Baking a few days before Christmas was not a task I care to repeat in the future. There was such a big rush to get everything finished, and all the while my ever-present backache was giving me fits. No fun at all.

But we did manage to make army-sized-amounts of Pumpkin Cookies, Zucchini Bread, Peanut Butter Cookies and Classic Shortbread. That was enough for one year, thank you. I'm not much of a baker – I prefer cooking main meals and side dishes – so it was a miracle that all turned out well and good.

Click on the images to see larger size in a new window.

(Left): Zucchini Bread, Pumpkin Cookies, Classic Shortbread and Peanut Butter Cookies. (Right): Pumpkin Cookies in the making.

I'm contemplating much simpler fare for New Years Eve: a nice glass of Irish Cream, and perhaps a tray of savory appetizers such as Stuffed Mushrooms, Baked Artichokes and Deviled Eggs.

Roast potatoes from actor Michael Caine?

The secret of a perfect roast potato? Not a lot of people know that but Michael Caine does.

Go figure…

I've contemplated the possibility of creating a Facebook page for Food Fare for quite some time. Last night I decided to take the plunge in hopes of connecting with more people that enjoy cooking on the spot and perusing unusual recipes and food stories.

Admittedly the page doesn't look like much yet, although I did manage to create a few graphics. There isn't a large amount of personal information as my intention for the page is not to acquire a man or look about for dates. Thank you, no. Rather, I truly want to see what other people are creating in their kitchens.

In particular, I'm interested in ethnic and traditional recipes, seafood, pasta, vegetables, anything with nuts, poultry and, believe it or not, food for pets (mainly dogs and cats). The first of the year will see the debut of "Canine Grub" at Food Fare so I'm curious if there is anyone else pandering to their pets in culinary fashion.

So if you're in the Facebook neighborhood, come by and look us up…

My weekend was a busy one…

I'm working on a major update for Food Fare, including a special page for canine recipes and a new feature article about the food and culture of Greece. I hope to have the update ready for upload directly after the New Year.

This morning I decided to take a break, during which I stumbled upon the web site Big Oven. It's a cooking community, where obtaining your own page is free. I don't have time to contribute much at the moment, but hope to have something to offer in the near future. Click here to visit my page at Big Oven.

Since I've basically finished Greece offline, I will now be spending the balance of the day adding more than seventy canine recipe titles to the recipe database at Food Fare (again offline for now). The process is long because I have to create a small pop-up page for each recipe, test links and add graphics where appropriate.

Back to the salt mine, so to speak...

::Speaking about cookbooks…

I'm very selective when it comes to purchasing cookbooks. My shelf contains an eclectic collection that ranges from The American Heritage Cookbook (1964), The Basque Kitchen by Gerald Hirigoyen (1999), Food & Feast in Tudor England by Alison Sim (1997), The Art of Polish Cooking by Alina Zeranska (1999), and The Scots Kitchen by F. Marian McNeill (1929), among others. I'm not counting the community or work-related cookbooks that are somehow always well-done.

Usually when I buy a cookbook it is to help my research for an article, which probably explains my odd collection.

Click here to see my entire list.

What do you have on your shelf?

According to Star Chefs, the following are the top ten cookbooks of the year:

• Natura: elBulli Desserts (Albert Adrià)

• Gordon Ramsay's Maze (Jason Atherton)

• C Food (Robert Clark & Harry Kambolis)

• Ad Hoc at Home (Thomas Keller)

• French Feasts (Stéphane Reynaud)

• CoCo: 10 World Leading Masters Choose 100 Contemporary Chefs (Phaidon Press)

• New American Table (Marcus Samuelsson)

• How to Roast a Lamb: New Greek Classic Cooking (Michael Psilakis)

• Bread Matters: The State of Modern Bread & a Definitive Guide to Baking Your Own (Andrew Whitley)

• The Scandinavian Cookbook (Trina Hahnemann)

Star Chefs also has the top ten cookbooks in previous years, from 2002-2008.

I have to admit the only one on the list I've heard about is Gordon Ramsay, which is probably due to his television exposure.

Now we're onto Christmas…

All the Christmas recipes in one place:

In addition, I'll be reporting on my baking escapades over the next few weeks.

I went on a baking experiment this afternoon, doing my own take on a banana nut muffin recipe I originally found at Simply Recipes:

Banana Nut Muffins

aka "Banana Nutella"

3 or 4 ripe bananas, mashed

1/3 C melted butter

3/4 C sugar - 1/2 C sugar

1 egg, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla

1 TBS espresso or strong coffee (optional)

1 tsp. baking soda

Pinch of salt

1 1/2 C of flour

1 C chopped walnuts

My additions:

Nutella (for frosting)

Extra walnuts (chopped small)

 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mash bananas in a large mixing bowl. Stir in melted butter. Mix in the sugar, egg, espresso and vanilla. Stir in the baking soda and salt. Add the flour. Fold in the chopped walnuts.

 

Pour mixture into a prepared muffin tin. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Cool on a rack. Recipes makes 12 muffins.

I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup. I also spread a thin layer of Nutella* on half the muffins as a frosting of sorts and then rolled them into more walnuts, which were chopped small. (See photo above). Pardon my digital close-up deficiencies...

Wonderful bit of dessert…

*About Nutella:

Re Wikipedia: Nutella is the brand name of a hazelnut-based sweet spread registered by the Italian company Ferrero at the end of 1963. The recipe was developed from an earlier Ferrero's spread released in 1949. Nutella is sold in over 75 countries.