I wish I had a corn muffin

 Good morning.  It's been awhile, I know.  Have a corn muffin. 

Made from fresh corn grown by a friend.  Made sure to scrape off all the corny goodness.  And make sure to process your corn the same day you get it (which happens to be the same day it was picked) for maximum sweetness retention.  You can freeze the extras for later.  

Served with homemade butter. Not my home, but the same home that grew the corn.  Crazy delicious.

I actually made these a couple weeks ago.  They were fantastic. The recipe is Dory Greenspan's. My only change was that instead of using corn oil, I used bacon grease.  It gave the muffins a nice smoky bacony flavor without detracting from the sweet, wonderful corn.

That is all for now.

I am a food nerd

I'm giddy like a school girl over finding and purchasing this new book, A History of Food in 100 Recipes by William Sitwell.  It's part cookbook and part history book- two things I nerdily love but don't know nearly enough about.  Many of you know I have volunteered as a historical reenactor at a Federalist era mansion as part of the kitchen guild.  I would dress up like it was 1832 and cook seasonally over an open hearth.  All recipes (or receipts, as they were called way back when) were from American sources from 1845 and earlier, which meant a lot of Eliza Leslie and Mary Randolph. I haven't volunteered in a while for various reasons - busy schedule, laziness, for a while with my knee injury I didn't feel safe near an raging fire wearing a long skirts, AND I no longer fit in the dress my grandmother made for me (it's too big now!). But I loooove culinary history.  I love knowing why we eat the things we do and how they came about.  If anyone is interested in going to talks by the Culinary Historians of Washington a.k.a CHOW (how clever!), let me know.  I've yet to go to one.  See the above reasons.

I also hope this will get me back in the kitchen with recipes to try.  I know cooking at home is cheaper and healthier for THE UNFATTENING, but it's hard to keep the number of servings I eat under control when I cook enough for a family of 6.

Anyways, I'm excited about my newest addition to my beloved food book collection (I possess few pieces of literature or novels, but I do have an excellent array of food books.  They are my weakness.)  The first recipe is Ancient Egyptian bread from 1958 BC. Squee!