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Monthly Archives: October 2015

Cuisinart CSO-300 steam oven: a re-review

I’ve had the Cuisinart CSO-300 steam oven for three months now. It deserves a re-review. This oven has earned its way into the same category of possessions as my camera: I’d panic if I suddenly didn’t have it. After three months, I can’t imagine not having it in the kitchen. To cook without it would […]

Bread update

I apologize for bragging, but after considerable practice, I’m ready to claim that I’m now as confident with sourdough artisan breads as I long have been with traditional yeast breads. The keys are the right guidebooks (chiefly The Breadmaker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart), a steam oven (the Cuisinart CSO-300), a few simple tools like a […]

I don’t get out much, but …

Pumpkin soup I go into Winston-Salem regularly to get groceries at Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s, but I usually get the heck out of town as quickly as possible, because I miss the peace and quiet of my hermitage in the foothills. But today I was in downtown Winston-Salem, I was hungry, the weather was […]

Easy apples

When I was a young’un growing up in the country, people had apple trees and actually bothered to pick them up and use them. That meant that, when apples were in season, you might get them at every meal. Everybody’s favorite is apple pie, but that takes time. I don’t know about you, but for […]

Winston Graham

I have posted in the past about Winston Graham, author of the Poldark novels that were so recently ruined by the BBC and PBS. Last week I had run out of novels to read and was rummaging through all the bookshelves in the house to find something. I settled on rereading Graham’s The Grove of […]

Oratorio in Ursa Major — April 1, 2016

I have contracted with illustrator Duncan Long for the cover illustration for Oratorio in Ursa Major, the sequel to Fugue in Ursa Major. The publication date for Oratorio will be April 1, 2016. The manuscript for Oratorio is finished, and the book will go out to the beta readers later this month. About Oratorio in […]

The Inklings

The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings. Philip Zaleski and Carol Zaleski. Published June 2, 2015, by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 656 pages. I have long been fascinated with how in the world J.R.R. Tolkien managed to produce The Lord of the Rings. A year or so ago, I read his letters. Last June, […]