Lemon

St. Valentine’s Day Pound Cake

February 14, 2012 by Charles 5 Comments

On Saturday, January 28th, 2012, Caitlin and I got engaged. I proposed as we sat in adjoining arm chairs, as we watched the sun slowly setting over the Chesapeake Bay. Later that night, we had dinner in the town of Easton to celebrate the occasion.

The next day, after a warm breakfast with our innkeepers, we strolled about the towns of St. Michael’s, Easton, and Annapolis, hands in tow. Later that evening, we shared the news with our friends and family. And then, on Monday, I got ready for work, and Caitlin boarded a plane for Europe, for what has become an all-too-regular business trip. I haven’t seen her since.

It’s been over two weeks since we got engaged. But in that sixteen-day span, only two have we spent together. And with the time-difference and our own demanding schedules, even the passing phone call has become a challenge. This past weekend, …

Warm Lemon Souffle

May 3, 2011 by Charles 3 Comments

Whenever I’m in a sour mood or feeling down, I reach into my fruit drawer, and pull out my lemons. For me, lemons are not synonymous with problems – lemons are the solution.

I had been wanting to make a lemon soufflé for several weeks now. The first recipe I tried had a good lemon flavor, but did not puff as much as I would have liked. It also had a faint taste of the corn starch that figured prominently among the ingredient list.

I scrapped that recipe, and created my own, …

Lemon Ricotta Waffles

February 8, 2011 by Charles 6 Comments

I must have read Shoeless Joe sometime in grade school, no older than eight or nine. At the time, I loved baseball and everything about it. But even more than watching it or playing it, I enjoyed reading about the game. Between all my baseball books, W.P. Kinsella’s debut novel held a special place on my young bookshelf.

Of all the great writers, from James Thurber to Ring Lardner, to have tried their hand at a baseball story, none captured the magic and drama of the game like Shoeless Joe. And as wonderful as the book was, the movie adaptation …

Easy Lemon Squares

October 18, 2010 by Charles 7 Comments

Optimism can be over-rated. Optimism is hard-work, often requiring an ability to overlook the obvious or turn a blind-eye to the reality staring you straight on. Optimism demands unnecessary devotion and adherence, a sunny disposition in the face of an oncoming hail storm.

Pessimism, as George Will has triumphed, is the ultimate solution. You are either constantly being vindicated or, on the other hand, pleasantly surprised.

For those sour moments, those hail storms of bad news and despair, I…

Madeleines

May 9, 2010 by Charles 6 Comments

French recipes are, understandably, often steeped in history. The nation is as proud of its culinary traditions as it is of its epistolary and philosophical ones. It’s why the incursion of soft drinks and hamburgers are as noxious as the incursion of English words like “le leader,” “le power” and “le hot-dog.” It’s why Jose Bove can become a national icon for burning down a McDonalds, and why Maria Antoinette’s remarks about brioche could topple a monarch. The evolution of French culture and identity can be easily traced along the x-axis of language, and y-axis of cooking.

The center of this graph, the 0,0 point, might well be Marcel Proust’s A la Recherche du Temps Perdu, or The Remembrance of Things Past. In one section…