together at last. . . .

When the holidays roll around I get the urge to bake elaborate desserts. Seriously – chocolate chip cookies are nice but why not have some of those little Italian rainbow cookies instead? I would never make them just because it’s Tuesday afternoon and raining but when the holiday season rolls in – I am all over it. These suckers take 3 hours to make and you are actually doing something for most of that time – not one of those three hour recipes where you are waiting for dough to rise and reading cookbooks.

I have been thinking a lot of ‘when I was a kid’ food thoughts lately. I guess I am realizing just how connected my life is to food. There are so many vivid memories I have that involve favorite foods. No wonder that I have such an addiction to great food.

So, when I was a kid there was this baker my mom knew and he made the rainbow cookies. They were amazing. I remember one year where there was a whole box of them stashed in the freezer and I ate them every day. This memory makes me think of the way the food was packaged – white box tied shut with white and red striped twine. I will never forget this – there is something so perfect and right about a box of cookies tied up with this particular string.

When the holiday season rolls around, I start to plan my baking. I feel this coming on this year so if you are blessed to be counted among the list of friends I actually see around town -there may be something coming your way.

I have decided that I am going to perfect my truffles. I have a few different recipes and I am going to test the all and create the perfect truffle. My thing is adding odd ingredients. It seems that in our food traditions we limit ourselves to rather conventional combinations and I want to get beyond that.

Tonight has been filled with chocolate and bacon. Yes, you heard me correctly. I made truffles with bacon in them. They will be finished with a mixture of cocoa, bacon crumbles, and maybe a bit of chili pepper. Yummy.