Ojibwa Spring

At last, life returns to the North Woods.  Throughout northern Minnesota people gather surging maple syrup and the first carrots coaxed from the thawed soil, and combine them with the last of the supplies laid in for the winter, including wild rice, collected locally in the fall, and dried fruit.  Taken together, all this makes…

Or So Vienna Says

From what the Austrian Tourism Board reports on its website, Apple Strudel is a Viennese specialty, and the recipe it offers there recreates a pastry that has become symbolic of the country.  Maybe, maybe not, but the country’s German cousins might have a competing claim or two of their own. No matter the dessert’s true…

Bake It Twice

Actually, that’s what biscotto (plural, biscotti) means, it’s the Italian word for “twice-baked.”  The first run through the oven firms up the dough to a cookie-like consistency, then the cookie is cut into strips and is put back in the oven for another ten minutes, thus transforming it to the firm, fairly crunchy biscuit so…

Solve This Riddle

A puzzle for you – a stockpot of water simmers away on a stovetop.  Inside are two metal cans, topped with aluminum foil and rattling slightly.  What’s inside? Here’s a visual for you:If you guessed the cans hold bread, your advantage, or you’re from Boston, where people have been boiling bread in cans for centuries,…