It’s funny but most of my outings, even when totally directed at something other than food, leave a food imprint on my memory.
Every year I go to the Pasadena Showcase House of Design to tour a multimillion dollar mansion, gawk at the over-the-top rooms that each designer showcased, hang out with my mom and eat a light dinner at the on-site catering provided by a local restaurant. Continue reading
My favorite cookbook hands down is Death By Chocolate by Marcel Desaulniers. I can’t say that I’ve actually made more than 10 of the 30 or so recipes, but every recipe I have tried is my new favorite. These triple chocolate cookies are one of those favorites.
They are dark, extra chocolatey, soft with just a slightly crisp outer layer, and they are just a tiny bit salty. Can you think of a more perfect cookie? You can? It’s missing something perhaps? I know, some of you out there are literally jumping up and down shouting…”Where the heck are the nuts?” What was SHE THINKING? Continue reading
My heirloom tomato tart and I have sort of a love hate relationship going on. It is delicious, ridiculously simple to make and looks like a million bucks…see?
It is a truly dependable and spectacular tasting tart so why the animosity you may wonder. Well…I am getting very suspicious that the invitations I am receiving to various dinners and parties are actually an invitation for that little tart of a tart you see there. Continue reading
Black and White cookies are the perfect finale to any deli experience. If done right, they are soft and tender, rich and smooth. They are the soul mate to an icy, cold glass of milk. This particular recipe from the All-American Cookie Book is that kind of nostalgic deli-style black and white.
Life has its share of epic fails, and so does my kitchen unfortunately. Cakes can just flat out refuse to come out of their pans, omelets will stage a sit-in and end up as scrambled cheesy eggs, and sometimes, Grasshopper Pies turn into parfaits.
I didn’t know it until this blog, but apparently I am a bundt person. I hadn’t realized it until just a few posts into this whole blogging thing and low and behold I am already on my second bundt. This blog is really helping me to get to know myself better and to my surprise I love big bundts. Pun intended. Sorry! Continue reading
These Rocky Road cupcakes are a perfect example of my tug-of-war with my family over good taste. My daughter and I had to make two versions of these lovely cupcakes to please both sides of the food spectrum at my house. You know that old song, “You say tomato (to-may-to) and I say tomato (to-maw-to), You say, Po “tay” to and I say Po “taw” to…Let’s Call the whole thing off?” Well that is sort of the story of my food life at our house. Here is version two of the Rocky Road cupcake with Coconut and Peanuts. Continue reading
Anything counterfeit is by definition a phony, an imposter, not as good as the original. So this post is not here to tell you that these decadent little cakes can even hold a candle to that Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake perfection on the Smitten Kitchen blog site. But I can tell you this…it does pack a GOOD one-two punch on the peanut butter and chocolate front and it is easy, peasy for those days when you must have chocolate and peanut butter cake wonderfulness NOW as in AS FAST AS POSSIBLE!
My family makes something we call “Bubble”. Basically, it’s a Dutch Apple pancake, but growing up I never realized it had a real title and erroneously thought that we had invented it. Kids are like that. I still am not sure why we called it a bubble…I think because it gets kind of puffy and airy when it bakes in the oven.
Bubble is a perfect answer to any, “What’s for Breakfast?” question. It has a good number of eggs and a fair amount of milk to make it healthful and it has just a bit of sugar to make it slightly sweet. It’s especially attractive to kids everyone when adorned with beautiful cinnamon sugar apples. How could it not be? Continue reading
You know in the movie Bridget Jones’ Diary when Colin Firth says, “I like you just the way you are,”… this Mac N’ Cheese is perfect just the way it is. It’s simple, and sometimes when the world is a complicated crazy mess, it’s nice to have something that is just basic and wonderful to fall back on– something that is totally itself.
Sweet And Crumby 