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Cocktails, pies and Mason jars

04.10.11

There's something about a Mason jar that conjures up warm, nostalgic feelings, whether it's holding bright berry jam, crisp dill pickles or fresh lemonade. But more than 150 years after the launch of John Landis Mason's double-lidded, heat-resistant, sturdy invention, home cooks and party hosts are finding new uses for those glass jars -- and we're not talking moonshine.

These days, tiny Mason jars are popping up at tailgate parties, bake sales, restaurants and bars. They're used for pinot noir at San Francisco's Heart wine bar, beer at Burlingame's Barrelhouse and panna cotta at Oakland's Disco Volante. At chic tailgates, you might even find them holding frozen margaritas and individual hors d'oeuvres. And the jars, which cost less than a $1 apiece, go straight from oven to bake sale when they're used to bake miniature pies, cupcakes and cobblers.

Here's just a sampling of options:

Cutie pies

Mini-mason jars are a hallmark at Dani Cone's High 5 Pie and Fuel Coffee cafes in Seattle, where her "pie jars" showcase peach-ricotta and mango-raspberry fillings, for example, as well as savory versions filled with potatoes and curried vegetables. Her new cookbook, "Cute Pies: 40 Sweet, Savory, and Adorable Recipes" (Andrews McMeel, 160 pages, $16.99), which details the specifics for pie jars, pie-pops and hand pies, landed in bookstores last week.

Source: San Jose Mercury News

Five children weigh in on what makes home sweet

23.09.11

By Jennifer Febbraro

Kids are funny. Sometimes, it’s baffling to think that everyone on the face of the Earth was once a child themselves. At what age do we begin to notice granite countertops, the energy efficiency of the dishwasher or square footage? I asked five children what part of their home they liked the most. What was shocking to discover was that not a single child interviewed for this piece identified their bedroom as their favourite room. Instead, they articulated that it was the activities performed inside the room — and not the room itself — that gave that particular space its magic.

It’s easy to forget, once the myriad adult pressures dominate the seasoned brain, that all children exist in the realm of the imagination. “Every child is born an artist,” Picasso once said. In light of this, as I discovered, children loved the rooms in which their imagination was most ignited. There was, in fact, no correlation to room size, architecture or the absence (or presence) of shag carpet.

Source: National Post (blog)