From my past to your table . . .

A couple of careers ago, over a span of about eight years, I co-owned three restaurants in Charlottesville.

My favorite was the first. It was in an old house on a dead-end street close to the University. There was a five-item blackboard menu that changed constantly. We were always cooking, so that when we ran out of one thing, we could offer something else. Each entree was served with a salad and bread. There were always 2 desserts--a fruit crisp and something else.

My partner and I ran it for five years, but it stayed open under the same name until just this year. I had great fun there while I stayed, and I stayed just long enough.

I'd never worked in, let alone run, a restaurant before co-opening that one. But I did love to experiment in the kitchen. My partner had cooked his way through law school at a pancake house, so why not give it a try?

The way I remember it, the night before we opened, I realized I needed to come up with a bread. And from somewhere came the muffin recipe that became the muffins, so popular we were never allowed to serve any other bread.

When thinking about what to blog about on this Christmas Eve Eve Day, the day that my family kicks off the winter holiday Ritual of Festive Eating, I thought it would be nice to pass that muffin recipe on to you. It's easy, the muffins store well, and they make a nice alternative to all the sweet breakfast breads that are around this time of year.

I had to call my daughter to get the actual recipe. I'd lost it through years of baking mostly by just throwing things together. Lizzie, who's a brilliant cook, is also an organized one, and so had kept up with it.

So, here 'tis.

Martha's Cafe Muffins

1.5 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup white flour

.5 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

.5 tsp baking soda

.5 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk

1 egg

6 T melted butter

Mix dry ingredients. Mix wet ingredients. Mix together (don't beat, just mix). Spoon into muffin pans. Bake till done (20 minutes) at 375degrees.

I usually use a little less sugar and buttermilk, because I like a toothy muffin. You can also add bran, oatmeal, or raisins, if you take out a little of the flour.

General note: I love baking with buttermilk. It gives a tang and makes things tender. I recommend trying it in pastry, as well, for quiche or any kind of non-dessert pie.