Great cooking with fairies (kids)

The photos in Fairy House Cooking, published by Down East Books, will amuse and delight you, and wait ‘til you read those stories and recipes! Author Liza Gardner Walsh describes the recipes: “Simple, Scrumptious Recipes & Fairy Party Fun!” Boy, she got scrumptious right.

The kids are the fairies, invading the kitchen to make everything from fruit wands to edible fairy houses. Yes this book made me hungry!

But there’s a lot more than recipes and cooking stories in this wonderful book. Offering everything from tips on foraging for wildflowers to party drinks, this book will keep your kids busy for a long long time – and you too!

I was particularly interested in recipes for birdseed cookies for our feathered friends and other critters. My wife Linda, who has bird feeders all over our yard and even attached to our windows, is going to make those birdseed cookies soon. And yes, I will probably eat some of them! They look delicious.

As Walsh writes, “I remember the smell of my grandmother’s applesauce cake filling up her kitchen and I remember thinking she was a little bit magical. I’m not sure if it was her influence but I have always loved to bake… But I never dreamed I would someday write a cookbook about food inspired by fairies!”

Walsh’s kids tested a lot of the recipes and asked their friends to try things. She said groups of kids helped create the recipes and did the tasting. Sure do wish I’d been in that group!

I have to finish where I started, with the photos of those kids. They are just so delightful, and their enthusiasm for cooking (and eating) is wonderful. While your kids or grandkids will love this book, so will you.

 

 

 

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.