Ladies Lunch & Wellfleet Library Book Talk

"Deep conversations with the right people are priceless." ~Unknown

I decided to host a Ladies Lunch at my house on Saturday afternoon. I invited a group of women over that I thought would be fun to get to know better.

 Earlier in the week my daughter Sophia hand wrote name plates in the stylish calligraphy she's been practicing from Art class. I added questions to spark conversation if needed. When given the chance women typically chat up a storm although since I'd never invited these particular women over together before I wanted the lunch to be extra fun and inviting.

 I served a yummy French Wine with hints of grapefruit with fresh raspberries as a celebratory toast as friends arrived.

We started with an avocado and lemon salad with cranberry goat cheese then a Tomato and Spinach Quiche and a Black Bean and Corn Salsa. We ate Biscotti and Carrot, Pecan Cake for Dessert.

The questions were things like: What was your first job? What are you most looking forward to right now? and what is your hidden talent? The one that sparked the most deep and meaningful conversations was--Given what you know today what would you tell your 18 year old self?

The woman who received the question was the oldest of the group and it inspired her to share fascinating stories about her wild adventurous life as a young girl. We all felt inspired to share a pearl of wisdom we would whisper to our younger selves if given the chance.

Oh and about the Book talk I was invited to chat about my cookbook and life on Cape Cod at the Wellfleet Public Library at 55 W. Main Street Wellfleet, MA on Tuesday June 12th at 7 p.m. If you are in the area please stop by. I welcome the opportunity to chat about food and the story of how my book came to be. (hint: a small baking business out of my home when my daughter was a baby and this blog!)

I will always have a special place in my heart for making and sharing good food yet lately I've felt called to spend more time creating art, taking photographs and writing poetry.

I have two of my mixed media art works in the upcoming Sandwich Arts Alliance show at Town Hall at the end of the month. And I currently have a piece in the show at Falmouth Art Center.

Take a quick peek at  my new blog to see what I've been up to.here:

Tending the Marsh Blog. I can also be reached through www.lindamariasteele.com

Wishing you good times with good friends and great conversations.

Thank you for stopping by!

Decadent Dessert

Thanks for stopping by and checking out what I've been up to!

Here is the link to my recent piece in Cape Cod Times-- Cape Cod Times Food Section.

  We had a quiet yet such a  special Christmas at my house this year with all three of my kids enjoying the day here.

 We sat around the fire, exchanged gifts, played Scattergories and ate a lot of good food including my Peppermint Chocolate Cheesecake. It was scrumptious! I decided to freeze the one I baked for the feature photo so I only had to thaw it the night before.

 I'm looking forward to writing more for the Times so keep your eyes out for fun things to come.

I've been turning more attention to other creative interests and feel excited and hopeful for what awaits creatively for me in 2018.

I want to invite you to take a peek at my new Tending the Marsh Blog  a space that allows me to explore and share my creative interests.

And stop over to Linda's web site- a current work in progress to see additional work.

Wishing you a blessed New Year with creative inspiration and exciting new adventures.

Ten Year Anniversary of my Blog!

Wow! Can't believe this Sunday will mark ten years of maintaining this blog.

I started it during the time I was offering a baking service from home taking small orders for cake or cookies. I named my business West Falmouth Baking Company because we lived in West Falmouth, I liked the sound of the name and I loved baking. Still do!

Then I went back to teaching and no longer took orders but as someone who always prepared meals for her family I decided to continue to post when I felt I had something to share.

 I've kept it non commercial over the years but some beautiful things have emerged from maintaining it. Most recently I was selected as SCN's featured blogger of the month. A few years ago it led to a fun podcast when I was interviewed by Girlfriendology. Many food related articles I've published started with an idea that I first wrote about here. I was invited to write a series of food columns for Cape Cod.com as they started to feature local food stories.

My book contract came in part because the Publisher liked my blog. I've printed out the blog and have a hard cover version of it that I keep on my Baker's Hutch.
What I love more than anything is that it offers me a diary of sorts of time spent in my kitchen preparing food for my family. The blog will be added on the Food Lover page of my website soon.
Thank you for stopping by! I haven't decided what the future holds for this blog as my creative interests have changed and developed over time.

The photograph above is of my cranberry biscotti with white chocolate.

Comfort Foods & Recipe for Linda's Lemon Cake

Look for my upcoming peice in the Falmouth Enterprise, Fall Home Supplement. I wrote an article offering ideas for using slightly healthier alternatives in our favorite comfort foods.

We can have the comfort we crave and eat healthy too! I shared a delicious recipe there for a healthier version to a baked Macaroni and Cheese. I made it yesterday, pictured above, to have throughout the week to add to my daughters school lunch. The recipe calls for cottage cheese as a healthier option and tastes delicious.

In case you'd like to bake yourself a bit of comfort this week here is my recipe for Linda's Supreme Lemon Cake included in my cookbook "Meet me in My Cape Cod Kitchen: Recipes for Seaside Living" (Published by Schiffer, 2015) that I mentioned in last weeks post. If you decide to make it be sure to share with a friend or two.

It's an easy recipe and so moist.

Linda's Supreme Lemon Cake

For the Cake:

2 sticks butter, unsalted and softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup grated lemon zest

For the Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
3-4 tablespoons lemon juice

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease well a 48 ounce Bundt pan. In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, and butter at medium speed, scraping bowl often until creamy (2 to 3 minutes). Mix in lemon juice and buttermilk until well blended (about a minute).
2) In separate bowl mix together flour, powder, soda and salt. Add the dry mixture to the butter mixture and mix well.
3) Continue mixing on low adding the eggs one at a time and then mix in the vanilla until well blended then mix in the lemon zest.
4) Pour batter into greased bundt pan. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
5) Let cake cool 10 minutes, then turn onto wire rack to cool completely.
6) To make the glaze, in small bowl, stir all ingredients. Generously spread on cake as desired.

Linda's Lemon Cake & Small Acts of Kindness

"No act of Kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." ~Aesop

     I get compliments often, either from people who have used my recipe themselves or eaten a slice of a Lemon Cake I  personally baked about how yummy it is. It feels so good to make people a little bit happier from something so simple as a thick slice of just baked lemon cake.  It's a Bundt cake with lots of fresh squeezed lemon juice in the recipe.
    Recently, one of my daughters traveled to see a friend in Malibu, California. They met in Boston at College last year and he invited her out for a visit. I knew she'd be staying in his family home so I decided to bake a few treats for them and drop in the mail so it would be there in California when she arrived as a thank you to the family for hosting her.
     My daughter was spending a week in Colorado before the California trip so it made sense that I send it directly to them in hopes it would arrive prior to her arrival.
       It seemed like such a small and easy act of kindness that would be appreciated. My daughter tells me they sat around the dinner table and enjoyed the fresh baked treats together. Later I received a super sweet hand-written note from the whole family thanking me.
Today, more than ever it feels as if we must keep offering our simple acts of kindness no matter how small they may seem because as the quote above suggests they are never wasted. 

New Story & Food Class available, Join Me!

Good Morning, I'm so excited to share my new online writing class with you called Story & Food!

 It's available through Story Circle Network, a wonderfully vibrant organization dedicated to supporting women to tell their stories.

At the end of the class you'll have your own collection of favorite recipes  and related personal stories as a keepsake for your own kitchen or available in time for holiday gifts.

Details can be found on the link below with a short video and a place for you to share with friends.

Story & Food with Linda Steele


Look forward to having you join me

Happy Story & Food to you!

Deep Gratitude for the Gift of the LIbrary

"If you have a garden and a library you have everything you need." ~Marcus Tullius Cicero

Last night I gave a talk about my book at the Brewster Ladies Library. I am so grateful for the chance to have spent a bit of time there. There was a lovely audience and the staff was super helpful. I brought fresh baked Lemon Cake and Celebration Cookies and didn't leave with a crumb. I talked about how my book came to be and shared personal stories around food.

We talked about some of my tricks of baking good rolled sugar cookies either frosted or not. And I described one of my favorite salads and how my Summer Vegetable Tart is a great light dinner option now.

I shared where my Nana's No Fail Sugar Cookie recipe came from too. One of the shapes I often bake are my Lobster Shaped cookies, pictured above. I feel so grateful for the gift of a good library and I want to offer a sincere thank you to Brewster Ladies Library for inviting me.

Shifting into Summer

"One benefit of summer was that each day we had more light to read by." ~Jeanette Wells, The Glass Castle

Last weekend I hosted my first summer get together of 2017. I invited a few friends I had not seen in awhile over to enjoy appetizers and conversation on my deck.
As a woman born and raised in New England I can appreciate something about each of the seasons although it has always been and will be summer that has my heart. I love to host get together's in the summer. There's something light and fun about them that I don't feel as much throughout the year.
I love that the days are longer, the sky is often clear and the temperatures warm.
And spending a simple day at the beach is one of my all time favorite activities. People seem to be more friendly this time of year and life seems a little more simple.
Yet this summer in particular there has been an unexpected change in our plans as my youngest daughter fractured her elbow on the First day of Summer. Talk about bad timing!
I am doing what I can to help her stay comfortable and positive. In the meantime we may find ourselves reading more often the books that we've always wanted to read or sitting under a tree with a good friend enjoying a cold glass of lemonade or a popsicle. Maybe even trying a new creative interest.
Summer always seems to be about shifting gears to a slower pace and this summer especially I want to surrender to what the day has in store for us at a pace that feels comfortable.
And who knows, we may be pleasantly surprised at where our slower pace takes us in our creative pursuits.
Wishing you a joy-filled summer at a pace that feels right for you.
And I am wondering what do you do to Shift into Summer so you can enjoy more fully all it has to offer?

Aprons

Happy Friday & Happy Baking!

I've been working on a project for a few months now that I finally made progress on today and I'm excited to share it with you. I created a line of aprons that I can use as a gift package to go along with my book. I have starfish and whale shaped sugar cookie cutters too. I love the way they turned out.

You can now buy my book along with one of my apron designs and cookie cutters as a Gift or for yourself.

Potato, Fontina and Rosemary Tart with a Quick Story

Last Sunday I felt like being creative in my kitchen. I wanted to come up with tasty new combinations. We were expecting a snow storm so I decided to get a fire going early in the day.
I went shopping before the storm hit.

I already  knew I wanted a big pot of chicken soup to have on hand for the week. I love making new versions of tarts and quiche especially to go with hot fresh Soup so I came up with a Potato, Fontina and Rosemary tart.

It was yummy and so easy to throw together with just a few ingredients. I want to share it with you here. But first a quick story.

Last week, I was invited to be a speaker at a We Can Mentor Meeting.  As a Certified Women's Group Facilitator I want to support and inspire the women involved there to embrace a regular self care practice that could bring a sense of peace and renewal to their hectic lives.

I wanted to give them tools so they would know how and where to begin. The talk went well. The women were engaged and we shared thoughtful discussions around the topic of self-care. One of the women who attended looked familiar yet I couldn't quite place where I knew her from. As my talk came to a close she approached me and said " I remember you from the Ladies Night Out in Hyannis last year you were selling your book." She was there with a friend and they were looking for a gift for another friends birthday who used to live on the Cape but now resides in Arizona. There friend was turning 80. She bought my book that night and planned to give it to her friend the following week as they were planning to meet in Arizona for a birthday celebration.

The woman at my talk told me she just happened to chat with her friend a day earlier and she mentioned how much she absolutely loves my book! She said she enjoyed the stories and all the personal items I included. It was good to hear her kind words.

 When you create something --a poem, a work of art or a book and it goes out into the world it takes on a life of its own and you don't really know entirely what happens to it. When I put that book together it was a true labor of love and I was so glad to hear how much she enjoyed it.
The Potato, Fontina and Rosemary Tart is not in my collection as it's something new so I will share it here in case you feel inspired to give it a try,

Potato, Fontina and Rosemary Tart

1 Puff Pastry
4 medium sized potatoes, sliced thin (if you have a mandolin use that as you want the potatoes to be so thin they are transparent)
1 Cup fontina cheese, cut into small cubes
1 Tbsp. Rosemary

1) Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. On a baking sheet roll out the puff pastry flat.
2) Place the potatoes in a circular motion to cover the pastry and top with the cubes of cheese. Sprinkle the rosemary on top.
3) Bake for about 25 minutes or until potatoes are soft and the pastry is puffed and brown.

Baker's Tip: If you don't have a mandolin and aren't sure you can slice the potatoes thin enough to cook through shortly you can place them in a bowl with a bit of water and place in microwave to pre-cook for about a minute.