My Word with Douglas E. Welch

Our friends invited us over for dinner the other night where they used these cute plates. I was immediately taken with them as asked her where she got them.

Creative Co-opSquare Stoneware Plate – Set of 4

I loved the designs and especially the vocalizations spelled out on each. Ok, so I’m weird, but it gave each chicken a certain personality.

Out friend, Sarah, had found these at Nordstrom Rack, which seems to indicate that they are a clearance item. Sure enough, I couldn’t locate them anywhere else, so if you want a set, you should probably act quickly.

While poking around on the site, I also found these smaller cute cat plates and larger plats with bird art. They also stood out to me and I might end up with these instead of, or as well as, the chickens.

Cats With Birds And Plants White 5 x 5 Stoneware Decorative Square Plates, Set of 4

Creative Co-Op 8″ Square Stoneware Plates with Birds, Set of 4

Find more products from Creative Co-Op

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Archive.org has a host of old cookery books (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. I happened across a few in my Pinterest feed and gone completely down the rabbit hole in this treasure trove of information. Sure some ideas might be out of date, but you never know what you might find when you explore these books. I’ll be sharing more books as I find them in the coming weeks. –Douglas

Historical Cooking Books: The college woman’s cook book by College Woman’s Cook Book Association (Evanston, Ill.) (1923) – 10 in a series

The compiling and publishing f this book of recipes has been the work of a group of college women, living in and near Evanston, 111., most of whom are graduates of Northwestern University.

A portion of the profit accruing from the publishing of this cook-book is to be given each year for the support of a summer camp in Michigan, where unfortunate kiddies from the cities are given a real vacation.

Over 2,500 college women, most of them housewives, were asked for their best tested recipes. From those submitted, 500 of the best and most unusual have been selected and published in this handy volume. By following the names under each recipe, it will be observed that leading colleges in all parts of the United States and Canada are represented.

 CREAM SCONES

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Sift three times. Rub in four rounding tablespoons butter with tips of fingers. Add two eggs beaten (reserving small amount of unbeaten white) with one-third cup sweet milk. Toss, on floured board and pat to one-half inch thickness. Brush over with egg white; sprinkle with sugar; cut and bake fifteen minutes in quick overi.

Helen Binnie, Kenosha, Wis. University of Wisconsin.

Available in PDF, Text, JPG formats, and more

Learn more about cooking history with these books

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* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

A Lovely Table

Sarah lays out a nice table for her hubbies birthday party. Eclectic mix of periods and styles. 

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Learn more about table settings with these books

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* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

A little taste of Italy this morning

From our nearby Italian market. This is how I start most mornings when visiting Sicily. 

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In The Kitchen: Reusable Nespresso Coffee Capsules – Fussy, but usable

We were recently gifted a Nespresso coffee maker and while I do enjoy the convenience of it, I prefer to use my own coffee purchases rather than rely on those provided by Nespresso or, as in my case, Amazon.

For my morning coffee, I still use a standard Bialetti Moka Pot for my morning coffee but find I use the Nespresso for afternoon and evening coffee when I desire it. it is simply quicker and easier to use.

I decided to research some reusable pods in hopes of making better use of the machine and keeping my costs down. After poking around on Amazon for a while I came across these Reusable Nespresso Coffee Capsules.

While they work ok, they can be a bit fussy to use and it has taken some time to learn the optimal settings for coffee roast, grind, amount of coffee to use and how tightly to pack the coffee in each capsule.

First, unless the coffee roast is fairly dark i.e French roast or Italian Roast you will get a somewhat weak cup of coffee. As for the grind, I find an espresso grind works well, but unlike a pressure espresso machine, you will not want to tamp the coffee at all. Simply fill the cup, knock off the excess and close the lid. If I tamped the coffee at all, it would often fail to brew, simply dumping the water into the capsule holder on the machine and making a mess.

I have also crumpled 2 of these capsules in the machine when closing the top lever. I have not figured out exactly how I did this, but after taking more care to position the capsule it hasn’t occurred since.

So, if you want to gain a little of the convenience of a Nespresso machine without limiting your options to pre-packaged coffees — and you’re willing to fuss around a bit — these capsules might be a place to start. The fact is, there are a host of different designs for these capsules so there might be those that work better, but I haven’t felt the need — or had the attention – to pursue it further.

Finally, if you just want the full convenience of Nespresso machine without the hassle, here are some third-party, pre-made, coffee capsules that I have purchased from Amazon. the quality is pretty good and yields a decent cup of coffee in just a minute or so.

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs

Comfort Food

Fish and Chips at Old Town Tavern, La Quinta, California

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I LOVE my KitchenAid mixers, especially around the holidays when I make 80-100 dozen cookies for our annual Christmas Open House.

I even branched out to an ice cream maker attachment a few years ago!

When I saw the Target has KitchenAid mixers on sale for $229 (down from $380) I wanted to pass that info along. 

If you’ve been waiting on a sale to get a KitchenAid Mixer for your very own, now might be a great time to do it!

KitchenAid Artisan Series 5qt Tilt-Head Stand Mixer Silver – KSM150PSSM

* A portion of each sale from Target directly supports our blogs

Also available on Amazon

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs

Amazing cheese and appetizer plate at last night’s birthday party for a friend. 

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Learn more about cheese plates with these books

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* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

It doesn’t matter how old you get, there is always something new to learn. Sometimes these new things are words or concepts you have heard all your life, but perhaps you never understood. Learn Something New is a series that will highlight some of the things I learn, big and small in the coming days. — Douglas

When you picture Benjamin Franklin, what do you see? A lovable mad scientist flying a kite in the rain, perhaps, or a shrewd political strategist haggling at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Maybe you imagine Franklin schmoozing with the French, brokering deals, or hurriedly setting type in the offices of the Pennsylvania Gazette. What you likely do not envision is Franklin the gardening whiz and gourmet, writing excitedly from London on the subject of a mysterious Chinese “cheese” called “tau-fu.”

Between all the juice bars and health food stores today, Ben Franklin would have fit in with the organic, earthy-crunchy crowd. He supposedly introduced tofu and kale to America, two ingredients that have maintained their popularity (kale chip, anyone?). HipCityVeg in Philly serves up a tangy Kale Lemonade, a twist on a Fourth of July staple. But he wasn’t a total health nut. Ever see those tacky T-shirts that say “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy”? Well, Ben Franklin actually said that, and boy are we on the same page.

The earliest document seen in which an American mentions tofu is a letter written by Benjamin Franklin (who was in London) to John Bartram in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 11, 1770. He sent Bartram some soybeans (which he called “Chinese caravances”) and with them he sent “Father Navarrete’s account of the universal use of a cheese made of them in China, which so excited my curiosity, that I caused enquiry to be made of Mr. [James] Flint, who lived many years there, in what manner the cheese was made, and I send you his answer. I have since learned that some runnings of salt (I suppose runnet) is put into water, when the meal is in it, to turn it to curds. […] These … are what the Tau-fu is made of.”

Archive.org has a host of old cookery books (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. I happened across a few in my Pinterest feed and gone completely down the rabbit hole in this treasure trove of information. Sure some ideas might be out of date, but you never know what you might find when you explore these books. I’ll be sharing more books as I find them in the coming weeks. –Douglas

Historical Cooking Books: Woman’s City Club cook book by Woman’s City Club of Chicago (Ill.). Library Committee – 9 in a series

A PERFECT CHICAGO

1 good Mayor, 31 incorruptible Judges,

50 upright Aldermen, 1 intelligent School Board, (be

1 efficient Chief of Police, sure this mixes smoothly),

An unlimited number of active Civic Organizations.

Moisten these ingredients thoroughly with the milk of
Human Kindness; flavor well with Honesty, Wisdom and
Steadfastness; stirring in at the same time a large measure
of Civic Spirit. Pour into the mold of the City Beautiful, and
let stand until firmly set, testing, from time to time, with the
straw of Public Opinion.

If followed carefully this recipe cannot fail.

COUNTY COMMITTEE CAKE
Mrs. Wm. Harrison Cade

1 cup sugar % cup milk

% cup butter 2 cups flour

3 eggs 2 tsp. baking powder

LEMON FILLING

1 egg V2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar 2 tbsp. flour

Juice of a lemon Butter size of a walnut

Melt butter, stir in flour. Add water and sugar. Boil gently
five minutes. Pour on beaten egg and add lemon juice.

Available in PDF, Text, JPG formats, and more

Learn more about cooking history with these books

†††

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs
** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library