This blog entry will be long, so please bear with me. I do this every time Shenanchie’s Kitchen updates, and since this only occurs once every three months there is a lot of information to squeeze in. More than sixty new recipes have been added to the site, along with a multitude of new designs, some new pages, kitchen/cooking tips, new food links, canine (Foofer) food recipes and two new articles: Germany and Mushroom Mélange.

 

I’ll begin with the articles:

 

Germany (Winter 2004). Savorys by Shenanchie is featuring a special article about the food and culture of Germany. This piece includes a brief history of the country, as well as topics such as German Dishes, The Beer & Other Spirits, German Cheese, Traditions, and German Words of Cuisine (with a table of measurement translations). A special section in the article was contributed by Lena Bringenberg, an Essen native who spent last year as an exchange student with a relative of mine in the Inland Northwest. Authentic recipes in the German feature include Tilsiter Turnovers (cheese with ham in a pastry), Hoppel-Poppel (Egg-Nog), Bauernfruhstuck (a farmer's breakfast with eggs, bacon and potatoes), Brotchen (dinner rolls), Hazelnussomeletten (Hazelnut Omelette), Sauerbraten (Soured Roast), Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes), Wurstsalat (sausage salad), Honig Brat Mandeln (honey-roasted almonds), Deutscher Gemusesalat (coleslaw), Weinkraut (baked sauerkraut with apples), Spargel Cremesuppe (cream of asparagus soup), and Uberbackener Spinat Mit Kase (baked spinach with cheese).

 

Mushroom Mélange (Winter 2004): The new essay on the Food Fare pages is all about mushrooms. Read about mushroom facts, varieties and nutrition information. There are also bits of trivia with tips, as well as mushroom links of interest and three recipes: Mushroom Soup, Stuffed Mushrooms and Mushroom Pate.

 

As for the rest of Shenanchie’s Kitchen, the new foodstuff goes as follows:

 

Appetizers:

Appetizer Cups, Cheese Toasts with Walnuts, Hot Shrimp Cocktail, Hummus, and Spiced Pecans.

 

Beverages:

Mike's Milk Punch, and Peanut Butter Cocoa.

 

Bread & Breakfast:

English Muffin Bread, and Irish Soda Bread #2.

 

Entrees:

Baked Whole Ham with Pineapple Glaze.

 

Foofer Food:

Baked Turkey Treats, Dogger Doughnuts, Veggie Bagels, and Wolfer Cookies.

 

Potato Recipes:

Broiled Red Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes with Mushrooms, Mashed Potatoes with Watercress, and Swiss Potato Bake.

 

Poultry:

Potato-Stuffed Duck, Roast Turkey with Apple-Horseradish Glaze, Roast Turkey with Hazelnut Stuffing, and Turkey-in-a-Basket.

 

Salads & Sandwiches:

Italian Sausage Sandwiches, and Turkey Pita Pockets.

 

Savory Sweets:

Maple-Walnut Pie.

 

Seafood:

Broiled Ginger-Honey Scallops, Grilled Littleneck Clams, Oysters on the Half Shell, and Seattle Baked Halibut.

 

Side Dishes:

Apple & Sausage Stuffing, Grits, and Macaroni & Cheese with Mushrooms and Bacon.

 

Soups, Stews & Sauces:

Cream of Tomato Soup, Potato Soup a lá Shenanchie, Seafood Cocktail Sauce, and Tzatziki (cucumber-yogurt sauce).

 

Tea Treats:

Artichoke & Shrimp Tea Sandwiches, Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Peanut Butter Bread, Pecan Tea Loaf, Sliced Egg & Watercress Tea Sandwiches and Spicy Gingerbread with Guava Cream Cheese.

 

Vegetables:

Apple-Stuffed Acorn Squash, Asparagus with Almond Sauce, Garbanzo Nut Loaf, and Grilled Asparagus.

 

New Tips, Links and Reader's Mail >>>

More than twenty new kitchen and cooking tips have been added to the Tips page. The bits of advice include uses for leftover wine, removing baked-on foods, restoring the shine to aluminum, freezing hints, how to get more juice from lemons, removing the silk form corn cobs, storing seeds and nuts and much more. If you would like to add one of your own tips to the mix, let me know and I'll include it with the next update.

 

Over the past three months I discovered several cooking-related web sites that I have added to the Food Links page - new linkers include Blarney Village, Chester's Favorite Cooking Links, Cookie Tin, Food Bhavan (Recipes from India), New England Cooking, Real & Healthy Chinese Recipes, That's My Home (Recipes, Food & Cooking); and World Recipes. To correspond with the new article about Germany at Savorys by Shenanchie, I have also included a link to a nicely-done German recipe site called German Recipes at the "Recipe Hound."

 

There is an abundance of new Reader's Mail, and I hope you have a few minutes to check out the new queries I have received since last October. Some of the messages range from simple comments about Shenanchie's Kitchen, while others pose questions regarding the culture articles and further study:

• What is the national dress of Switzerland?
• Do rulers in Monaco have heraldic emblems?
• What is the native name of Russian fish pie?
• Can one wear black pants to an afternoon tea?
• What do the colors of the Swedish flag signify?
• What sort of games and songs are played in Madagascar?
• How is raw cow stomach processed into tripe?
• What is it about the Welsh and their Leeks?
• What baked goods with holes is served at a Swiss Christmas dinner?

Another reader wrote to inform me I had omitted one of the ingredients in the recipe Gateau Basque. I fixed the error on this site as well as on the Basque article, and I'm thankful that folks are looking out for me!

 

Those are just a few examples of the new notes - sometimes the questions do not have much to do with food, but the mail is interesting just the same.

 

New Pages & Designs >>>

There are several new features at Shenanchie's Kitchen - some new designs as well as a new page or two.

 

New Pages

Contact: Although e-mail buttons are littered throughout Shenanchie's Kitchen, I have added the new Contact page that offers alternative methods for people who wish to send me a message. I have initiated a "comment" system whereby anyone can leave me a message on the Contact page and I can see it instantly. Then there are the obvious contact options - e-mail, posting a comment at this blog or adding an entry at the food forum Shenanchie's Pantry.

 

Poultry: I've created a new page especially for poultry recipes, taking away some of the load on the two entree pages. All recipes transferred are adjusted on the Recipe Index as well (and of course!).

 

Homemade Herbs & Spices: This new page is an add-on to the Spice Rack and offers homemade recipes for various herb and spice mixes. This new page is accessible from the index menu and the Spice Rack page but is not included on the main site menu displayed on all pages.

 

New Designs

Bread & Breakfast: Because of the slow loading time, I changed the design on the Bread & Breakfast page. The color scheme is all tans and browns, and hopefully the page will pull up much faster now.

 

Food Culture: Thanks to Moon & Back Graphics and the talents of artist H. Hargrove, the setting for the food article links now has a European feel. Pay a visit and see what I mean.

 

Food Notes: Headed with a cask of wine, grapes and French bread.

 

Foofer Food: Even Foofer gets a new design! I found a delightful background set at Moon & Back Graphics with dark green and gold highlights and the appropriate little paw icons. Never fear, Foofer gave his woof of approval.

 

Potato Recipes: This page was also becoming slow to load, so I chose a leafy green design to replace it.

 

Reader's Mail: Lots of new messages contained in their own tables and a new, clean design. Have a look! 

 

Recipe Index: Because of the number of recipes at this site, the old recipe index was becoming quite large (and just about a mile long). I re-designed the page, and in the process added scrolling menus rather than lengthy lists. Hopefully the recipes will now be easier to navigate and the page quicker to load.

 

Spice Rack: I replaced the old page with a blue-white design - much easier to read and pleasing to the eye as well.

 

Tea Treats: Out with the frilly pink and in with elegance - a touch of cream with red highlights.

 

Tips: More blues and whites, with larger print.

 

About Site: This page has a new kelly-green decor.

 

About Shenanchie: The new design for this page turned out beautifully, thanks to Eye for Beauty Designs. The look of the design is simply and elegantly transparent.

 

Index: The main page (and the introduction to this site) has a new design to boot - thanks to Moon & Back Graphics and artist H. Hargrove. The site menu on the index page has also changed, now contained on a scrolling list rather than within a table.

 

I hope everyone enjoys the new designs at Shenanchie's Kitchen; I certainly had a good time adding a bit of flair to the pages.

 

Bits & Pieces >>>

Newsletter subscribers can now look for an e-mail version of Food Notes in their "Inbox" that actually contains a link to the real online newsletter. I decided to display the e-mail version of the newsletter online rather than clutter subscribers’ mail storage with a rather large message. Hopefully this works out for the better, but if you prefer the "old way" please let me know and I'll see what I can do. In the meantime, if you'd care to have a gander at the e-mail-online version of Food Notes, click here.

 

The next update at Shenanchie's Kitchen will occur in April 2004, and I have planned the addition of two more food articles: Thailand (about food and culture of Thailand, naturally), and a new Food Fare piece titled In the Company of Artichokes (all you ever wanted to know about artichokes, and then some). I'm already gathering and testing several spring-flavored recipes, and hope to bring you more original and innovative dishes with the next update in April.

 

Happy Cooking!