Culinary Adventures with Camilla

I bought The Love Goddess' Cooking School by Melissa Senate* probably half a decade ago. And I probably even read it when I bought it. Parts of it seems oddly familiar. But yesterday, on the last day of the boys' Fall break, I crawled into bed and read it from cover to cover. They were at robotics for part of the day, so my house was quiet and peaceful. On the Page This is chick lit, no doubt about that. But it's chick lit that's not trashy...and it involves food. Holly Maguire has recently had her heart stomped on by a long-time boyfriend in California. She returns to Blue Crab Island, off the coast of Maine, to spend time with her grandmother Camilla, a fortune-teller from Italy and owner of Camilla's Cucinotta, a local cooking school. When Holly was 16-years-old, her nonna  Camilla told her that her great love would like sa cordula , an old-world delicacy made with lamb intestines and peas in a butter sauce. Needless to say, not a single one of ...

One of our best friends gave the Enthusiastic Kichen Elf a pizzelle maker for Christmas. I groaned inwardly when he opened it - another kitchen tool to take up cabinet space, another kitchen tool that only has one purpose, another...[imagine much grumbling]. But D did a test run at a family dinner on Friday  and, one bite in, I was a huge fan! I don't care for sweets too much, but these cookies are amazing...and simple. Perfect! He started with the recipe included with his machine, then made a few adaptations. Ingredients 3 large eggs 3/4 C organic granulated sugar 1 t pure vanilla extract 1 t pure almond extract 1 3/4 C flour 2 t baking powder 1/2 C melted butter zest from 1 organic lemon oil for greasing the pizzelle maker (he used a non-aerosol grapeseed oil spray) Procedure In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla and almond extracts until well combined. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flower and baking pow...