Hello, beautiful readers!
It’s been a minute, hasn’t it??
Ryan’s Kitchen Journal is now Ryan Bakes It! A year and a half away has given me time to think, and over that time, my interest in baking and blogging has sort of re-emerged.
Over the next few weeks, you’ll continue to see some other changes made on the site — there may even be a huge layout change — I’m not quite sure yet.
But anyway, I hope you’ll be along for the ride!
More to come!
Stay tuned!
Hi everyone!
As you may have noticed over the better part of the last year that this site has become nearly dormant. Ever since I started a new job last summer, I just haven’t had that much time to bake and then write about it.
At first I thought that as I settled more into my new role, things would change. It would become easier to find a rhythm that worked. But eventually, I realized that I think I’d just rather be doing other things. So, the baking went to the back-burner. I even stopped collecting cookbooks in the same capacity as I had earlier.
Continue reading “A New Adventure Awaits”
While many of you come here for the recipe reviews and occasional anecdotes about other aspects of my life, sometimes I like to switch things up. One of the things I’ve only touched upon slightly is my affinity for the printed word. I’m lucky enough to work in a local public library where I get to be surrounded by books, this is especially true since I work in the cataloging department. It’s my job to get the books ready for the shelf and the public. So you may be confused by the title of this post. “If he works in a library, why does he want his own library of cookbook?” Well, honestly there are a few reasons. But the main one is simple: I enjoy having them.
Continue reading “Why I Love Collecting Cookbooks”
For regular readers of this blog, you may remember that over the weekend I made an angel food cake. This meant I was left with over a dozen (yes, over a dozen!!) egg yolks. In baking, egg whites have a little more uses than just the yolks do, so I was a little sad about this. However, then I remembered I could make lemon curd. What’s even better is I found a recipe that made one the best lemon curds I’ve ever had and it even gets folded into a lovely pound cake.
Continue reading “Zoe Bakes’ Lemon Curd Pound Cake”
It’s winter in New England, and even though we haven’t gotten any significant snowfall, we have had a few chillier days here and there. What’s the best way to end a cold day? A warm and hearty pasta dish. If you’re looking for something super simple and flavorful, then you MUST give this Ina Garten pasta recipe a try. Trust me, you won’t be sorry. I’m patiently waiting for an excuse to make this guaranteed crowd-pleaser once again.
Continue reading “Ina Makes a Dinner Comeback – Barefoot Contessa 58”
Earlier this week, I found myself on Ina Garten’s website. I can’t recall exactly why I was there but nevertheless, I was lost in the Ina’s World tab for a little while. I noticed the link to the cookbook index and wondered if it was finally updated to include the recipes from Ina’s most recent book, Go-To Dinners.
Sure enough, it was!
Continue reading “A Return to the Ina Project”
A little over two years ago I started this blog. At the time I wanted to create an Ina Garten cook-through blog so that’s what I did. And the early posts from the fall of 2020 are there to prove it. In fact I started with this simple recipe for applesauce which is still the only one I will use.
Continue reading “My Second Blog-aversary”
It shouldn’t be a major surprise to long-time blog readers that it’s been a while since I’ve baked.
The month of March was filled with crafting adventures. But I’m also starting to spend less time at home. I have been given the opportunity to get back into community theater this spring. I’ll be stage managing a play that consists of a small cast of 8 actors. It’s a really funny play and I can’t wait to jump on board.
What does this mean for the blog?
It means I’ll be posting more infrequently. Most of my free time will be devoted to theater and then resting and seeing friends. But, I do plan to bake this Friday!
So I’ll be posting about that next week, even if it isn’t a recipe out of the MB cookbook.
Until then, friends….
If you happened to see my post from Saturday, you’ll know that my area of the country was hit by our first major winter-storm of the season. In fact, it was the first really major storm in the last couple of years. Parts of the state I live in experienced blizzard conditions. Though we had a lot of snow at my house, we didn’t lose power, have the blizzard conditions (according to meteorologists) and overall fared pretty well. The fact that it fell on a Saturday was also nice. In the end, it basically meant I was snowed in on Saturday which gave me plenty of time to hang out in the kitchen.
I did bake, though not from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook. I also tried my hand at some more vegan recipes. Here a rundown of my time in the kitchen last week.
Continue reading “What I Cooked Last Weekend”
Being good on my goal to start the pie chapter of the MB cookbook this year, I decided my first bake out of the book for the year would be a recipe from that chapter. Blueberries were on sale last week at the grocery store, so I decided to make the Blueberry Crumb Pie. “It’ll be easy!” I said to myself. “Really, how difficult could pie crust be?”
Well, it turned out to not be as easy, or as exciting as I thought.
Continue reading “Magnolia Bakery #19 – Blueberry Crumb Pie”
