Received a gift of book.

Many cookbooks make good gifts. This one is exceptional. In Celebration Breads, Betsy Oppenneer tells a story of each bread and provides three methods of preparation for most recipes.

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Given the disappointing results of poaching frozen fish combined with a very limited choice of fresh fillets, flexibility occurred and the menu was changed to fried fish. This recipe, like most, is easy. The fish comes out as though it were grilled or baked rather than fried.

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Like the soda bread, Rosemary Potatoes take little time to prepare and deliver great tasting results.

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Bad news. The poached fish fell flat. Maybe not exactly flat. It looked good and tasted okay but fell short of greatness. Since many restaurants provide okay taste lacking greatness, why bother cooking at home? We cook to greatness, not less.

Fortunately, the bread and potatoes wowed the diners.

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Before all else, this is a delicious dish. It might not be haggis proper but it is very very good. Since a traditional style haggis sits outside modern sensibilities, and in the United States, outside available ingredients, the old-style lights, heart and tongue sausage is simply out of the question. Since tradition is out, might as well give vegetarian a shot.

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For the third experiment with yellow cake, I selected a recipe from an old cookbook. The recipe came from the only cookbook I remember my mother having: The Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery – An Encyclopedic Handbook for the Homemaker covering Foods and Beverages -their Purchase, Preparation and Service.

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After tasting and testing Yellow Cake from a box, the next step in the experiment was to bake a Yellow Cake from a recipe. To keep things apples-to-apples, a recipe was selected from a cookbook published under the same name as appeared on the box of the box-cake.

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Many people, if they endeavor to create cake at all, choose to make cake from a box. Whether one of the more popular, instantly recognized name cakes or a lesser known, top shelf, hoity-toity cake, they elect the box cake path none-the-less. Considering the disadvantages of preservatives, old ingredients and artificial flavoring, there must be some great, hidden advantage of a cake mix.

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It’s been unseasonably cold, snowing and blowing here; and when it’s unseasonably cold in these parts, it’s chilly, willy cold. After a morning of shoveling the twinkling white dust of early snow; cheeks red with the crisp kiss of clear Winter air; feeling refreshed and energized, a body can do with a steaming plate of comfort food. Macaroni and cheese is a great choice.

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Bread can make you a hero. It comes together easily and fast, if you do not count time waiting for it to proof. Yet, it can make new friends and impress enemies. With four basic ingredients: flour, water, yeast and a touch of salt, you get a classic, good, bread dough. Bake it with the windows open, fill the neighborhood with the mouth-watering goodness of fresh bread aroma and even the most unfriendly neighbors will turn out.

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