Walsh - Fairy house cooking - simple scrumptious recipes & fairy party fun!

Also by Liza Gardner Walsh

Fairy House Handbook

Fairy Garden Handbook

Fairy Houses All Year

Where Do Fairies Go When it Snows

Do Fairies Bring the Spring

Treasure Hunters Handbook

Muddy Boots

Ghost Hunters Handbook

FAIRY HOUSE

Published by Down East Books
An imprint of Globe Pequot

Distributed by National Book Network

Copyright 2017 by Liza Gardner Walsh

Photographs by Andrew Dumas, Cross Street Photography, except: Ben Magro pgs. 7 middle, 8, 72, 110-111; Phoebe Walsh pgs. 6 middle, 7 bottom, 29, 41, 45, 51, 56, 58, 59, 100, 102, 105; Lynda Chilton pgs. 6 bottom, 28, 55, 57, 74-inset, 80; Jess Chamberlain p. 52; blickwinkel / Alamy Stock Photo p. 103; istock photos: SolStock p. 2, Milanchikov p. 43, Geo-grafika p. 65, Donna Coleman p. 74, SherSor p. 75, ratmaner p. 77 left, Supapich_Garcia p. 77 right, Christopher Futcher p. 79, domin_domin p. 81, Yulia_Davidovich p. 83, TransientEternal p. 84, mtrea-sure p. 86, Diane Labombarbe p. 87, NatashaPhoto p. 89, bonchan p. 91, Francisco Romero p. 92, FerhatMatt p. 96, kurapy11 p. 98, PeopleImages p. 99, projectspawn p. 104; Dreamstime photos: Nqrdigital p. 3, Blair_witch p. 9, Qwartm p. 29, Schmaelterphoto p. 37, Floortje p. 57, pumpkin-Milllda p. 59, Elenathewise p. 63, Winnietam p. 70; Janet Hudson p. 53; Mene Tekel p. 55; Aftabbanoori p. 65, fourth inset from top; Stan Shebs p. 65, third inset from top; Jrg Hempel p. 65, secont image from top at right; Captain-tucker p. 64 bottom inset; Hans Bernhard p. 64 top inset

Designed by Lynda Chilton, Chilton Creative

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

ISBN 978-1-60893-641-0 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-60893-652-6 (electronic)

The paper used in this publication meets or exceeds the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information SciencesPermanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO
Z39.48-1992

Printed in China

To my grandmother, Mary Gardner, my first baking teacher who always baked with love.

T here is mystery in cooking; no matter how many times you make the same dish, it will never be the exact same.

M arion C unningham

W elcome to the kitchen! Whether your cooking experience only goes as far as adding milk to cereal or you are training to be a star on a cooking show, perhaps you already have a sense that this place is filled with magic, mystery, and lots of messy fun. Cooking is obviously about creating things to eat, but aside from adding real, actual ingredients, cooking also gives you a set of skills that you cant see with your eyes. Kind of like the way you cant always see fairies but you know they are near.

First, you have to be creative to picture how a bunch of powders and liquids can mix together to turn into something yummy and beautiful. You have to be flexible when things go wrong. Resourceful when you need to substitute a different ingredient. Patient when those cookies are taking way longer than they were supposed to. And cooperative when you need to take turns with your younger sister or brother. It will even help you become a better reader and mathematician . Cooking also makes you more appreciative of the food around you, the meals served, the vegetables in your garden, as well as the groceries at the store. And at its heart, cooking is about nourishment , a big word for a happy belly and a growing body.

Some of my favorite cooking was done in my backyard when I was growing up, grass clippings, flower blossoms, and pine cones. These fairy soups were my first adventure into putting lots of stuff into a pot to see what would happen. Sometimes the concoctions looked beautiful and sometimes they were disgusting. I soon came to find out that cooking in the kitchen was very similar.

Sometimes when you cook, things fall apart. Sometimes nothing works and a hot mess emerges. You spill the milk and cry over it. Sometimes you leave something in the oven too long and it becomes like a brick. But other times, it is as if the kitchen fairies have given your recipe wings and you pull out the tastiest cake ever made. This is when cooking feels magical. There is joy in cooking and there is hard work, plus a lot of mess and a lot of cleaning up. Like most things, it takes practice. And since cooking is most likely something you will do your whole lifemaybe even three times a dayit is a good idea to have fun with it.

Cooking with the fairies in mind does just that. Fairies approach cooking with a festive spirit. They love gathering around a table and sharing natures bounty. They also love honey, cakes, milk, and edible flowers. This book is for fairy lovers. It is for the friends of the fairies. It is for kids planning parties and spending aimless days collecting flowers in gardens to create a backyard feast. It is a book that has treats, both healthy ones and some that are for special occasions, and simple activities that dont even require a stove. Most of these recipes are for you to eat, some are for the fairies or your pet bunny or your stuffed animals. It is part cookbook, part nature cookbook, and part party planner. This is NOT a book about cooking fairies, that would just be mean!