February 2004

 

Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake, baker’s man…

27 Feb 2004, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

I never thought I would say this, but I’ve come to hate birthday cake. Of course, it is entirely my fault. I was foolish enough to make my godson’s cake for his birthday, and now have a list of requests for the rest of the family calendar year. Did I mention that we have had three family birthdays in the past week? Now, I could understand the enthusiasm if my cakes were a sight to behold. However, the first two were not exactly bakery quality, what with the melting whipped cream icing, sliding layers and other monstrosities. You may be…

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An Ode to Bread

16 Feb 2004, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

Bread. The staff of life. It has captured my imagination for the past week, and I am happy to report that my loaves have been unexpectedly successful. I started out with simple wheat and white breads, but yesterday I turned artisan and made rye and pumpernickel. The rye is gorgeous — it tastes like a genuine, New York Jewish rye. And the smell…it has a sublime but subtle scent of onion that makes me swoon. I sent a loaf to my sister yesterday, fresh from the oven, and as luck would have it she had bought some corned beef that…

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A New Kind of Uniform

10 Feb 2004, Posted by Jennifer Iannolo in food

Tomorrow night I begin my first formal cooking class. I have spent the past month deep in thought, trying to decide what the next step of my journey will be. After ten years of looking from the outside in, I’ve decided to take a different kind of journey through the kitchen. I’ve enrolled in a 9-week course of fundamentals, from knife skills to braising and onward. I’m not sure where this path will lead; perhaps I will end up in culinary school, perhaps these nine weeks will suffice. I have very quickly realized that there are not vast fortunes to…

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