Category Archives: farmers markets

quick and fresh pasta sauce

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It’s a quick, fresh pasta sauce kind of evening.

Two sweet onions chopped

Five cloves of garlic minced

Two thirds of a container of grape tomatoes cut in thirds

One fresh red bell pepper, chopped

One can of tomato paste – 6 ounces

One can of crushed tomatoes -28 ounces

Kosher salt to taste

One fresh bay leaf

Fresh basil, oregano, and flat leaf Italian parsley chopped – as much as you want. I like a lot of fresh herbs in my sauce

1- 16 ounce package of organic Angus ground beef

1 dash or two of good balsamic vinegar

Extra-virgin olive oil

I toss a little extra virgin olive oil in the bottom of my pasta sauce pot. I add the onions garlic, fresh tomatoes, and one chopped fresh red bell pepper.

I sweat the vegetables down a little with a dash of kosher salt, and then I tossed in the hamburger. I allow the hamburger to cook down, next tossing in the herbs.

Next a small dash or two of balsamic vinegar before I add the canned tomatoes and paste.

I bring everything up over medium heat (stirring often) to close to a boil and then I reduce to simmer cover and let simmer for an hour or hour and a half.

I serve over whatever pasta I happen to have on hand . Tonight it will either be spaghetti or whole-wheat linguine.

I dust each bowl of pasta with some grated Parmesan cheese when I serve

Keeping it simple, this dinner is best with a fresh salad – right now I have some wonderful looking arugula and romaine that I picked up at the local farmers market.

It’s what’s for dinner in my house this evening. Try this sometime and I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

first strawberry!

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When I was little I planted strawberries in the garden beds. As a child I delighted in picking the fresh berries that the birds didn’t get.

This year I decided to plant strawberries again. This morning I picked my first ripe berry. I have to admit it was just as much fun picking that berry this morning as it was when I did the same thing when I was about 10 years old!

Strawberries make an attractive plant, and they are an easy groundcover in flower beds. They like to grow among perennials and roses in particular.

I grow them mostly as a decorative ground cover. I don’t know how many berries I will get in the end every year because I have a lot of birds, but it’s fun to grow them.

When I want delicious fresh strawberries (as in more than one or two) I can either stop and visit Sugartown Strawberries on Sugartown Road, or pick them up at the East Goshen Farmers Market or West Chester Growers Market!

mmmm… roasted eggplant

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So simple, so good.

Peel and slice up an eggplant into half moons. Good size chunks of about half of an inch thick, not slender slices.

Lay on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper – a jellyroll pan more specifically.

Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle a little sea salt, sweet paprika, garlic powder, basil, and oregano.

Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 50 to 60 minutes.

Eat warm as is, or drizzle with a good balsamic vinegar over a bed of arugula.

may days

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These are the glory days of spring as she heads towards summer. The azaleas and viburnum are starting to bloom and the air is filled with the perfume of viburnums and lilac.

It’s just so pretty outside.

My garden is shaking off the last of the winter doldrums and perennials are popping up everywhere. We have new critters : three hares that seem to scamper everywhere. Hopefully they will stick around, but you never know as we have foxes.

I would say the foxes have been pretty active because I never hear my neighbor down the road’s chickens and I have the past couple of days.

The farmers are big time in their fields, turning over soil and beginning to plant. During the day you now hear the hum of their tractors. Except if you’re in Lancaster County like I was again today, and there I have seen teams of mules and plow horses.

It’s evenings and days like these that I feel sorry for people who can’t appreciate life around them. They miss out in so much.

As I sit on the porch writing this, it is a lovely evening. The birds are twittering and trilling away as sunset fades to dusk and dark. Enjoy your evenings !
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the death of traditions in chester county

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One of the things I have always loved about Chester County are the traditions. Things like the horse shows and horses, the farms, the carriaging, the crafters and artists, barn sales, flea markets and church sales, ballooning, and the independent spirits.

But today I mourn the loss of those things. They haven’t all disappeared over night, but if we as residents don’t start standing up in our communities and telling municipal governments to pay attention to us and not just the developers, we will lose what helps make Chester County so special.

I am going to re-visit the case of Upper Uwchlan and the Smithfield Barn. I will note in case Upper Uwchlan’s manager is feeling vindictive after this post that I have NOT spoken to the Smith family about this situation in a while, it is merely that people are TALKING.

I have been told that the manager (who came from Coatesville and why do I point that out? Well Coatesville always ends up in the news for not so nice things, don’t they?), met with the Smith family finally after the media picked up on the story at the start of the new year? I had heard that and was hopeful, and well what did I hear recently? That the manager had not seemed to follow through on what they had discussed? What do kids still call someone like that? A welcher? Do I have that right? Or is this just a rumor and he really likes the Smithfiled Barn and acknowledges how much his township folks go there and to places like that Carmine’s , right? Maybe they will have a new rule against pizza and wings down the road too?

So what does this manager named Cary Vargos, get out of this? Is he doing this doing this for the developer coming back to his township which shall remain nameless? The developer who will share borders with the Smithfield Barn Farm? How are those bog turtles and percing stuff going?

Of course then there are the rumors bandying about concerning municipalities that want to tell people how, when, and what time they can hold the humble garage sale and isn’t that just crazy here in the land of the free?

So I have to ask who would be hurt by allowing Smithfield Barn to have a set number of barn sales a year? Is it possible that this township manager doesn’t know barn sales are rural America’s garage sale and a deep rooted tradition? Is Upper Uwchlan going to morph into one of those individual freedoms stomping municipalities that next puts a million rules on garage sales? Auctions?

I mean obviously Upper Uwchlan government has some sort of identity crisis because they allowed the crossroads village of Eagle to grow up to be Barbie’s Lego dream village didn’t they? This is their jurisdiction right? I mean it is good to know CVS can do other architecture, but still.

When you go through there you are also reminded of the development when you look at Upper Uwchlan’s shiny newish township building. It is not as grandiose as some I have seen, but it is a testament to the present and all that developments have built isn’t it?

I hate to pick on this township manager, but I just don’t get why he wants to be the squasher of local traditions do you?

The reality is Smithfield Barn is beloved by locals and those farther afield. Barn sales are a real part of country history and tradition. That makes them a positive ambassador for their municipality. Townships can’t buy the good publicity and PR generated by happy people and goodwill towards neighbors, can they?

But the country isn’t so country any longer is it? The country has been taken over by developers who don’t plant crops in the beautiful farm fields of Chester County, just plastic mushroom houses that give off the smell of hot plastic in the summer.

Take for example another sad thing: has anyone been by what was that huge empty former working farm on White Horse Road in Charlestown Township I guess it is?

I was a passenger in a car going past that last Saturday and it made me want to cry. It is slated to be a new development and it looked like a battlefield. Demolition equipment on site and they had just basically raped the landscape and all you saw were felled trees lined up like dead soldiers from a Civil War battlefield reenactment. It was shocking and sad.

The pace of development in Chester County is somewhat terrifying at times. Nothing ever seems to be a restrained size or scope. These projects are huge and homes squished so city close together that you know residents will live crammed in like lemmings. And the crime of it is, these people don’t seem to know any better.

Then there are the things that amuse me. Like for example when people in developments in Upper Uwchlan refer to themselves as living “on the Main Line” or being from the Main Line. Uhhh no, I actually grew up on the Main Line and these people are actually living in Downingtown. And it is o.k. to say you live in Downingtown. These are like the people who say they live in Chester Springs because that is how the developer marketed certain developments, only are they Chester Springs? Not so much.

Developments change the landscape and the attitudes. Do any of these people really know the satisfaction and joy of planting their own gardens? Or do they in fact live in Stepford where all geraniums must match and grass must be “just so”? Do these people know the joy of standing outside and watching the hawks circle and cry out to one and other? And they all say they love horses, but then they don’t want to live near barns, stables, and local horse show grounds do they? And don’t get me started on traditions like skeet shooting, trap shooting, and sporting clays shooting. And hunting and fox hunting is best kept to those countrified wallpapers, right?

I love what makes Chester County just what she is. I am sad that traditions seem as if they are disappearing one by one.

I really hope people wake up before it is too late. Once the woods and fields and farms are gone, they aren’t coming back. Same with barn sales, country auctions, and honor stands at the edge of your local farm.

As good weather seems to finally be here, I encourage all of you to let people know about fun things happening in Chester County. Traditional things.

One thing I will not be encouraging people to be part of or attend is Upper Uwchlan’s “block party” on June 14th. Why support their efforts when all they do is kowtow to developers and sanitize communities against country traditions like barn picking and barn sales? Sounds mean to some, but I think they are being mean spirited to tradition.

But please if you have something fun you want to tell people about, let this blog know. Things I love are farm events, art shows, flea markets, First Fridays, barn sales, even swap meets and garage sales. Other things like strawberry and similar festivals, farmers markets, small businesses celebrating something.

Enjoy the day. It is simply beautiful out. Find your magic in everyday life.

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show the humble chicken some love, malvern borough

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cluck 1Apparently in Malvern they have room for developments no one wants but not chickens.  Not roosters, but laying hens.

I happen to like chickens.  I don’t have any real ones myself, just the milk glass variety, but my friends and family will tell you how I have to stop and look at them and take their picture if I see them.

As a matter of fact more than one of my old neighbors in Lower Merion Township, in the heart of the Main Line kept chickens.  Never roosters, but laying hens.  Just a couple, not a Perdue Farm’s worth. They caused no problems and all had beautifully constructed pens that were basically fancy-schmancy chicken condos. They were even heated in the winter.

Yet here we are in Chester County and as per the Daily Local, Malvern Borough will contemplate oodles of condos no one wants built ghetto close to everything and everyone, but if you don’t have three acres in the borough you can’t have a chicken?  How does that work exactly?  Are you telling me that in a county where you need two acres per horse you need in Malvern Borough 3 acres for a bird that weighs less than a horse’s tail?

Chickens are cool and there is nothing better than literally farm fresh eggs, so I think this is silly.  Heck I have neighbors now who have chickens.  I never hear them, never see them, never smell them.  Chickens are and should be a non-issue.

cluck2Come on Malvern Borough, if you can let developers into your cute town, why not a couple of chickens? And incidentally, Radnor Township is afraid of chickens too apparently. (Read Radnor Board of Health mulls fowl problem )

Anyway, here’s hoping those new borough people and the mayor can become friends of fowls.  I can see not having them in places like condo developments or trailer parks where people have no yards, but a limited number of chickens well cared for in a back yard? Where is the harm?

Here’s the article:

Don’t be chicken, residents urge Malvern

By   Kendal Gapinski, Daily Local News

Posted:  01/24/14, 4:09 PM EST

MALVERN – A small group of residents are looking to change the borough’s ordinance to allow for families to raise a limited number of chickens for eggs.

Ken Neeld and his family have been working to rewrite the borough’s ordinance to allow for families to own “backyard chickens” to collect eggs. Neeld said after looking at other urban and suburban ordinances that allow for chickens, he and his wife worked to draft an ordinance that would please neighbors while allowing residents to raise the animals.

Neeld said his family first became interested in raising their own chickens for eggs around 2012 after visiting the Malvern Farmers Market and learning more about the benefits of eating local foods. He said that his daughters approached him about possibly raising their own chickens to get eggs instead of relying on mass produced ones.

“We don’t want to promote anything that is not good for the animals or for us,” Neeld said. “We wanted to give it a try.”

According to Borough Manager Sandra Kelley, the zoning ordinance classifies chickens and poultry as livestock. Under that zoning ordinance, there must be three acres for the first chicken, and then 0.1 acres for each additional one. Kelley said she was not aware of any movement to allow chickens to be raised in backyards in the borough.

Neeld said that while some residents may be concerned about noise, the ordinance he is proposing limits the number of chickens, follows the borough’s noise ordinance and does not allow for roosters, which can be loud…..He also noted that chickens eat fleas, ticks and leftover food scraps that can lower the amount of waste in households.

“There’s very little downside to it,” Neeld said.

great balls of cheese!

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say cheeseWhat got my eyes rolling this morning?  This:

Jan 13, 2014 07:42 AM

The Main Course

Cheese Ball Comes to Philly to Benefit Birchrun Hills Farm

Those with an affection for all things fromage will be delighted to hear that, with the help of author and Wisconsin native Tenaya Darlington, a grand dairy affair will unfold Sat., Jan. 18, 7:30 p.m.–midnight, at Philadelphia’s Ruba Social Club (414 Green St.).

Darlington, scribe of Di Bruno Bros. House of Cheese and blogger of Madame Fromage, has organized the cheese-focused soiree with one incredible mission: to help Birchrunville’s cheesemaker Sue Miller, of Birchrun Hills Farm, raise funds for a future cheese cave. ….the Miller family trucks their milk off their farm to a facility to age their cheese, and with the addition of a farm-based cave, they can eliminate this step and keep the entire operation on the farm.

Admission to the cheesy fete is $10 per person, with all proceeds donated to the Miller family.

I am all for supporting your local farmer, but this is a bit much don’t you think? A benefit in Philadelphia for the Miller family? As in Supervisor Farmer Ken Miller and his bride Sue the Cheese Lady? Of West Vincent Township?

What is it kids say? For realz?

The Miller family is not my favorite charity and they shouldn’t be a charity at all, should they? I think this whole thing is terribly classless and tacky. They don’t have some dread disease and need medical bills covered.  They haven’t had a devastating disaster hit their farm.  They just seem to enjoy the benefits of OPM. Other People’s Money.

They have lived off the fatted calf a long time, eh? I know farming is hard work but where else could you farm on taxpayer owned township farm land and have all the perks of being a supervisor and what do they call it, roadmaster? West Vincent is intriguing to say the least at all times….

I am sorry but I think Madame Fromage is off her rocker!   Apologies to Madame Formage, but even if you don’t know and/or appreciate the shenanigans in West Vincent Township, for what Sue Miller charges for that cheese (which honestly I still don’t know why people rave about it, it really is not exceptional in any way), wow you would think they would be able to do their own farm renovations and additions right? Or be able to go to a bank and get a loan? Or apply for some organic farming grant? But wait, they really aren’t organic are they?

I am sorry but this to me is just so wrong.  I know a few farmers and cheesemakers here in Chester County and elsewhere, and wow I never heard of any of them throwing themselves in essence a beef and beer (oopsies wine and cheese) to get other people to pay for them have you? Sorry but wow, no thank you.

And my dislike for Birchrun Hills Farm precedes anything I became aware of in West Vincent and the odd way those folks practice politics and treat neighbors. My dislike for that farm began the first season of Bryn Mawr Farmers Market.  One of my friends founded it and when it opened I was so excited to have a market close to my then home.  I wanted to support as many farmers as possible. 

say cheese 1

I remember distinctly trying to ask Sue Miller  and whomever was with her about their cheeses (as I was hello forking over my money to buy some) and they could not have been any more unpleasant.  I decided at that time that if they couldn’t take a minute for customers that this was in effect a small business I wasn’t going to patronize. And I appreciate finely made cheeses and truthfully, theirs was nothing special. And it was over-priced.

As am amusing side note, I happened to see Supervisor Farmer Miller at the fabulous event the Historic Birchrunville Neighbors Association had at the Birchrunville Store Café last evening.  If he is so counting his pennies, I wonder did he buy his own ticket or did someone treat him?  We were not introduced, so all I did was observe his strategic placement of self in front of the bar for the majority of the event. 

I did make the acquaintance of David Brown former Gladwynite turned supervisor.  Poor man seemed surprised to meet me at a genteel event such as this, but at least he was polite and obviously knows how to behave in public.  Can’t say the same for certain cheese ladies….maybe that is why she wasn’t by her hubby’s side last night?  But if I were a politician I would have wanted to go too last evening.  This group is not only great company, but they are doing terrific things and are a force to be reckoned with.  (And may I say again it was the loveliest of evenings? The village of Birchrunville was lit up luminairies and the Birchrunville Store Café is just a marvel it is so wonderful.  And I love their chicken windows on the porch, naturally.

If you have fallen and hit your head and want to put more money in Ken and Sue Miller’s pockets, by all means, attend.  As for me, I will simply continue to patronize the many other fine cheese makers in Chester County who are simply content when you like their cheese and buy it. If you go I wouldn’t think your ticket is a real donation, unless of course Ken and Sue Miller have morphed themselves into some sort of non-profit. 

By all means, support your local farmer.  But please, support the ones who are deserving. Not the ones who are shameless. 

Cheese Ball II: A Cave Raising

Posted by on Sunday, December 29, 2013

Maybe you remember Cheese Ball 2012? …..But believe me, I haven’t forgotten the fun we had or the mix of guests dressed in everything from tuxedos and ball gowns, to overalls and even capes…. Anyone who loves cheese is welcome at the Cheese Ball…..All you have to do is bring a cheese to share and $10 — the money will be donated to local cheesemaker, Sue Miller, to help her build a cheese cave (more details below) at Birchrun Hills Farm….I’m calling on the Philadelphia cheese community to help raise a cheese cave for one of our own. Many of you know Sue Miller, of Birchrun Hills Farm…Sue and her family are life-long dairy farmers in Chester County, Pa. They started farming because they love animals, and they began making cheese in order to keep farming once milk prices dropped. Now they truck milk to a small off-site facility several times a week and age their cheese in a cave the size of a closet. In order to expand their business with their two grown sons, the Millers need to build. Financing a major building project when you’re self-employed is difficult. In 2014, Sue Miller plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign. I want to kick it into gear.

 

I am sorry but this isn’t my kind of wine and cheese event. And I think Madame Fromage could have found those more worthy.  Truthfully, if it wasn’t the Millers as beneficiaries it might be fun.  But with all the water under that bridge, I can’t just paddle across. But hey you never know….maybe she is onto something…..

Sign me, cheez whiz on this

say cheese 2

 

the time has come……

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….to start the Christmas baking.

The problem is, I am looking at all these recipes, and haven’t quite decided what it is I will be baking. I know I’m going traditional, and I’ve narrowed it down to the three I’m starting with: gingerbread men, amaretti cookies, and oatmeal raisin.

And yes, part of my deal is I use vintage tins These tins don’t leave the house mind you, but they are the best cookie storage going. The tin in the middle came from the Smithfield Barn!

I also have a bunch of vintage cookie cutters which I love.

At the best thing about baking Christmas cookies is how your house smells. There is nothing better than the smell of baking Christmas cookies!

And yes I have some dog – themed cookie cutters, because if I have enough time, some years I do make dog biscuits.

What are you baking this year?

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mmmm mexican food at home!

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My Chicken Enchiladas:

Two full boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into small chunks.

(Two full boneless breasts weigh about a pound – I buy the family packs at the grocery store and plunk them two at a time in quart freezer bags)

Goya Tomato Sofrito

El Pato Mexican hot style tomato sauce (7 3/4 oz can)

La Morena sliced red jalapeños in Morena sauce (7 oz can)

Can of refried beans- either red pinto or black beans

Soft fajita sized white flour tortillas

Crema Mexicano ( Mexican sour cream)

One bunch fresh cilantro

One lime

Goya adobo spice mix

New Mexico Style Chili Powder

Smoked Spanish paprika

Salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano

Shredded Quesos La Ricura

La Costena Taquiera Salsa Hot

La Costena Green Mexican Salsa Verde

One Vidalia or sweet onion cut into thin slices, then cut slices in half

Olive oil

Cut the raw chicken into small chunks. Place in a large sauté pan that has had some olive oil in the bottom warming. Just a few tablespoons of olive oil. Dust the chicken with Goya Adobo seasoning to taste, a few dashes of garlic powder, a few dashes of oregano, and about a teaspoon and a half of smoked paprika.

Add in your onion slices and about a third of a cup of Goya Tomato Softito. Add a couple of dashes of New Mexico style chili powder. (you can order that from Whole Spice in California on Amazon).

Cook the onion and chicken down on a medium to low heat until you can basically shred the chicken and the onion is starting to almost dissolve it’s so soft. Turn off the heat and to that at the zest of one lime and the juice of one lime and as much fresh chopped cilantro as you want. Adjust with salt and pepper if needed.

Set aside and let the flavors meld together for about 45 minutes on the stove with no heat under it.

Heat up your can of refried beans over low heat in a small sauce pan with a little of olive oil in the bottom to keep the beans from sticking. To the beans add a little dash of the Goya Adobo Seasoning (I buy the real Mexican refried beans from my local Latino market), and add about 1/3 of a can of the pickled red jalapeños mentioned in the ingredients minced up and the Morena sauce it came in. Stir it up well, add a little fresh cilantro, and once the beans are heated through turn the stove off under this pot as well.

Go do something else for 45 minutes total for both. Set the table, clean up your prep with the chicken, empty the dishwasher, whatever.

After you have let the sauté pan and the sauce pan and the various contents set, come back to your kitchen and preheat your oven to 345°.

Line a baking pan that you would use for a sheet cake or brownies with aluminum foil. The pan I use is actually a vintage aluminum rectangular pan came from the kitchen supply house.

Take out six flour tortillas and one at a time first on the bottom of the tortilla layer refried bean mixture, and then put the chicken and onion mixture on top of that. Add a little shredded queso and roll your tortilla into a tube.

Repeat this six times. I made six enchiladas from this recipe.

When you have the tortillas now enchiladas with all their stuffing rolled up like little tubes and lined up next to each other in the foil lined pan like neat little soldiers you’re almost ready to put in the oven.

Take your can of spicy Mexican tomato sauce and pour evenly over your enchiladas. Generously layer shredded Queso to taste over the sauce and enchiladas. Cover your pan tightly with aluminum foil and put in your preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Everything is already cooked, so it truly just needs to heat through and melt. But you must do this with a pan that is covered with aluminum foil or the enchiladas will dry out.

When you bring them out of the oven let them sit for a couple of minutes before you take the foil top off.

Serve the enchiladas with Mexican sour cream,chopped fresh cilantro, a salsa Verde, and a spicy red salsa. I suggest the brand I list above specifically in the ingredients.

There are no leftovers when I make this. Ever.

And FYI if you are in Chester County and reading this recipe, I use the little Mexican market at the bottom of where Route 352 meets Route 30 in Frazer. They have a small Taquiera attached called El Jalapeño .

This little market has several kinds of Latin American sour cream, Quesos and so on. They basically so all the supplies the grocery store should if you want to do a Latin inspired meal but don’t.

I was told I had to write down this recipe, so I have. It is something that started in my head as I scanned the shelves of this little market. I also do this with leftover pork roast instead of chicken.

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yes really…fruitcake

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Anyone who mocks fruitcake has only had the kind that comes out of the catalog and can be put in a time capsule and be consumed 50 years in the future. That is the kind of fruitcake that is just basically like a sweet, sticky block of concrete.

I make white fruitcake. I saw somewhere once and then couldn’t find it again, where it was referred to as “grooms cake”. It’s made with good brandy or whiskey and it actually tastes good.

If you’re going to make any fruitcake, pick a day where you’re not going anywhere. Why? Simple, baking fruitcake is a multi hour, multiple bowl, slightly kitchen destroying process. I remember my mother baking late into the evenings during the holiday season to get her fruitcakes made. She made dark fruitcake.

I like to make my fruitcake ahead of time because the last step before putting it away in the refrigerator for Christmas is wrapping the fruitcake first in cheesecloth soaked in brandy.

The basis for my fruitcake recipe can be found in a 1959 edition of the Better Homes & Gardens Holiday Cookbook. But I have adjusted the recipe over the years and tweaked it a little.

Before I get into it, I order my candied fruit this year from a company called nuts.com. Used to buy only from Edwards Freeman in Conshohocken, but the quality and prices even with shipping are better at nuts.com. You can buy the candied fruit mixture, or individual candied fruits in the supermarket, but they are much more expensive.

Okay ready or not here’s the recipe:

4 cups of mixed diced candied fruits and peels for fruitcake (whole red cherries, diced orange peel, diced citron, diced lemon peel, chopped pineapple)

1/2 cup of chopped dates
3/4 cup chopped dried figs
1 1/3 cup white raisins
2 cups flake coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup chopped pecans
****
2 cups sifted white all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Small dash of green cardamom, mace, powdered ginger, cinnamon
****
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons brandy
1/2 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
5 eggs

Whole red candied cherries and pecan halves for decorating before placing in oven.

In a bowl mix fruits and peels, dates, figs, raisins, and coconut. Add pecans and walnuts.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and almond flour.

Take exactly 1/2 cup of the dry flour mixture and sprinkle over the candied fruit and nuts mixture and stir well.

Get a third bowl, and cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, and then add the 2 tablespoons of brandy.

Add the dry ingredients to the creamed butter and sugar mixture, and then mix in the pineapple juice. Blend on low until everything is blended well into a batter.

Combine the batter and the dried fruits and nuts dusted in the flour mixture together and stir gently until well blended. Personally, I do this in yet another large mixing bowl. Actually I do this in my largest mixing bowl.

I take two 8 1/2 inch x 4 1/2 inch x 2 1/2 inch loaf pans and grease them with unsalted butter. I then line pans on all sides with parchment paper, allowing 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch to stick up above the top of the pan.

I pour the fruit cake batter with all ingredients in it equally between the two pans.

On the top of the batter in each pan arrange to your specifications enough whole candied cherries and pecans to make an attractive pattern on top. I do mine in rows so they almost look like popcorn and cranberry garland for lack of a better description.

Turn the oven onto 275°F. This is not a recipe where you preheat the oven basically the entire time you’re mixing the batter. I only turn the oven on about five minutes before the fruitcakes go into it to bake.

Take a rectangular baking pan and fill it with 2 to 3 cups of hot water. Place that on the bottom shelf of the oven. This causes the cake to have better volume, better texture, and a shiny glaze.

Place your fruitcakes in the oven on the shelf above the pan with hot water. Please note you’re not placing the baking pans in the pan with hot water. That is a different process.

Bake fruitcakes in the 275° oven for 2 1/2 hours or until done. Please note dark fruitcake takes longer to bake, more like 3 to 3 1/2 hours

When the fruitcakes come out of the oven cool them for a while in their pans on racks on your countertop. Lift them gently out of the pans with the paper – the parchment paper makes handy handles.

Wrap the slightly warm fruitcakes in cheesecloth soaked in brandy. Then tightly wrap in plastic wrap. Don’t be afraid to use a couple layers. Finally wrap each fruitcake in heavy duty aluminum foil. You can put these in the refrigerator and forget about them until Christmas. I generally do my fruitcakes about now, and some years I open them up halfway through and add more brandy on top to soak in and re-wrap, other years I just leave it alone.

When you serve this, serve it on a pretty cake plate in slices.

Try white fruitcake, you won’t be disappointed.

My fruitcakes are in the oven, and now I’m going to check on them to see how they’re doing. I use my oven light, because if I open the oven I lose heat

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