Treats from the Tipsy Turtle

My friend Eden is another avid foodie and she also has some very foodie friends. She submitted one of her go-to recipes from her friend Laurianna. So in true Hawaii fashion, where people actually identify each other in interestingly convoluted ways (I know him! He's my brother's cousin's aunty's nephew), this is a recipe from my friend Eden's friend Laurianna. Once I decided I was making soda bread tonight, I knew I was going to have to this soup to serve with it. It was a perfect choice! Here are the cast members. I actually substituted thyme in place of dill. Why is the marjoram there then? Because I considered using it and changed my mind... Butter and flour were put into a pan to make a roux. The idea is not to brown it; just cook the flour a bit. A balloon whisk is your best friend when you make roux. It really keeps those annoying lumps from forming. Chicken broth is gradually whisked in... You end up with this smooth, thickened br...

A couple of people have told me that they like the idea of making their own bread but they didn't have a bread machine and they couldn't spare the time to make it from scratch. A good alternative is soda bread. Unlike yeasted breads which require, uh, yeast, to give them their airiness, soda breads rely on the action between baking soda and some sort of acid to give the bread its rise. Soda breads are also wonderfully easy; you can do a plain Irish soda bread or you can fill it with whatever taste combination suits your fancy. My family likes cheesy soda breads and I have included a link below for one of my go-tos. Today's loaf is Paul Hollywood's recipe for Stilton cheese and walnut. The walnuts were easy. I always buy nuts and keep them in my fridge or freezer so they stay fresh. Stilton is a little harder to come by; Whole Foods probably has it but I really don't want to go there. I substituted Roquefort instead; hence the title of the post. Here is to...

My sibs and I love food and one of the benefits of this shared passion is between the three of us, we manage to cover a lot of territory. Our interests vary enough that one person will often discover something to share with the other two. We frequently discuss cooking techniques and share recipes and our weekly Zoom meetings always turns to food eventually. Cookies are probably one of my guys' favorite sweet things to eat. Along with pie. And ice cream...Anyway, my point is that they love cookies but I really only bake them at Christmastime and the rest of the year my focus is more on what to make for dinner. Or bread. I always think about bread. My sister mentioned this recipe and at first I wasn't too interested; shortbread is not one of the cookies that my family clamors for. She insisted that we would like it and my brother agreed; apparently my niece had just baked a batch. So here we go. Here's our cast! While I was setting up for the cookies, my cooling ...

I've been looking forward to this one for a long time! It took three Instacart shoppers to do it, but thanks to a lovely young lady named Tristy, who was determined to find it, I finally acquired a nice supply of lard! Today's pie recipe is another by Paul Hollywood and it uses a hot water crust. I like hot water crusts because they are more forgiving and easier to work with than the traditional pastry crusts that use a lot of butter and require a tender touch. I could barely wait to get started. As soon as the kids went down for their nap, I gathered the cast members. The filling is pretty easy; pork loin, bacon and onions are finely chopped and combined with the other ingredients. The recipe called for an entire large onion but I left about 1/3 of it out. I like onion but the proportion to meat seemed excessive. Sorry for second-guessing you, Paul. The recipe called for a "small bunch" of parsley. I spent some time musing over the fact that a subjecti...