"family recipes" news and stories

• This Washington personality lives a double life: social-policy expert by day, kitchen expert by night.
• For Kojo Nnamdi, food is all about cultural impact.
• An eternal question: Why is this pinot noir $8, and that one is $28?
• Family recipes transcend their ingredients: "Specific flavors can instantly unlock a whole flood of emotions."

Recipe books aren't quite as popular as they used to be. More often than not, people buy cookbooks as gifts and pass those out to friends and family, not only because it's convenient (and the recipes are good), but because they don't necessarily have a collection of their own favorite recipes to pass on. Fortunately, as home cooking continues steadily growing in popularity, people are writing down what they like to cook. Often, these recipes show up on food blogs, but as gift idea, why not revive the idea of actually writing down those recipes to pass them on?

The Recipe Binder Set from russell+hazel includes two binders, each with recipe pages, recipe cards, menu planning sheets and measuring equivalent charts for easy referencing. There is room for photos and many computers will let you format recipes so they can be printed out directly onto the recipe cards. Alternatively, you might also have luck finding a blank recipe book at a stationary/card store, such as Hallmark.

Say what you will about Rachael Ray and Sandra Lee, but I think that their climbing ratings on the Food Network are an indication that people are cooking more. And "people" includes everyone: singletons, couples, families. Trends often hit parents last because they are busy working and raising their families, but an appreciation of food and health awareness are things that every child should have some knowledge of when growing up. The best way for kids to gain this knowledge is by seeing their parents cook at home. Fortunately, it looks like kids are finally getting that education at home. More and more families are having sit-down, at-home dinners.

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It's been a lot of fun following along as Kelli from Lovescool starts her own bakery. In a particularly detailed look into the mechanics of creating hundreds of champagne brownies for her first shipment, she reports that selecting brownies as her first product was a challenge; mostly because it's hard to tell from the surface if your pan is done. "I would advise people to start with a nice and simple product like cookies where you can immediately tell if they are done or not," she says.

It made me think about the dream both I and practically everyone I know shares somewhere deep inside: that I should open a bakery/restaurant/cafe someday. "This is so wonderful, you should sell it!" exclaim your friends. "Why don't you open a ___ shop?" everyone at work asks you.

But what is it? What recipe have you perfected so assiduously that it would be the obvious choice if you were to open a bakery? For me, it changes from season to season, but my friend Larissa and I have lately been dreaming about opening a cupcake bakery and selling our products at our favorite local farmer's market. What about you?

[photo Sarah Gilbert]