Four for Dinner

L asked me to make Smitten Kitchen’s Pistachio Petit-Four Cake for her sweet 16. I’ve never made a cake this complicated (actually, strike that, I probably have) that uses so many different ingredients and requires such an exacting touch. I can’t believe I finished it, marzipan roses and all. L makes the prettiest roses with [...]

I’m not a big Valentine’s Day celebrant. You should definitely treat every day as one to express your love, I think. Still, the food on Valentine’s Day is great and I’m never one to ignor a chance to bake something special. I made these mini strawberry eclairs today for staff appreciation day at L’s school. [...]

I’ve been trying my hand at lots of gluten free baked goods using regular recipes with a gluten free flour mix. Many have been very successful. Today, I made a chou paste – using a very traditional ratio (I actually halved the usual recipe – so I used 1/2 stick butter, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 [...]

Since J is now gluten-free, I have not been baking as much. That is with the exception of helping L with her big bake sale at school, and making gluten-free cake and cupcakes (from a very delicious, homemade-tasting King Arthur Mix for Gluten Free Chocolate Cake) for various gatherings so the J can be included [...]

L made these beauties, with a little help from Mom, for a bake sale that she is running to raise money for a community service project that she is doing in Costa Rica this summer. She will be adding a new classroom onto an existing school in a rural town. We collaberated on this recipe [...]

It seems that I’ve been baking a lot lately. And, I’m not just baking. Really, I’m cooking too. Taking some pictures, not enough. I made Bahn Mi on Monday night using this recipe, but I replaced the pork with boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and we use avocado instead of pate (I’m not a liver lover). [...]

I made an “Italian Almond Cake” for a dinner this week that was a total flop. I grabbed it off the web because it looked like it was quick and easy and a friend that I hadn’t seen in a long time was coming over for dinner at the spur of the moment. The cake [...]

Ever since spending time in Paris, I’ve been obsessed with the French macaron. Not a “macaroon”, as this month’s recipe in Bon Appetit calls it – but a macaron. Macaroons are heavier – like the coconut cookies that you see at delis and at Passover, or the sweet almond macaroons made with almond paste. I [...]

L decided to “cook the cover” of Bon Appetit again this month. This time, the cover featured another meringue confection – Peppermint Meringue Cookies – a lot easier to make than the Lime Blackberry Italian Meringue Pie. These little meringues are simple, straightforward, beautiful and delicious. Yum, yum. L did a great job making them [...]

Last week, I hosted my book club. Not realizing that most of the ladies in my book club would be unable to make our discussion, I cooked too much. So what else is new. We read the book “Let the Great World Spin” by Colum McCann, which takes place in New York in the 1970s. [...]