Anne

I TRY to follow cookbook recipes as closely as possible. Yet inevitably I’m often short an ingredient or don’t own the right kitchen tool- so I punt and do what I can to create something to justify the effort to cook in my kitchen. And maybe, just maybe, the end result is something my family or guests will enjoy/devour/beg for seconds of….or maybe I will end up just ordering a pizza.

So I baked a special cake for Karen’s most recent birthday…a hummingbird cake…and I used the recipe from Art Smith’s “Back to the Table“- a cookbook I purchased at a charity auction. Of course, my cake looked nothing like what I decided it was supposed to look like, yet Karen was thrilled and all who ate it were impressed…”the best birthday cake I’ve ever had!”, she said graciously.

As we laughed over my critisicm of that delicious cake- made from scratch and not from a box as usual- we decided to start testing new recipes and collaborate with each other as we tried and modified dishes along the way.

“Cooking with Art” is our conversation. Enjoy!

Ok, so it may be a little lop-sided but it sure tasted FINE!!