Read MoreA Modern Christmas Tradition: Bundt Pan Rice Krispies Wreath
December 16, 2014 In my post of December 15, 2014, I wrote about Christmas baking traditions from years gone by. Today’s blog post is about a new baking tradition I created about 10 years ago: A Christmas wreath made using a bundt pan. This post is for my friend, Nancy Biber, who always requests that I make a holiday wreath for our holiday gift exchange. Happy Hanukkah, Nancy! Creating a wreath began when I fell in love with Rice Krispie bars and the little green Christmas wreaths made from cereal. And while Rice Krispie bars are easy to make, I never had…
Read MoreChristmas Traditions of Norway: Sandbakkels and Krumkake
December 2014 At Christmastime, my Norwegian grandmother, Alma Score Otto, took the Greyhound bus from Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, to our Bloomington, Minnesota home. She carried one suitcase and a round old tin the size of a Tupperware cake carrier. Dad carried her suitcase, but she did not allow him to carry the tin. She guarded that tin with her life. Inside, between sheets of wax paper, lay dozens of fragile and delicious homemade sandbakkels and krumkake. To this day my Christmas tradition includes making sandbakkels and krumkake and, like my grandma, I guard the tin I store them in with my life. I freeze…
Read MoreGert’s Fantastic Brownies
Gert Saffrin’s Fantastic Brownies November 19, 2014 Unfortunately, the above image is the only evidence I have that Gert’s Fantastic Brownies are worth your time to make. Yesterday marked two events. A birthday celebration for my first born, Sam (affectionately called Sammy) and what would have been my mother-in-law, Gert Saffrin’s 96th birthday. Sammy’s dinner wish was shredded beef tacos, cole slaw, brownies and Kemp’s Moose Tracks ice cream. He received his wish with some hors d’ourvres tossed in. Here was the menu, with links to the recipes. Appetizer, Layered Ranch Dip – recipe is from Holly Lofthouse’s website Life in the…
Read MoreSummertime Whatevers
I water-taxi to Dead Lake’s North Bay. As I set off from my dock, I feel as though I am taking my dog to the vet to be put down. I hope the wind dries my tears before I reach the access so no one will know this silly woman cries when she says a seasonal good-bye to her pontoon. Around every cluster of reeds I navigate and every downed leaf I pass along my liquid road, I grow closer to the boat access and our Quonset hut where the pontoon will hibernate until it’s “ice out.” Last year, the…
Read MoreNew Book by Julie Saffrin: “Kissing the Shoreline: Quotes and Reflections to Live By”
Two seemingly unrelated things happened in the summer of 2014. 1. My birthday. 2. Being restlessly perturbed. Converging upheavals tend to disturb life’s even keel. I was a year older in June and questioned what I had done to show for it. I did what I always do when upheavals pile up. I go into semi-seclusion and reach for a book. In this case, one of Julia Cameron’s. A random open and two words in I found the reason for my funk. “Finish something.” It comes easy to me to start something. As well, I consider myself an in-process person.…
Read MoreForgotten Past interview with author Mary Alford
One of my intents at Saffrin & Company is to make connections with people who are amazing inspirers. Mary Alford is one such person. Her first published suspense book, Forgotten Past, just released this first week of June 2014. She has graciously offered to give away a book through a random drawing to someone who leaves a comment or question for Mary at juliesaffrin.com. Mary and I have a mutual interest in suspense writers. Prolific and early women suspense writers such as Phyllis A. Whitney and Victoria Holt served as Mary’s inspiration to keep working to make her publishing dreams become real. Today…
Read MoreKey Lime Pie
I loved Gourmet magazine. Loved being taken to different localities around the world and educating myself as to how others lived and ate. The one issue I will not part with is the April 1990 issue. In it, is my most prized of recipes: Key Lime Pie with Almond Crumb Crust. Yes, I like most any kind of Key Lime Pie and will not turn down a graham-cracker crusted one, but if you have the time and especially if you have a food processor, why not take the time to whirl some zweiback toast, blanched almonds, and crush some key…
Read MoreTo plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow
Cape-Cottage at Sunset by W. B. Glazier
Cape-Cottage at Sunset by William B. Glazier is one of my favorite poems. It is even more achingly beautiful if listened to by Andrew MacMillian, whose poignant, reflective bass voice is as deep as the fathomless sea Glazier writes about. It’s on volume 3 entitled “The Mystic Sea” of The Sea collection if you can get your hands on a copy. According to Native Poets of Maine, published in 1854 and written by S. Herbert Laxcey, Glazier wrote poetry uncommon for his age. He was born on June 29, 1827 in Hallowell, Maine and graduated from Harvard in 1843. Laxcey wrote,…
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