VittlesVamp

Revisiting Mama Vamp's Recipe Box

Certain dishes remain with me from my childhood and teenage years. For the most part, those dishes sprung from Mama Vamp's recipe box, and lately I've been reminiscing about those recipes -- longing to revisit them in my own kitchen.

A couple of years ago, a forgotten recipe from Mama Vamp's vault was finally located and several luscious Plum Cakes have been lovingly baked in my home ever since.

Recently, after paying call on a Brighton Beach bakery chock-full of freshly-made Rugelach, I've been feeling the need to break out Mama Vamp's own recipe, whipping up a batch filled with apricot jam and toasted walnuts. I'm equally drawn to her recipe for Cheesecake, a hauntingly rich version that combines cream cheese and whipped cream with flecks of bright orange and lemon zests.

On the savory side, I conjure up memories of her Greek Pastitsio, baked pasta in a hearty tomato-meat sauce tinged with cinnamon, and topped with a creamy bechamel.

Yup. Thinking it's about time to dig up some of Mama Vamp's old favorites on well-worn index cards and head to my kitchen. Anyone care to come over to sample the results?

Fried Chicken, Donuts & Renoir

It was a good weekend. It was a very good weekend. Late Friday, I stepped off the train at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station, grabbed Mama Vamp and headed straight to the Center City outpost of Federal Donuts. The place isn't much to look at: a few seats, a counter with a friendly cashier and a couple of guys manning a couple of fryers. But, oh, that chicken.

My pick, pictured above, was a half order of Fried Chicken dipped in a honey-ginger glaze. Each piece was beautifully moist with a shatteringly crisp crust and glossing of sweet honey with a light gingery kick. I like to think the wee side of Japanese pickles could count as a vegetable to off-set the decadence that was the chicken. But, even if that was the case, there was the still-warm-from-the-fryer Honey Donut for dessert. All I can say is, hot damn, that donut was good.

And after being sated in such a fashion, how could Mama Vamp and I do anything else, but go take in one of the world's most lauded collections of impressionist paintings? We made sure to grab wet naps and wipe our greasy fingers thoroughly before hitting the Barnes Foundation, where we ogled luscious Renoirs by the dozen, not to mention breathtaking works by Van Gogh, Matisse, Cezanne, Degas, Cassatt, Gaugin and more. Post-impressionist and modern art also shared the spotlight, along with African sculpture, Pennsylvania-Dutch decorative arts and Native American textiles and metalwork.

I found myself needing to stop in-between the galleries for a "palate-cleanser" for my eyes. Stopping in a hallway or two for a breather isn't exactly the visual equivalent to a bracing sorbet course, but it did the trick.

Fried chicken, donuts and the Barnes. The new ultimate Philly trifecta! Just make sure to have a wet nap or two on hand.

Got A Cookbook For That?

Do you like Deviled Eggs? Me too. Do you like them enough to need an entire cookbook devoted to the topic?

Have an urge to bake with almond flour? I have a cookbook for you!

How about corn? Who doesn't enjoy a butter-slathered piece of corn-on-the-cob? Maybe you want a whole cookbook dedicated to the gorgeous yellow-kerneled beauties?

You an avid "Downton Abbey" fan? Think you might need a cookbook that makes you believe that you've swiped Mrs. Patmore's secret recipe box.

My next cookbook purchase? Not sure, but somehow I keep leaning towards tomes that are from chefs that I respect and admire. That said, glad to know that if I ever have an urge to cook with cannibas (when visiting Seattle or Denver, of course), that there is indeed a cookbook for that.