Hi. I’m Isabel, I cook and scribble. I make a lot of food and do a lot of writing, and Bread & Courage is what I have to show for it. It started as a simple food blog called TASTE but evolved into something more—a place where I express my love of food, community and the environment. Thanks for spending some time here—and be in touch!
I have a bit of a trek from Norwich to South Royalton, and sometimes when I drive home in the late afternoon, I get a little dozy. Not so much that other drivers should avoid me, but just enough to want to lie down on the couch when I get home, which can’t always be […]
A while ago, I though I would have time for salmon gravlax with buckwheat blini. Who was I kidding? I barely have time to butter an English Muffin. It might have been around New Year’s–when I was finishing up a month-long vacation, and when smoked salmon felt ‘seasonal.’ The truth is, sometimes I get seduced […]
My friend Mark, dear, amazing Mark, is the gentleman behind the best-ever gingersnaps. He is also the man who discovered this incredible batter, which comes straight from the pages of Saveur. This recipe is the one I make when I need to make an impression. Since carrot cake seems relatively innocuous, nobody thinks you’re being […]
The best pecan pies come from south of the Mason Dixon line, and different states have their own style. I am really fond of the Texas version (especially the pie from Good Company), but I also have an affinity for Georgia pies. As a kid, I spent a lot of summers near Macon. We used […]
I grew up in an old farm house, deep in the woods of Northern Connecticut. It was built in 1787 and hasn’t been modernized much since, except for the addition of electricity and plumbing in the 1950s. My father, who grew up in the house with his mom and brother, remembers getting his backside stuck […]
I really like a late summer plum. We’re into fall now, but still on the cusp, and stone fruit gets better and better from now until its dearth. I made a rustic plum galette recently, which is a nice way of saying that I made a dessert with permissibly crumpled edges and uneven folds. Every […]
If you want to make nice, make these. It’s amazing how people will fall for dessert in the morning if you tell them what they want to hear. In this case, “Jam.” Muffins are one of my favorite modes of deception (un-frosted cupcakes), although bars are equally versatile. If you added chocolate or toffee, your […]
Today, I got a taste of the end of summer: no more Texas blueberries at the grocery store. They stopped showing up at the farmers’ market a while back, but even the farmers in cooler stretches of the state have ended their season as well. I’ve stockpiled a few frozen pints, and can honestly say […]
Peaches remind me of a fancy cocktail made with whipped egg whites and served in a paper-thin antique glass with a long, skinny stem and flecks of fast melting ice. The kind of drink I suck back in seconds, afraid it will change irreversibly in my grip. For me, peaches are just as fleeting, perhaps […]
I like to push my desserts to the edge of imperfection, cookies especially. A dough that has been taken to its richest point is typically on the verge of crumbling, fragile and delicious with the weight of so much butter and sugar. These latticed cookies are a mighty fine example of what can happen when […]
