You may remember last month when Judith, of Think on It! organized a rally of American-food-lovin’ expats to start a new campaign. This endeavor, called La Buona Cucina Americana, brings the blogosphere an array of homemade American goodies created by expats living in the Bel Paese.
Yes, we still love you, pasta. We still crave you, pizza. But, sometimes we want OUR food. And, we want to share it with you! Yes, even you, Italian speakers! So, each recipe in posted in both English and Italian … fun!
I grew up in rural southeast Texas, and one of my favorite childhood memories is going to Grandma’s house. Maw Maw is, as are many of the women in my family, a master chef. No, she may not work in Hell’s Kitchen, but she keeps things pretty hot in her place, and my all time favorite thing she makes is homemade buttermilk biscuits!
She has been making these babies since she was eight years old, and while, NO, I won’t tell you how many years that has been, let it suffice to say, she’s got it down. Biscuits are to my family what pasta is to southern Italians, polenta is to the north, and, well, what beans are to Boston. We eat them in the morning with butter and jam, we eat them at lunch with turnip greens (I kid you not), and they are great at dinner with a little fried chicken.
When we first began planning our bed and breakfast, Maw Maw invited me out to her place for a few cooking lessons. She didn’t know the measurements, because she didn’t need to measure. So, we played in the kitchen all day long, for two or three days to work up a recipe.
My greatest compliment came when my uncle, accustomed to entering his mother’s house at will and eating whatever was on the stove, said, “These are good biscuits, Mamma!”
Yea … I was proud.
And, so, without further ado …
Maw Maw’s Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits
Ingredients:
>> 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus flour for dusting
>> 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
>> 1/2 teaspoon salt
>> 2 tablespoons peanut oil
>> 3/4 cup buttermilk
- The buttermilk in the US is thicker, and therefore if baking in the US, use one cup of buttermilk. You can find buttermilk in Italy at you local cheese shop.
>> A few dabs of butter
1. Preheat your oven to 420 degrees.
2. In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt, and stir with a large spoon.
3. Add oil and buttermilk.
4. Use your hands to fold ingredients together, paying attention not to press hard on the dough.
5. Sprinkle a small amount of flour on a flat, clean surface.
6. Remove the ball of the dough from your bowl, and place on top of the lightly floured surface.
7. You are now ready to begin forming your biscuits. Pinch a small amount from the roll of dough and work it lightly with the flour you had on the table.
8. Your biscuits should be very soft, and it might be difficult to move them. (That is ok! That is how you want them!)
9. Place the biscuits on an un-greased baking pan.
10. Dab a bit of oil on the tops of each biscuit before you put them into the oven.
11. Bake on the bottom shelf for 14 minutes, or until biscuits are brown.
12. Remove from the oven and place inside a bowl. Toss in a few dabs of butter and cover with a clean dish towel. (Or, if you are impatient like me, go ahead and eat them immediately!)
Hmmm … delish!
Pagnotte Caserecce al Siero di Latte
Ingredienti:
>> 450 gr di farina OO
>> 2 ½ cucchiani di lievito in polvere
>> ½ cucchiaino di sale
>> 2 cucchiai, abbondanti, di olio di arachidi
>> 175 ml siero di latte
- Il siero di latte in Usa è più denso, é per questo motivo che ce ne sarà bisogno di 235ml. In Italia il siero lo si può trovare solo nei caseifici.
>> Un po’ di burro
1. Preriscaldare il forno a 220 gradi.
2. In una larga ciotola unire la farina, il lievito, ed il sale con un cucchiaio.
3. Aggiungere l’olio ed il siero.
4. Lavorare il tutto gentilmente, facendo attenzione a non pressarlo troppo.
5. Spargere un po’ di farina sul tavolo.
6. Togliere l’impasto dalla ciotola e metterlo sulla superficie infarinata.
7. Adesso si possono formare Le Pagnotte. Prendere una piccola quantità e lavorarla con dolcezza.
8. Le pagnotte devono essere soffici.
9. Metterle su una casseruola.
10. Strofinare un pò di olio su ciascuna pagnotta prima di metterle in forno.
11. Infornarle, nel fondo del forno, per 14 minuti fin quando saranno dorate.
12. Toglierle dal forno e metterle dentro una ciotola, aggiungendo un pò di burro per ogni pagnotta , e coprirle con un canovaccio. Se siete impazienti, come me, mangiatele immediatamente.
Kohl’s Opens 48 Department Stores in Week, Some Older Locations Struggle. in our site kohls printable coupons
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News October 13, 2003 By Doris Hajewski, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Oct. 13–The Kohl’s Department Store chain grew by 8.8 percent this week, with ribbon-cuttings at 48 new stores at far-flung locations from Phoenix to Albany, N.Y.
With the openings, the Menomonee Falls-based retailer now owns 542 stores, employs more than 82,000 people and expects annual revenue to hit $10.6 billion by year’s end.
Along with the growth, though, Kohl’s faces tougher challenges.
Regarded as the retail darling of Wall Street in recent years, Kohl’s has found itself this year in the uncomfortable position of having to explain downturns in same-store sales and earnings.
News reports have questioned whether the bloom is off the Kohl’s bouquet, and analysts’ reports have turned from explaining Kohl’s success to looking at what’s wrong.
“It’s hard to tell, to separate, what are economic-influenced situations and what are company specific situations,” said Jay Van Cleave, a portfolio manager with Loomis Sayles & Co. “We’re certainly paying close attention.” In the past, Kohl’s executives bragged that their mid-market strategy was bulletproof, drawing lower-end shoppers upward in good times and providing an affordable alternative to the more affluent in bad times.
But since last fall, when Kohl’s monthly same-store sales results started trending down along with much of the retail industry, many analysts have decided that the company was no longer immune to downturns in the economy.
This week, Kohl’s reported a 5.5 percent gain in same-store sales for September, against a negative 3.2 percent comparison from September 2002. The 5.5 percent, while a respectable number, was a tad short of the 5.8 percent average expectation of analysts reporting to Thomson Financial/First Call, in a month when many other retailers exceeded projections.
Kohl’s has said it expects a 3 percent sales gain for the third quarter. To make its plan, Kohl’s will need to achieve a flat sales comparison this month against an 18 percent gain last October.
“The main challenge is the economy,” said David Cumberland, an analyst with Robert W. Baird & Co.
The biggest reason for Kohl’s phenomenal success, industry experts say, was its “better mousetrap” — a combination of good prices, brand names and convenient locations.
Now that Kohl’s has moved across the country, the competition has taken note and is reacting.
“Kohl’s competitive landscape is tougher and its competitors have improved,” Banc of America Securities analyst Dana Cohen said in a recent report.
Some of the Gap Inc.’s recent rebound has been at Kohl’s expense, Cohen wrote. Old Navy management never walked its competitors’ stores, nor did they do market research in the past, Cohen wrote. Now they do, and they say Wal-Mart, Target, Kohl’s and J.C. Penney are the stores they need to beat.
Kohl’s also faces challenges from mass retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, who draw regular traffic with their consumable products — food items, paper products and personal hygiene items, Cumberland said. At the same time, the apparel category, which makes up the lion’s share of Kohl’s merchandise, has declined a bit as unemployment has risen, he said.
Part of the reason for Kohl’s slower sales growth is simply a mathematical consequence of the company’s larger size, analysts point out. As sales volume increases, it becomes more difficult to achieve a double-digit growth comparison. go to site kohls printable coupons
Cohen also mentions merchandise issues as a factor in Kohl’s recent lackluster performance. The retailer’s “Get It” and “Table and Tower” programs of recent years added to sales momentum, Cohen wrote in her report. But, she notes, there has been no new program or brand launch to continue to drive business.
Linda Kristiansen, an analyst with UBS Securities, suggests that Kohl’s has a fashion deficit in women’s apparel.
“The women’s business continues to lag after several years of pacing sales growth,” Kristiansen wrote in a report Thursday, adding that this was a key reason for Kohl’s “somewhat disappointing” September sales.
All of those criticisms notwithstanding, investors and customers still have a lot of confidence in Kohl’s.
In a shopper survey conducted earlier this year by Leo J. Shapiro & Associates for Chain Store Age and Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, Kohl’s was the favorite choice by East Coast shoppers in several categories, including ease of shopping, price, product assortment, service, an enjoyable shopping experience and trust.
The survey’s authors attribute Kohl’s success in the consumer survey, with 15 top ratings, in part to Kohl’s growth.
“In areas where they were almost invisible the year before, they were a force,” said Michael Roberts, a retail analyst with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young in New York. Convenience is Kohl’s strong suit, Roberts said, noting that 58 percent of the shoppers polled gave Kohl’s an “A” in the ease of access category.
The new store openings last week put Kohl’s into several new markets: Phoenix, with 13 stores; Las Vegas, with three stores; Virginia Beach, Va.; Albany, N.Y.; Birmingham, Ala.; and Little Rock, Ark. The rest of the 48 stores are fill-in stores in areas where Kohl’s already operates.
Analysts who follow Kohl’s stock continue to give it high ratings. Of the analysts reporting to Thomson Financial/First Call last week, 12 rate the stock a strong buy, six peg it as a buy, six recommend holding Kohl’s shares and one recommends selling it.
“We’re still positive on Kohl’s and think they are playing with a very strong hand while they’re competitors have weaker hands,” said Van Cleave, whose firm owns the stock.
“Kohl’s is still well-positioned against traditional department stores,” Cumberland said, noting the woes of May Co. Department Stores, a St. Louis chain that is closing 32 of its underperforming Lord & Taylor stores. Mervyns, a California-based division of Target that was the model for Kohl’s format in the 1980s, also continues to struggle.
Cumberland has an outperform rating on Kohl’s shares, the highest of Baird’s three ranks.
“There are signs that momentum is starting to rebuild there,” Cumberland said. “The market eventually will look past October and anticipate a better trend for Kohl’s.” KSS, GPS, BAC, WMT, TGT, CAP, TOC, MAY,
