Monday, July 30, 2007

Strawberry Mirror Cake: Daring Bakers July

This month Peabody of Culinary Concoctions chose a beautiful Strawberry Mirror Cake for the July Daring Baker Challenge. The cake consists ...

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Farfalle with Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese, and Artichoke Hearts

Smoked salmon and cream cheese is always a delicious combination. I knew it would be great on pasta but Steven needed a little convincing. ...

Wednesday, July 25, 2007

In Defense of Vanilla

I am a vanillaholic. And when it comes to cupcakes and what I think the classic cupcake ought to be, it's vanilla all the way. Like I me...

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

How to Make Beef Stock

Canned beef broths always seem to have a strange tinny taste and they are just incomparable to homemade broths and stocks. For the best fla...

Monday, July 23, 2007

Black Bottom Cupcakes, You Make the Rockin' World Go 'Round

I have been on a bit of a cupcake bender as of late. How can one blame me? Cupcakeries are popping up every freakin' place around here! ...

Sunday, July 22, 2007

Good Reads

Since becoming a lot more serious about my baking passion as of late, I decided it was time to really start reading up on baking, not just c...

A Tart for Julia - Mango Lime Curd Tart

My friend Julia came over for dinner Friday night because she is leaving for the University of California, Irvine where she will be a slave ...

Flaky Pate Sucree

Pate sucree is one of the three basic French pastry crusts (pate brisee - the all purpose crust used for pies, savory and sweet tarts, pate ...

Friday, July 20, 2007

Pump Up the Jam

So while on a flight from Miami to L.A., I dug into the July issue of Food & Wine magazine with the "Best New Chefs" cover st...

Thursday, July 19, 2007

The Very Best Chocolate Chip Cookie

Here's the thing: I've always thought of myself as a thin, crispy cookie kind of person. The kind that go really well with a nice cu...

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Spaghetti alla Carbonara with Basil and Mushrooms

The once tiny basil plant on the back porch is now very large and bushy so I'm always looking for ways to incorporate basil into recipes...

...And So It Begins.



Friday, July 13, 2007

Two Birthdays, A Whole Lot of Food, Roses, and Animals

This year for Steven's and my birthdays, we played hooky took some time off work to have a picnic and go to the zoo . Temperatures the...

BBQ Chicken Quesadilla

The last few days have been unbearably hot, with yesterday being one of the top 10 hottest days ever recorded here in Seattle. I was too le...

Monday, July 9, 2007

Cherry Clafouti

Remember when I said the best thing about living in the Pacific Northwest was the salmon ? Well it's a tie between the salmon and the ...

Saturday, July 7, 2007

Sun-dried Tomato and Olive Pesto Pasta Salad

(10pm) "Oh, can you make me something to bring to a potluck?" "Sure! When is it?" "Tomorrow" "..." ...

Kung Pao Shrimp

Kung pao chicken, gong bao ji ding is virtually on every Sichuan Chinese restaurant's menu. The difference between the classic Sichuan...

Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Green Tea Ice Cream

Ever since I bought my ice cream maker back in February, I have a mile long list of ice cream flavors I want to make this summer. Now that...

Sunday, July 1, 2007

Mile High Buttermilk Biscuits and Sausage Gravy

I first made these biscuits for Thanksgiving last year and hands down they are the best biscuits ever . Gone are the days of buying tubes o...