When I’m in the supermarket checkout line, I often look longingly at the Cook’s Illustrated in the magazine racks. The magazine always looks so informative and helpful. The sleek black and white drawings, the hands-on, practical tips, and the absence of advertisements. But at $5.95, it always gives me that moment of pause.
So I was particularly excited…
Growing up, we used to devour this stuff. I can remember my younger brother popping two slices into the toaster, waiting for that mechanical “pop,” and then throwing a slab of butter between the warm slices as he placed them on his plate. After which, he put two more slices into the toaster.
This past Thanksgiving, I showed my youngest brother how to make scrambled eggs. Saturday night we went to the Kroger, picked up a pan, a whisk, a dozen eggs, and a DVD from the Red Box. After a quick tutorial, we settled down on his dorm couch to scrambled eggs, raisin bread, and The Girl Who Played with Fire.
My mind must have wandered to that night. That, combined with my love of bread-baking, inspired me …
The Cincinnati football team is named the Bengals, and takes, as its logo, an image of a leaping Royal Bengal tiger. The Bengal tiger is native to India and Bangladesh, and can be found in the aptly named Bengal region. With a population of close to 250 million people, the region is one of the densest and most populous regions in the entire world.
This is not the only link between the city of Cincinnati and the Indian sub-continent. Despite the city’s German roots, the city is home to a thriving Indian community, particularly given the relative size of Cincinnati. The public library’s collection includes a significant number of Bollywood videos and books in Bengali. The Clifton area boasts an Indian grocery, and the city itself is home to about a dozen excellent Indian restaurants.
When Caitlin first visited Cincinnati, we went Ambar India, which is now …
There’s a certain moment in the bread-baking process where you remember exactly why you spent all that time kneading, crafting, and waiting.
It’s not the moment you take the bread out of the oven, or the moment you finally bite into a slice. It’s several minutes before that time. It’s the moment when you perk up, and notice that your entire apartment smells of freshly baking bread. It’s that moment, above any other, that reminds me why I enjoy the bread-baking process.
Of course, it doesn’t hurt …
It’s funny what we find intimidating.
For the longest time, the idea of making bread scared me. It just seemed so complicated. You had to make sure the yeast reacted. You had to make sure the water was at the precise temperature. You had to coax the dough into rising. You had to knead the bread – whatever that meant.
But then, I decided to just go for it. I opened up my cupboard, …