Jennifer Moorman's Blog, page 20

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Frankenstein's Cake

Mystic Water is a Southern town full of interesting people. In fact, they pride themselves on being eclectic, a little bit eccentric, a lot enchanting, and full of love and heart.So like any good Southern town, they celebrate holidays with all the fixings. Halloween is no different. Children trick or treat dressed in their favorite costumes. Townsfolk hand out candies, homemade or wrapped in colored papers. Pumpkins crowd front porches, and mums decorate nearly all available spaces.Anna O'Bri...

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Evelyn's Sugar Cookies

Mother, Mama, Mom, Mum, Ma—a few of the names we use for our mothers. Every mother is unique. Some are great, and we say they were “born to be mothers.” They nurture us, discipline us, hold our hands when we cry. Other mothers break our hearts, abandon us, disappoint us, and we never understand why they make the choices they do.In chapter sixteen of The Baker’s Man, titled Sugar Cookies, Anna needs the one person who can make her feel as though even if her entire world is ending, she’s not al...

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Firecracker Bundt Cake

Fireworks were documented as being used in China in the seventh century. They were created to accompany festivities, and eventually, the use of these spectacular, aerial displays spread to other countries.To me, fireworks are beautiful, resembling colorful, exploding stars–magic in the skies. Animated cartoons use fireworks to represent the excitement and passion of kisses. People describe feelings akin to “fireworks going off” when someone grabs another’s hand.But as lovely as fireworks can...

Cooking Through Fiction: Levi's Carrot-Apple Hash

One of my favorite parts of having a favorite book (or series) is finding someone else who shares the same love and devotion to the literary work, finding someone who talks about the same characters with as much excitement, irritation, and admiration as I do. This is what makes fandoms so amazing.Fandoms connect people all across the globe so they can share their mutual love of fictional worlds. For fandoms, even after the original authors have finished the novels, even after the TV series ha...

Cooking Through Fiction: Boone Crowe's Beef Stew

I learned how to ride a horse when I was young. I’m by no means an expert, but I feel okay about saddling up and taking a ride. I’ve ridden trails through the deserts in Arizona and across mountains (way too close to a ravine) in Montana. At the top of the mountain in Montana, my family and I settled in for a “cowboy dinner.”While we ate steak and potatoes, I’m not sure how many of us actually felt like cowboys. I think we were just glad to be away from the “ravine of death” and probably than...

Cooking Through Fiction: Honeysuckle Hollow Jelly

One of my favorite heralds of summertime is honeysuckle. It’s like one morning, the shrubs decide it’s time to show off and welcome honeybees and butterflies, and they burst into bloom overnight.The hills and sides of the road and backyards are covered in honeysuckle, either planted or wild. The air outside is full of the sweet scent, and I can’t help but open the windows and let it all into the house.The smell of honeysuckle reminds of when I was a little girl, and my family and I strolled d...

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Blood Orange Sauce

Blood oranges not only have a more vibrant, deeper color than regular oranges (such as Naval), but their flavor also is more intense as well. Blood oranges are slightly more bitter (although, at times, some varieties are even sweeter) than regular oranges.In my opinion, blood oranges are oranges with a kick. This is one way to describe the difference between love and passion. Passion is love with a kick. And this kick can send you to the moon or send you into dark, bitter sections of yourself...

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Galaxy Cake

Anna O'Brien owns Bea's Bakery in Mystic Water. She cares about the bakery's patrons, and she makes special treats and pastries for them. With all the excitement over the solar eclipse, Anna wanted to do something special for me!Nashville is on the direct path of the eclipse. Supposedly a million people might descend upon the city. The hotels are sold out, and people have been selling solar glasses on street corners.What goes better with a rad pair of solar glasses? How about an awesome galax...

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Passion Fruit Torte

Eleanor Roosevelt encouraged people to do one thing every day that scared them. I have often tried to incorporate this ideology into my life. Baking a new recipe can sometimes fall into the category of “scary attempts.” I’ve ruined chocolate tortes (and cried), dried out cakes (and cursed), and had cakes that refused to set (and swore I’d give up baking).This is my first passion fruit torte based on a recipe I had never tested. Trying new recipes can either go swimmingly or end up added to th...

Cooking Through "The Baker's Man": Spice-Kissed Pumpkin Pie

Some of my favorite movies are romantic comedies. I love watching two people fall in love, and I love all the wonderful, fluttery feelings that tag along with falling in love. Butterflies in the stomach, starry eyes, held breath. All the clichés—I love them.Simply thinking about the feelings associated with falling in love pulls a big girly sigh from my lips. But you know what I also love about finding that perfect someone? Having a best friend who knows you better than anyone else.Someone wh...