4 Rochester

As I was making my recipe for Bread Baking Day #14, I was reminded of a story from a few summers ago, when our family hosted a boy named Tyrod through the Fresh Air Fund . My younger son was so excited to show Tyrod, who was from Harlem, everything he might not have experienced in the big city. My son...

Boy, did Charlie want to have a bite of these muffins! He couldn't, though, because there were chocolate chips in them. I found the recipe on the fabulous blog, Chocolate & Zucchini , a woman who lives in Paris and has published a couple of cookbooks. I can't read it regularly because I find...

I have a few go-to recipes for banana bread, but I don't have zucchini bread recipes I really love. Since I'm overloaded with zucchini from my CSA bag, now is the time to find my ultimate recipe. I'd like it to be dense, moist, and nutty. Healthy would be good, too. I've tried some recipes...

So for Fathers Day, I was going to give my husband a clean house. A week later, guess what -- it's still not perfectly clean. But I have to resign myself that it's not going to happen for awhile and get back to blogging. On Fathers Day, my husband slept in. While we were having breakfast, he...

I mentioned awhile back that I belong to a Cooking Light group. We meet every month or so for a relatively healthy meal, and everyone contributes a dish or wine. The hostess picks the theme, and for the most recent dinner I attended, Kara chose an Italian theme. Usually I walk away with one or two recipes...

The food blogging community is supporting LiveSTRONG Day with a blog event called a Taste of Yellow. LiveSTRONG Day is the Lance Armstrong Foundation's one-day initiative to raise awareness and funds for the cancer fight. It will happen on May 13, and that's the day you'll be able to go to...

Like every other city, it seems, Starbucks is all over the Rochester area. We're even getting a new one walking distance from my home. While I like the atmosphere of Starbucks, their coffee is too bitter for me, and the lattes vary widely in terms of flavor. Some of their baked goods are tasty, though...

After completing the Daring Bakers challenge to make Julia Child's French Bread, I wasn't 100% pleased with my results, or with Julia Child's recipe. Several Daring Bakers had supplemented their knowledge by watching videos online, but I didn't. I thought a recipe should be able to stand...

True confession: I'm not good at making muffins. I can make every other kind of baked good. Crusty yeast breads, tender cakes, chewy cookies, gooey brownies -- no problem. My muffins certainly have been edible, but great muffins -- the kind with the high, rounded tops and fluffy insides -- have eluded...

After yesterday's whining about my family's divergent food preferences, I thought I'd admit that are actually a few items that everyone will eat -- breakfast foods, like pancakes, waffles and French toast. I have excellent recipes for all three. I serve them with some kind of breakfast meat...