Category Archives: Cooking

Pantry Staples

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The other day, I watched a cooking video where the chef discussed pantry staples. She whipped out a jar of vanilla bean pods as a demonstration of something she seemed to assume that everyone has in their pantry.

I ran to my cabinet and threw open the door to show a vanilla bean-less interior.

Out of curiosity, I searched on Google to see how much vanilla bean pods cost. Amazon had two for $8.99 and others at differing prices. Other stores priced theirs at $13.99 or $17.99. I also saw some gourmet ones (whatever that means in this context) for $24.99. Others were much higher.

Maybe you’re wondering why I watched that video. Was I planning to make what the video demonstrated? The answer is no. I find cooking videos very relaxing when I’m out of ideas on how to make a scene in my WIP better and need to unwind. But the remark about pantry staples prompted me to write this post.

Since I rarely bake cakes or cookies from scratch or whip up homemade ice cream, vanilla beans never appear on my grocery list. I asked one of my sisters-in-law and my niece if they used them, since both bake from scratch.

“Yes,” said my sister-in-law.

“Vanilla bean paste,” said my niece.

These are my pantry staples.

  

I didn’t get a shot of the pepper, because I hardly ever use it. The second photo with the air fryer and Keurig shows the parchment sheets that go in the bottom of the air fryer. I also didn’t include the packets of ketchup, BBQ sauce, and old packets of soy sauce that are in a bowl somewhere. But that concludes the tour of my pantry.

I plan to add to the spice supplies at some point once I return to cooking more. I used to have spices like bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and rosemary, which are needed in recipes like coq au vin and other meat dishes, soups, and stews. But I haven’t made coq au vin in a while. Nowadays, I tend to throw food in the air fryer, the microwave, or on a sheet tray in the oven.

I can’t help being amused at how appalled that YouTube chef would probably be at how little I make do on. But I have the feeling I more than make up for my scant supply by how few dishes, pots, and pans I have to clean!

What, if any, are your pantry staples?

Vanilla bean from Beanilla. Vanilla paste from Meijer. Other photos by L. Marie.

A Few Baking Facts

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(WARNING: The images below might make you hungry. Sorry about that.)

I am a fan of cooking shows, particularly baking shows like Sugar Rush (and its various forms like Sugar Rush Extra Sweet and Sugar Rush Christmas), Baking Impossible, and Zumbo’s Just Desserts. The shows I watch via Netflix are filmed in the States and in other countries, and often involve terms and techniques with which I am not familiar since baking and I are seldom on speaking terms. (Though baked goods and I are old friends.)

On the shows, the why behind an action—i.e., why do you need to temper chocolate? What exactly does that mean?—isn’t given because the contestants are supposed to know this stuff. So I’m faced with a choice each time: watch in a state of semi-confusion or look stuff up. I decided to do so and found stuff like:

The why behind tempering chocolate. According to the Ghirardelli website, tempering chocolate is “heating and cooling chocolate to stabilize it for making candies and confections—gives chocolate a smooth and glossy finish.” If you want to know how to do that, go here.

Tempering chocolate

Buttercream choices. Love frosting on cakes, cupcakes, and other baked goods? Did you know there are several different types of buttercream? Swiss meringue, American, German, French, Italian meringue. For more on that, go here.

Swiss meringue buttercream

The difference between a macaron and a macaroon (besides the extra O). The Food Network site helped me out here. A macaron is a “French cookie that’s made of finely ground blanched (peeled) almonds suspended in a meringue.” Comparatively, a macaroon is a coconut cookie.

Macarons:

Macaroons:

Crème Pâtissière. This is pastry cream bakers use in eclairs, tarts, and other pastries. It is made with milk, eggs, sugar, and cornstarch. This site talks about why cornstarch is preferred over flour.

Maybe you already know all of this. Or, maybe you’re wondering: Why go through the trouble of looking for that information? Well, besides natural curiosity, looking up information is a habit, really. Whenever I write a book, an article, or curriculum, I have to do some research. And whenever I edit a book, I have to check every fact.

When you hear a new term or are made aware of information you don’t know, do you search a library or search online to gain more knowledge? Do tell in the comments below.

Macarons from WallpapersHome. Macaroons from the Food Network. Show logos from somewhere on the internet, via Bing.com. Tempering chocolate photo from Real Simple. Crème Pâtissière found at idee-cuisine.fr.

Doughnuts or Donuts, Which One Is “Write”?

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Though doughnuts is the correct spelling for the wonderful ring or ball-shaped cakes many of us enjoy, donuts is the popular American spelling. Click here to find out why. So, I’m going with donuts throughout, since it is shorter. 😊

When I was around 10 or 11, on a Saturday in the summer, my older brother and I decided to make donuts for breakfast, never having made them before. But Mom had a recipe book, so how hard could it be? And my brother was around 12 or 13—the wise elder. Obviously we could handle this task. Though I have to say, his sage advice had led me to leaping out of windows with a towel wrapped around my neck like a superhero. This same brother also liked to bring home the odd snake he’d found in the grass somewhere. As you can imagine, the emergency room was acquainted with our family.

Anyway, we had all of the ingredients to make the donuts, which involved a lot of frying. We made a plain cake donut. Taste wise, they were okay. And the sizes varied, which was a little disappointing. After all, this was our first attempt.

I can still remember the way the kitchen looked after we finished our donut project—like a bomb had gone off in it. Dirty bowls, pots, measuring cups, and spoons lay everywhere. The stove top was totally covered in grease. Rest assured, we didn’t expect Mom to clean up after us (as she made us aware would not happen). We had to do that ourselves.

Of course there are many who wouldn’t touch a donut. But for those of you who do, you probably enjoy these varieties of donuts:

• Cake
• Glazed
• Cream-filled
• Boston cream (below)


• Cruller
• Apple fritter
• Old-fashioned
• Beavertail
• Jelly
• Cider
• Potato (below)


• Long John
• Dutchie
• Cinnamon roll
• Donut holes
• Malasada (below)


• Beignet

And many more! Do you have a favorite?

A coffee roll from Dunkin Donuts—one of my favorite donuts

As you can see from this list, donuts come in a variety of shapes—with or without holes. If you love donuts, you’ll undoubtedly try as many as you can. (Okay, maybe I’m totally speaking of myself.)

Pondering the list of donuts makes me think of writing and all of its varieties:

• Fiction (science fiction, fantasy, romance, contemporary realistic, literary, flash, fanfiction, short stories, etc.)
• Nonfiction (narrative, persuasive, expository, memoirs, personal essays, short stories, etc.)
• Poetry
• Screenplays
• Song lyrics
• Musical composition
• Curriculum
• Picture books
• Early readers
• Articles
• Video game stories
• Graphic novels
• Advertising
• Blogging
• Podcast scripts

The list goes on and on. Looking at this list, there are two items that I haven’t tried. I’ll leave you to guess which two.

Which items on the list have you gravitated toward? What other forms of writing would you try if you haven’t already?

Tia and Henry thought it only fair that they each should receive one and a half donuts, rather than give the third to someone else.

Malasada from Wikipedia. Boston cream donut from seriouseats.com. Glazed donut from YouTube.com. Potato donut from kingarthurflour.com. Baking utensils from Walmart. Other photos by L. Marie.