The Minnesota Book Awards took place last Saturday evening. It was amazing to be part of a gathering of nearly one thousand writers and other book people—I was struck by what a strong literary community our state has. I thought it might be fun to highlight a few of the winning books. For the full list, see here. Continue reading First Monday Book Day: MN Book Awards Edition
All posts by Pepper
Thin-Crust Pizza
This has been my go-to pizza recipe for the last few years. A while back, CoC suggested I share it, so here it finally is. It has the best crust of any pizza I've made. Continue reading Thin-Crust Pizza
Cornbread Mmmmmmuffins
I’ve tried a number of cornbread recipes over the years, and this is the closest I’ve found to perfection. My complaints about others are numerous: too sweet, too dense, too dry, too labor intensive. These muffins have none of those faults, and they have a wonderful texture to boot. In addition, I’ve found six muffins to be just the right amount—because there is nothing sadder than that last hunk of cornbread slowly molding on the kitchen counter. (Not that I’m suggesting such a thing ever happens in your house, of course.) Continue reading Cornbread Mmmmmmuffins
Bombino – Azamane Tiliade
As I mentioned in passing last Friday, I bought all of three albums released in 2013 last year. The other two have been featured already in the Best of 2013 roundup. Fortunately for all of us, the third is no less awesome.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_n80VHl9us
Nomad is by Omara Moctar, better known as Bombino, a guitarist and singer from Niger. He is Tuareg and sings in the Tamashek language. The album is produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys.
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New Cookies for a New Year
I wanted to start the new year off right, so I baked you all a batch of cookies! These take a bit more effort than the most basic of cookies, but the resting time in the fridge means you can make the timing work for whatever your schedule is and the results are definitely worth it. Continue reading New Cookies for a New Year
How do you read?
Once upon a time, a book was, to quote my friend Merriam-Webster, "a set of printed sheets of paper that are held together inside a cover." Of course now we can read books on phones, tablet computers, or dedicated e-reading devices (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, etc.). I've recently been curious about how the nation reads--both how you prefer to read and how you actually read. If you use some kind of electronic contraption for reading, do you use it for all of your reading or only some? Continue reading How do you read?
Happy Father’s Day!
Fathers of the nation, I salute you.
3 + 1 = ?
In the not-too-distant future, a new little Pepper will be joining our clan. The jalapeno will be almost 3 at that point. While in theory my recollections of the early days with him should have faded, I have a stubbornly keen memory and I remember in great detail just how difficult and overwhelming things were with him at first. (And this is despite having a normal/easy delivery and a healthy baby.)
After a full day of work and an evening of toddler wrangling, I often wonder what on earth we’re doing. On a rational level, we’ve always wanted two kids, the timing makes sense, and I think the jalapeno will make a great big brother. It’s just that in the short term, I feel like this is possibly insane. Continue reading 3 + 1 = ?