Tag: chocolate

• Book Review: The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris by Evie Woods (a/k/a Evie Gaughan)

  The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris is my second book by Evie Woods, although I am a bit confused whether #2 is the chicken or the egg. I loved her first (?) book, The Lost Bookshop. It was the perfect blend of a dual timeline, half contemporary and half historical, with a dash of…

  michardillo

  January 11, 2025

  books, Essay, food

  afternoon tea, Ann Napolitano, bakery, baking, book-review, books, bookstore, British, chocolate, coming of age, Compiegne, contemporary-fiction, cystic fibrosis, Dear Edward, dual timeline, English, Evie Gaughan, Evie Woods, fiction, food, France, Goodreads, grief, Harper 360, HarperCollins, hello-beautiful, historical fiction, Ireland, Irish, literature, magical realism, NetGalley, novel, Oprah, Paris, reading, Romance, tea, The Lost Bookshop, The Mysterious Bakery on Rue de Paris, Within Arm’s Reach, writing

• Book Review: Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame by Olivia Ford

  A book dominated by the daily bakes of a British pensioner? Sign. Me. Up. I just finished reading Olivia Ford’s debut novel, Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame. A teacher colleague of mine—an avid reader and all around dear friend—gave me two books for Christmas and when I opened the package, this one was on top.…

  michardillo

  December 28, 2024

  books, Essay, food

  baking, book-review, books, British, British pastries, chocolate, cooking, debut novel, English, family, fiction, GBBO, Great British Baking Show, literature, middle school, Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame, Netflix, novel, Olivia Ford, reading, social media, tea, writer

• A Very Merry Bookmas!

  It’s Christmas Day! I’ve had a wonderful Advent and now Christmas season with my family and close friends. It has to be the most relaxed Christmas I’ve ever had, having retired from teaching this January 12, 2024, I came into Advent this year without reams of papers to grade, midterms to create and then grade,…

  michardillo

  December 25, 2024

  books, Essay, faith, food

  Advent, baking, book-review, books, chocolate, Christmas, cookbooks, cooking, cozy mystery, essays, exercise, faith, family, fiction, food, friends, healthy, Judi Dench, Kate Quinn, Martha Stewart, Maryland, Mass, Mrs. Quinn’s Rise to Fame, nonfiction, novel, Olivia Ford, prayer, reading, self-care, Shakespeare: The Man who Pays the Rent, teacher, teaching, The Briar Club, The Cookbook, writer, writing

• Book Review: Baking with Dorie by Dorie Greenspan

  Yummy – Sweet and Savory Yesterday I made the cookie dough for the “Rye – Chocolate Shortbread” from Dorie Greenspan’s forthcoming cookbook. Today I sliced and baked. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and this one says it all! They were everything shortbread should be: crumbly, sandy, buttery, melt in your mouth…

  michardillo

  March 14, 2021

  books

  baking, chocolate, cookies, Dorie Greenspan, NetGalley, rye

• The “Pan”-Demic Experiments

  “Sometimes you feel like a nut / Sometimes you don’t / Almond Joy’s got nuts / Mounds don’t” was the jingle used during the 1970s to advertise two of my favorite candy bars.  And, likewise, sometimes, I feel like doing culinary research for several hours, shopping at multiple grocery stores and markets, gathering stand mixer,…

  michardillo

  June 14, 2020

  Essay, food

  Almond Joy, baking, brownies, cake mix, chocolate, cinnamon, coffee cake, Community Coffee, cooking, COVID 19, from scratch, Mounds, pandemic, prepared mix, Southern Bites

• A Can Full of Memories

  My father told me once that his favorite treat as a child was a sandwich made of white bread, sweetened condensed milk, and a Hershey bar, left to warm outside in the hot Louisiana sun. I can just picture my dad, the little boy known by all as “T-Roy”, (Cajun for “petite Roy” or perhaps,…

  michardillo

  November 8, 2015

  Essay

  alfajores, bananas, Banoffee Pie, Bisquick, cafe au lait, cake mix cookies, chocolate, chocolate chips, chocolate fudge, chopped pecans, coconut, coffee, dulce de leche, evaporated milk, food memories, graham cracker crust, Hello Dolly cookie bar, Hershey’s Bar, ice-box lemon pie, Just Add Magic, Lost in London, mashed potatoes, Milk, Peanut Butter Fudge, Pet milk, pionono, sweetened condensed milk, whipped cream

• Comfort Food, or a Meal for Comfort?

  I was born and raised in southeast Louisiana. I didn’t go far for college, only 100 miles, and after graduation I stayed in my college town until I moved to the Washington, DC, area in early 1988. Thus, for over thirty years, I ate, drank, and lived the life of a true member of “GRITS”,…

  michardillo

  August 2, 2015

  Essay

  Bethesda, brownies, chicken, chocolate, comfort food, DC, Dorothy, Fire King Tulip Mixing Bowl, GRITS, Gumbo, Hurricane Katrina, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, potato salad, sausage, southern traditions, Toto, Washington