes, I like to extend "the watch" to watching other people eat, what they eat, and how they eat.
In the Kitchen: Go green with brussels sprouts
March seems to have something for everyone; pessimists cite the Ides of March, optimists stretch to claim even a small amount of Irish luck. (He-Who-Must-Be-Fed claims his Welsh is close enough, and he champions leeks, the national flower-vegetable of Wales).
In the Kitchen: What mom didn't know
My focus today is "niggles." I think of a niggle as something like a half-emerging idea that won't emerge fully. Frustrating. In some dictionaries, "niggle" means some sort of a peeve or complaint. Yes, my niggles are slightly peevish, but closer to annoying.
In the Kitchen: Family tales of fish
The first fish I recall seeing was a glowing red neon sign, a simply outlined lake fish, clearly a perch. I was about 4 or 5. Its head pointed to U.S. 23, near Bay City, northbound lane. Its tail pointed to Mike's, a popular roadhouse across the gravel parking lot.
In the Kitchen: Onion has many possibilities
For me, a Detroit child, the greatest of adventures were in the magnificent dime stores on Woodward Avenue. The most exciting of all pleasures were the live demonstrations of cookware, which comes to mind with the advent of TV infomercials and catalogs that hawk devices to make "onion flowers."
In the Kitchen: King crab a delight
With the exception of the Christmas tree, which stays up until Valentine's Day, the holidays are over. What is left, besides my son's green sweatshirt with a strange logo and a half-knit sock, is the memory of the holiday. As I write on a fogged-in day, these are the things I remember most:
In the Kitchen: Promising new year
Here we go again! New Year's resolutions time. Oh, promises, promises! What happened to those that I made last year? Time flies and, often, so do New Year's resolutions. I've been listing my resolutions in my last column each year, and I do so again, with other looks at my year, mostly connected with kitchen, cooking and eating.
In The Kitchen: Kitchens make memories
Oh, the Christmas kitchens! I remember many fondly, but for different reasons. Of course, I know what my Christmas kitchen is apt to be soon -- barring unexpected adventures or misadventures (as when someone in the merry crowd put the plastic container of chopped liver on the burner of the Mr. Coffee).
In the Kitchen: It's the little things
I got to thinking about the various menus for Christmas Eve, Christmas dinner, and perhaps a brunch in between, the prep work, cooking and the table setting itself. Though it's early, I have a hunch you readers already have a basic plan in place.
In the Kitchen: Blessings are in cooking
Thanksgiving wasn't around in Thomas Jefferson's time, but being a connoisseur of just about everything fine from wine to herbs, Jefferson's meals were an assortment of astounding kinds of dishes. I'm not certain that he cooked. I'll have to look into that. I don't think there is a portrait of the man with pan in an apron.
In the Kitchen: Desserts made from broken pecans
Between politics and international bad news, we sure can use good news. So I was delighted when Jane Willson wrote that the pecan harvest in Albany, Ga., is very good this year. I'm into that news since I always buy pecans from Jane's family's Sunnyland Farms. In its 59th year in business, the farm is large and well run.
Sally Ketchum: Uncle Bolumco, Columbus and me
Happy Columbus Day! Columbus has always interested me. He was a good guy to write school reports about and remembering the names of his three ships impressed fifth grade teachers. Of course, there is the story of why we are called America and not Columbia, Columbus Land, or Columbiana, as one scholar notes.
Sally Ketchum: A 'Dangerous' book needed for both boys and cooks
My apologies, Dear Reader, for starting off the subject of food, but I feel I ought to recommend an outstanding book, "The Dangerous Book for Boys."