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Here’s a simple, tasty casserole that starts easily and ends beautifully. Just combine hearty boiled potatoes and sweet slices of apples with sautéed onions and sausages in a skillet coated with Irish butter for a homemade meal that’s comfort in a dish. The exceptionally creamy flavor of rich, Irish butter makes a wonderful base for this rustic, stovetop-to-oven meal, and the topping is perfected with crunchy bacon bits. This homey combination of flavors makes a great entrée or side dish for any meal, any day of the week.

Join Cooking with Flowers author Miche Bacher this Saturday, March 9 at the Philadelphia Flower Show for a tasty floral demonstration!

This year's awesome Philadelphia Flower Show at the Pennsylvania Convention Center will feature a Garden to Table Studio with fantastic, flowery demos from chefs including Miche Bacher: pastry chef, flower connoisseur, and Quirk author! Miche will be serving a lovely hibiscus chutney to celebrate the show's theme of all things British: Brilliant! 

Do stop by on Saturday, March 9th at 3 PM for a taste of spring to come! Admission to the Studio is included with the price of a ticket.

Garden to Table Studio at the Philadelphia Flower Show
Pennsylvania Convention Center
12th and Arch Streets
Philadelphia, PA 19107 (map)

Cooking with Flowers will hit stores April 2.

This dish starts out with a little of everything, but sums up to a big, huge entree with layers of flavors and generous portions. Twirl your chopsticks through the silky, glass-like thin noodles which serve as the bed for the savory Asian-flavored pork meatballs, zesty beef slices, crisp vegetables all held together by the irresistible sauce.

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Chocolate. One of the most beloved flavors in the world. It is wonderful on its own but when the time comes for desserts to become more complex and combinations start to fill the minds of chocolatiers, there is one companion which tops all others.

Its name is mint.

When speaking of mint and chocolate, one of the first things that comes to mind is the ever famous mint chocolate chip ice cream. A wonderful treat for a warm summer day, a scoop of mint chocolate chip becomes a momentary respite from the oppressive heat of the beating sun. It is true that the allure of ice cream is hard to deny, but the power of mint and chocolate does not end there.

So many different versions of chocolate and mint abound that it is almost impossible to discuss them all. The Dutch mint holds a special place for some with its thin candy coating, soft chocolate layer and mint center. Others tout the pros of a mint chocolate brownie. Then there is the Frankenstein’s Monster from See’s Candy known as the Marshmint. This treat is a delicious affront to nature, a perfect example of candy eugenics. A square chocolate cup which contains a marshmallow center and is topped with a mint jelly. So powerful is the Marshmint that it is not carried in stores. It can only be special ordered because the other candy cannot defend itself against the Marshmint’s minty power.

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There is but one more mint and chocolate treat which must be discussed. A dessert which comes but once a year, peddled by the most insidious of pushers. They seem so innocent knocking on the doors of their neighbor’s homes and standing outside the local grocery store, but we all know the evil that comes carried in the dainty hands of the local girl scouts. The Thin Mint, a cookie so delicious, so enticing that it is impossible to decline. The Thin Mint cookie accounts for 25% of all Girl Scout cookie sales. It is not uncommon to find people hoarding the little green boxes, hiding cookies from friends and family alike. If it were not for the fact that Thin Mints are only sold for a brief period of time each year, many American’s would need a twelve step program to stop consuming them.

The only way to make it past Thin Mint withdrawal is to keep repeating, ‘It’s just a cookie. It’s just a cookie.”

When you’re the host of a get-together, there’s nothing more reassuring than to know you’ve got a ginormously gorgeous baked ham ready to be the centerpiece of the table.

Your guests will not be able to resist the sweet glaze that flavors each spectacular, succulent slice of this ham. Make it ahead, bake it while you’re wrapping presents or writing cards. And when you’re ready to serve, put it beside other entrees, the bread basket and wine.

This ham’s versatility is the best part. If there are leftovers, you can have some flavorful ham sandwiches, sides, salads or whatever ham heaven your heart desires.

Let me preface this by saying this is the first internship I’ve had, and I’m not ready to leave! I’m a pretty busy English major and senior in college, and consequently I’ve done quite a bit of academic writing. However, I’ve never written creatively or with any other real purpose than for the ever elusive A.

Here at Quirk, I’ve had the opportunity to write Q & A sheets for authors, press releases, and BLAD letters (which go out to others in the publishing business). These writings, while heavily edited by the professionals upstairs, often start with an intern. Writing creatively but concisely is the key to having more of your language used in the final product, so get those imaginative juices flowing! I found the writing aspect of this internship the most interesting and challenging of all the tasks appointed to me. Academic writing is often dry and colorless; at Quirk, the opposite is true. (Thanks for preparing me for life, college.)

Okay, get ready for geek overload. I honestly enjoyed everything I did here, but my favorite part of spending time in Quirk HQ was just being around so many books. I found that if I needed a quick break from the task at hand, the perfect antidote to writer’s block or a sore back was to walk around the book room for a few minutes. Quirk has some really interesting titles— seriously, check out Yum Yum Bento Box, Tiny Food Party, and Breakfast for Dinner. Talk about food porn! The pictures are the best part.

Quirk is small and everyone is friendly here. I get the impression that there are a lot of young intern faces in and out of here on a regular basis, so make yourself memorable. Say hello to everyone and express interest in what is going on at Quirk! It may sound cliché, but follow the requests of Nicole, Mari, and Eric explicitly. You’re only here for a short amount of time and there’s a lot to do. The sooner you finish that mailing, the sooner you’ll (hopefully) be given another, more stimulating task.