I'm P.C., and I have studied food and cooking around the world, mostly by eating, but also through serious study. Coursework at Le Cordon Bleu London and intensive courses in Morocco, Thailand and France have broadened my culinary skill and palate. But my kitchen of choice is at home, cooking like most people, experimenting with unique but practical ideas.
I live, mostly in my kitchen, in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee.
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Archive for the ‘cookies’ Category
 The spring obsession with strawberries continues. As the season settles in, I look for other ways to enjoy the little red jewels, as I have almost eaten my fill of them plain from the bowl I keep in the fridge, filled every week at the famers market. And so I turn to baking to find [...]
 Tender, tangy and subtly sweet. These delicious little pillows are perfect for Spring. The ricotta makes the cookies tender and adds a little tang, and the gentle hint of citrus in these cakey cookies is enhanced by the sweet citrus glaze. With a little work, I think you could shape the dough into an egg shape [...]
 January 8th is Elvis’s birthday. If you grew up in Memphis, you know that. For my 25th birthday (quite a few years ago, and not in January), I had a big party. At Graceland. The party was in the large lobby of the ticket pavilion, decorated (by Graceland) in pink, black and turquoise balloons. We [...]
 Milk Punch has roots in New Orleans, with a history as a hair-of-the-dog remedy. In fact, my best milk punch memory is enjoying a bit too much at a wonderful wedding brunch in New Orleans. And now, that bride makes milk punch for a Christmas party every year. I have to admit though, I make [...]
 Red Velvet Cake is a real childhood memory for me. I have an aunt who makes a great one. But it was definitely not trendy or cool or in. Red Velvet was seriously down-home, real country food. It wasn’t even a standard on diner menus. But that all seems to have changed. I am dubious [...]
 The flavor of caramel covered apples is amazing. Eating a caramel apple, not so much. The caramel-to-apple ration in my opinion, tends to be too low. I can’t abide those pre-made wrap around sheets, and making a good caramel is a bit of work. And in the end, the caramel tends to slide off the [...]
 I set out to make a cookie reminiscent of good-old fashioned gingerbread cake. When I managed to achieve this, it occurred to me that if I called them gingerbread cookies, it would bring to mind the crispy, crunchy type – like gingerbread men or tree ornaments. That is not what these lovelies are at all. [...]
 As a kid, I was a great one for projects. Homemade play-dough. Cookies painted with egg/food-coloring paint. Dollhouse furniture. Leaves pressed between waxed paper. I was never very good at any of these, and my record on finishing what I started was less than stellar. So maybe I should clarify that I was a great [...]
 The iconic S’more. That memory-provoking piece of gooey, melty childhood – summer camp, the Fourth of July, beach bonfires. I am not the first to re-imagine the s’more in a slightly less drippy, sticky and potentially hazardous form, but perhaps I am the laziest. The portable, storable S’more cookies need only six ingredients, one bowl [...]
 St. Patrick’s Day is a silly holiday – in the best possible way. Grown folks dressing in green fuzzy wigs and big hats. Pinching co-workers and friends who forget to wear green. Drinking green beer. Singing Irish songs as if you just came over from the old country. In fact, celebrating a holiday largely based [...]

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