Tag: sugar

Blue Cook’s Tape

I know, other people call it Blue Painter's Tape but I use it to keep track of food.

It's a trick I picked up from restaurant kitchens where it is essential to rotate product and get a quick inventory of the prep work to be done.

I keep a roll handy. Right now, I'm using an old drafting table tape dispenser that sits in my mortar next to the refrigerator. If I open a carton of stock, the date is added before I pop it into the fridge. When I freeze meals or ingredients, they are labled with blue tape. Even my dog's raw food has the date I made it and which meat it contains. (She loves lamb, rabbit, and duck!)

It also does a great job of keeping those open boxes resealed when you pop them back into the freezer.

Out in my "hallway pantry" –a set of wooden cd racks that hold jars containing dry goods– I can tell my salt from my sugar because of a blue label.

Grab a roll the next time you're at a hardware store. You may be surprised at how many uses you'll find for it at home. The tape clings well, even after freezing, and then comes off cleanly when you want to remove it.

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Words: Penny Cherubino
Photography: © 2013 Penny Cherubino (This batch taken with my iPhone!)

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January 22, 2013
Strawberry Shortcake Dessert Bar for Your July 4th Party
Entertaining this weekend? How about a "build-it-yourself strawberry shortcake table" for dessert? We've done this for years, and our guests love it!

It's easy on the host and fun for the guests. Here's the step-by-step on how we do it.
- Reserve the most perfect berries for dipping in chocolate and eating out-of-hand. Put a shaker of sugar near the plain berries for those who would like to sprinkle a bit on their choices
- Slice and sugar the rest and allow them to form a natural sauce overnight in the refrigerator.
- Collect a variety of bases– dessert cups, short cake, biscuits, ladyfingers, cookies, and angel food cake are a few I've used for this.
- Since it's July 4th, add a big dish of blueberries for red, white, and blue creations.
- Add a fondue pot of dipping chocolate, and you'll have guests swooning.
- Arrange a selection of toppings. I've set out whipped cream, yogurt, ice cream, creme fraiche, and fudge sauce.
- For something tall on the table, add wine buckets filled with bottles of sparkling wine that guests can pour over a few berries in a champagne glass.
- Set up a tray of "special enhancements" (rums, liqueurs, and dessert wines) to drizzle on the cakes or sip with the shortcake. Most popular around here was limoncello.
- Add big napkins to protect clothes; spoons, dishes, or wine glasses to hold your guest's creations; and let everyone have fun with the fruit.
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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photography: © 2012 Penny & Ed Cherubino

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July 2, 2012
How do you eat Pomelos?

Once you've done the work of peeling a pomelo and have a beautiful bowl of juicy segments, how do you eat it? What do you add?

After we posted our recent alert that pomelos were in local markets, Ed went wandering around the web to learn more about this lovely citrus. As I was breaking one into segments to serve as an afternoon snack, he was telling me about cultures where they put salt rather than sugar on pomelo. And, he even mentioned a combination of salt, sugar, and chili.

They all sounded like fun to me so I served up our fruit surrounded by a variety of dipping possiblities.

You know that this household of Aleppo-pepper-addicts had to try that and, of course, we loved it.

Here's a piece with a sugar, salt, and chili mix.

So, what do you have on your pomelos? And, do you have any favorite salads or drinks that you make with this giant citrus?

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino
Photos: © 2012 Penny Cherubino

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January 18, 2012