Edible Antics - Having Fun With Food

New Year 2010 Gets Off To A Grateful Start With Thank-You Parties And Gifts

Today I'm not cooking, just eating. Unable to pitch the left-over holiday sweets, I'm snacking on them as I dismantle the Christmas tree and box-up decorations. Yes, by tonight the bows, bells, and St. Nick statues will be gone and the normal, every-day knick-knacks will be back. But there is something lingering in the post-holiday air. And that something is the quiet calm of gratitude.  

The gratitude may be just a feeling of relief, -relief that I'd done it again. I'd decorated, baked, cooked, shopped, and entertained my way successfully through another Christmas. I'd transmitted our culture's magic of Christmas to my children and they had smiled. Yes, that accomplishment is definitely one to be grateful for.

And I'm not alone in feeling grateful that we successfully "got-through" Christmas. Retailers and holiday-service providers are also breathing sighs of relief. At the company I work for, Wisconsinmade.com, we enjoyed the months-long, holiday-shopping season during which we helped people send gifts across the country. It was busy, fast-paced, and even fun, and now we'll return to normal schedules and work-loads. But all is not normal yet, first we'll have a holiday party in which we thank each other for jobs very well done. At our up-coming holiday party we'll recognize each person's contribution to making Wisconsinmade.com work. It's true; I'm not kidding. It took all of us to get those kringles to Idaho, that Babcock ice cream to Texas, those Badger sweatshirts to Indiana, those pottery crocks to California, those gift baskets to New York, those bratwursts to New Jersey, and that cheese to Iraq. Ours was a team effort coordinated with our teammates, the 250 artisans throughout Wisconsin who make our company 'Wisconsinmade'.

In these opening weeks of the new year Wisconsinmade is just one of thousands of companies, organizations, groups, and clubs that are holding thank-you parties. In fact, I'm going to a thank-you party tonight. The party's pot-luck and I have to bring something. But I'm cooked-out. What to bring that I can make in the next 30 minutes? Not to worry, I'll think of something; I always do. Now isn't that a hopeful outlook for 2010?  Happy new year everyone. Keep reading if you want some suggestions for thoughtful thank-you gifts.

Swiss Krabeli Are Springerle Are Traditional Christmas Cookies Are Very Special Gifts

In this holiday season, I'm exploring traditional cooking from the different ethnic groups that settled Wisconsin. Last week I baked Swedish Pepparkakor and now Swiss Krabeli. I chose the Swiss Krabeli recipe because 1) it is flavored with anise (licorice), 2) it's flavored with lemon, and 3) the recipe looked easy. Only as I sit down to write and turn to the web to learn about Swiss krabeli do I learn that these cookies have been baked since medieval times. Also known as springerle, these cookies might be considered the 'original' Christmas gifts.

Springerle originated in the area which today is a combination of southern Germany, the Alsace region of France, and parts of Switzerland. The cookies were first baked in crescent shapes and later the dough was pressed into and baked in wooden molds into which scenes of holidays and special occasions had been carved. These specially-molded cookies were given as gifts.

Molded springerle cookies look so beautiful that this sweet treat can resist being eaten. Because they harden and do not spoil as ordinary foods do, springerle cookies can be enjoyed for years as special keepsakes. Today there is a resurgence of giving springerle cookies as gifts of ornaments for the Christmas tree.  Click on "continue reading..." for a springerle recipe.

Banana Bread And Coconut Milk - Wisconsin Food If Wisconsin Were South Of The Border

If Wisconsin farmers raised bananas would Wisconsin milk grow on trees? Blustery-gray, November weather has Wisconsinites cheering when the thermometer tops 50. As winter blows in, we now greet each other with commiserating remarks about our impending deep freeze. Few are happy about it, most give a resigned gripe. But it could have been different, and if so, would we be any happier?

If Wisconsin had been located south of the border, we could be growing bananas. Our Welsh fore-bearers, the original Badgers, would have carried banana bread into the mines rather than turnip pasties. But think of the sacrifice. Our milk would come from a nut, - a nut that grows high in a tree, - a tree so high that one must climb to harvest it. This  nut is so dense that it must be hacked at with a knife to split it open. And then only a thin, semi-sweet, high-in-the-wrong-type-of-fat, pale liquid spills out everywhere which we would call "milk"? Would our children be happy with this milk-substitute? Consider how good we have it now.

Click on "Continue reading..." for the rest of the pep talk and a recipe for banana bread with coconut.

Wisconsin Hunting Season Starts With A Hunt For Homemade Peasant Bread Recipe

I heard gunshots this morning. The sun wasn't up and somebody was shooting firearms in the woods. Has hunting season already begun? And which animal was the intended prey, - human or non-human? Perhaps some heinous murder happened over that way. But likely not. For sanity's sake, I'm assuming the gunshots were aimed at game, meaning turkeys, squirrels, rabbits, grouse, pheasant, fox, deer, mourning doves, you name it. If it  flies or runs on four legs, some Wisconsinite has considered shooting and eating it. Fall is hunting season in Wisconsin, and the over-abundant turkeys and deer are free food for any who are skilled enough to get it.

Wisconsin has a deeply-grained hunting tradition. Hunting parties comprised of multiple generations within a family walk through the woods, sit in trees, and stand very still. Often they're easy to spot; everybody's wearing electric orange. Deer don't see electric orange, they perceive it as brown. But those birds, now those birds are the crafty ones, many bird species perceive a broader spectrum of colors than do humans. Hard to fool the birds with orange. Better dress in camouflage and be extra quiet and still.

The only hunting I've ever done is fishing. Fishing counts as hunting. I took a live animal out of its element, killed it and ate it. And I only did that once, I felt so sorry for the flopping trout. And although I had been casting a fishing line for years, once some fish actually bit my hook I never did it again. But I'm not against hunting. I don't deny the hunter his prey as long as he/she kills it humanely and eats it. I just prefer to hunt for my meat in the grocery aisle.

I've never cooked game, although once my family thought I did. Instead I prefer to cook food that accompanies the game meat. After all, people don't live by meat alone, - let's share the hunter's meal with bread. Game meat and homemade bread enjoyed on a chilly evening after a day in the woods fit the rustic image of a Wisconsin hunting season. and no better place to look for a recipe for bread to be eaten with game than in John Motoviloff's cookbook Wisconsin Wild Foods: 100 Recipes for Badger state bounties. As well as giving recipes for preparing numerous kinds of game, John also gives a wonderful recipe for peasant bread. Click on "continue reading..." for John's recipe for peasant bread.

Guess The Gadget! What IS This Strange Thing Found In The Kitchen Drawer?

Anybody know what this gadget in the picture is? My family's stumped. I found it next to easily-recognized, useful kitchen tools in my late mother's kitchen drawer. My mom was a very practical woman; therefore, I give this thing the benefit of the doubt and am willing to believe this gadget serves some useful function. After all, some entrepreneur took time, effort and money to produce it, and others took money to market it so that somehow it ended up in our kitchen drawer. But what unaddressed need in the human condition prompted such an outlay of resources?

Do you have a similar gadget in your kitchen drawer? Do you know what it is? If yes, then do you use it and is your life better for having one? Would anyone guess that it is currently 3:39 a.m. as I write this? Just minutes ago I awoke with this pressing question burning my brain and I had to ask it of the food-blogging world. Yes, I am a fortunate soul who's blessed with superfluous worries. Now I'm passing my luck on to you. If you need more clues to successfully guess this gadget, then click on "Continue reading..." for possibly helpful, contextual information about my mother's kitchen and read other folks' ideas on what they think its function is.

Thank You Gift Of Lemon Bars - A Fast, Easy Recipe For Saying Thanks In A Hurry

This afternoon I found Governor Doyle's memo buried in my kindergartner's back pack. I read that the state of Wisconsin recognizes this week as Bus Driver Appreciation week. The governor directs all parents to say thank you to our children's bus drivers with a token thank you gift or card, - this week. And tomorrow is Friday.

I was expecting bus driver appreciation week, just not so soon. Prior to the governor's edict, our elementary school had observed bus driver appreciation week for years. But May, not February, has been the season when we shower our drivers with thank you gifts of baked goods, candy, flowers, and hand-made cards. My neighborhood shows exceptional enthusiasm during bus driver appreciation week because WE have THE BEST BUS DRIVER! Her name is Jean and we, meaning both parents AND kids, LOVE her. She is not only friendly and kind, but she keeps our children safe. Jean gently enforces safety and courtesy rules. My children often say how glad they are that she does and they complain about substitute drivers who don't. They say that kids act crazy on the bus when Jean is gone. And although my children won't admit it, I think that craziness on the bus makes them nervous.

So I am definitely on board when it comes to celebrating bus driver appreciation week. I want to give Jean just the right thank you gift. But it's 8:00 pm and I need the thank you gift in less than 12 hours. So to whom do I turn? - Grandma (Alice) Peterson, mother of Wanda Peterson Mango. Grandma (Alice) Peterson had twelve children, and she loved baking so much that she opened up a Swedish bakery in Door County, Wisconsin. So I figured that this woman not only had great dessert recipes, but with 12 kids, she could cook FAST! Wanda had collected her mother's and her grandmothers' recipes used in the bakery into a cookbook called, Grandma's Home Kitchen: Family Recipes and Traditions of Grandma's Swedish Bakery. This was the cookbook I used last night. I knew any recipe in the book would turn out well. My focused search was on recipes' prep times. That's why I chose to make lemon bars.

I'd never made lemon bars in my life. But Grandma's lemon bar recipe claimed the bars only required 15 minutes of prep time. And they did; I timed them. Of course, the baking time took longer, but that wasn't a worry. I was happy that the recipe made many bars that looked very pretty and tasted lemony sweet. Cutting them out in a shape of a large bus did not work so well, however. I recommend sticking to the traditional bar shape.

Click on "Continue reading ...for this fast, easy recipe for lemon bars."

LotsaHelpingHands.com Coordinates Care For Sick Friends: Nourishing Gifts of Food In Times of Illness

Last week I wrote about giving gifts of food to celebrate birthdays. I love birthdays! On birthdays we have cultural permission to shout from the rooftops about the grand and glorious event that a person came into being. So many slight twists of fate could have prevented the birth, but they DIDN'T. A person was born! And we know that person. And our lives are better for it. Of course we give gifts of food to celebrate and nourish.

Sadly however, one of the reasons we hold life so precious is exactly because life is temporary. Eventually, the life that came in goes out. And although our feelings are far from celebratory, in times of illness we also give gifts of food. But these get well gifts are different. They are less likely to be sweet, and more often they are the hearty staples that supply nutrition and comfort.

We give nourishing food to our sick friends and their families because they need it. Their need is not usually due to a lack of funds, but rather to a lack of energy. The stress of concern and care for a sick loved one often over-rides the desire to eat. For a worried mind to focus on meal planning, shopping, and preparation is an overwhelming task. Food is reduced to the status of fuel. Soon a diet of cheese and crackers or hospital, vending-machine sandwiches becomes the new normal.

So friends and family step in to help. And in this wonderful age of the Internet, we're getting organized about it! For the past year, the friend to whom I gave the birthday cherry pie has been participating in one of the websites created by LotsaHelpingHands.com. Her close friend with four very young children is gravely ill, and his family uses LotsaHelpingHands.com to coordinate the help they receive from their family and friends. This on-line coordination means that meals, baby-sitting, rides to the doctor, and all the little things the family needs get taken care of. This coordination means that the suffering family is not inundated with meals on Saturday and eating only peanut butter on Thursday. Appropriate help comes at the appropriate time and in the appropriate quantity. 

For more information about LotsaHelpingHands.com and a recipe for healthy, award-winning honey raisin cookies, click on "Continue reading..."