Savoring Life: Passions from Pages to Palates

"He had never had any money for candy with the Dursleys, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Mars Bars as he could carry — but the woman didn’t have Mars Bars. What she did have were Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Beans, Drooble’s Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Licorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his life."   --Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, JK Rowling Sweets. Something I haven't posted about yet on this blog. Candy doesn't usually do it for me where sweets are concerned, but I sure would have tore into the Pumpkin Pasties and Cauldron Cakes on the trolley aboard Hogwarts Express. If I'm going to indulge in sweets, I want a gooey cake or a napoleon, or a piece of decadent chocolate concoction smothered in ganache.  I don't bake often, but when I do, I try to tackle those kinds of desserts. I always want to try my han

"You'll leave. And then on day you'll come back, and everything that you once loved about the place will drive you a little bit crazy." "'It's not about exact measurements or ingredients,' shrugged Lomax, as Joseph complained. 'Good food is about feeling. Cooking is an art, not a science. You got to have a soul to feed people right.' He smiled. 'That's what this is. Soul food.'"   ~~  A Good American  by Alex George It's been a long four years since I've written in my blog. I have no excuse. But I do know that I needed to come back to it. The quotes above from Alex George's novel are fitting for this return to my blog. Coming back to this blog does make me a little crazy.  I look back at pages past, and I can see what I don't like, what I would do different, what seems poorly written. However, I do love this 'place.' I know that George is talking about going home to a physi