Author: Ben Starr
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Happy Halloween!
It’s Halloween! My favorite day of the entire year. I loved Halloween as a kid, but because our parents strictly forbade us from eating candy, we had to donate all our candy to the church food pantry each year. Trick-or-treating was about the activity itself, not about the candy at the end. (Though, I confess,…
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Cast Iron
Ah, cast iron cookware! Other than earthen-ware cooking vessels, cast iron is one of the oldest and lowest-tech cooking vessels that still exists, and strangely enough…technology has YET to replicate a pot or pan that cooks better than cast iron. When properly “seasoned” it is nonstick, without the need for harsh chemicals that go into…
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Pumpkin Carving
One of my biggest fans, Gregory Wright, has created this pumpkin carving stencil of me in my pumpkin hat to share with my fans. I used the stencil today and carved a pumpkin that I was about to make pumpkin beer with, and it worked beautifully! Some of the pieces are small and delicate…you definitely…
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!!!OCTOBER!!!
I admit it. I’m an October junkie. I can’t get enough of it. October is the one month of the year when I come ALIVE!!! There’s something about the way the wind changes direction and starts to sound and feel a little uneasy, especially around sunset and at night. Leaves start to change and fall,…
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The State Fair of Texas
So yesterday I experienced my very first State Fair of Texas, which is a bit silly since I’ve lived in Texas my whole life, and lived in the same city as the fair for 15 years. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve experienced my fair share of Fairs. As a farm kid growing up, every year…
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Butter: Salted vs Unsalted
One of the most common questions I get is “Do I use salted or unsalted butter in your recipes?” I’d like to set the record straight about butter, and it’s incredibly simple: NEVER buy salted butter. The only application for salted butter is to spread it on something already prepared that you’re about to eat,…