From the monthly archives:

January 2008

Coconut! Cardamom?

January 30, 2008

I had a food fantasy yesterday, in the middle of my Monday workday.  My fantasy involved four things: me, my uber comfy Santa pajamas, a bowl of made-by-me ice cream, and my electric blanket.  I fantasized all the way home and skipped dinner to get my ice cream going.  I had all the fixins for [...]

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A Cookie We Can Believe In

January 27, 2008

Never had I had any desire to write about a politician, let alone believe in one.  Don’t fret, I won’t stand on my soap box and bore you with my enthusiasm for Barack Obama.  Just understand, that I believe, in my politically cynical yet paradoxically hopeful heart, that Mr Obama represents a necessary change for [...]

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Whole Orange Bundt Cake with Poppy Seed Madness

January 26, 2008

This is one of the recipes in my collection that invariably makes me raise one eyebrow in suspicion.  It’s a Bundt cake that’s is not only flavored by orange juice, it’s flavored by the whole darn orange- pulp, pith and peel.  I’ve made this cake twice now.  It not exactly the effortless Bundt cake you [...]

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Red is the new Vanilla

January 24, 2008

These little beauties are the answer to any of life’s little hiccups.  Really.  Say, for example, you fall asleep with a candle burning in the  bedroom of the apartment you share with four other people.  Say, you wake up with the blankets on top of you up in flames… serious flames.  Say, in fear and [...]

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Fact: the world is better with bananas

January 16, 2008

Say you’re a 17 year old girl, and it’s your birthday.  If you can’t have a new car, a cute new boyfriend, or a hassle free day from your parents, what would be next on your list?  Probably, Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cupcakes. No?  You’d want one of those super skinny Macbook Airs?  Well let’s [...]

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Pink Hawaii

January 14, 2008

I was recently asked to create a Hawaiian themed cake for a girls first birthday.  Children’s theme cakes usually run along a spectrum: from Sesame Street designs to Yo GabbaGabba characters.  I somehow can never find my creative voice in tracing an Elmo onto a cake.  It’s just not my style.  Imagine my excitement in [...]

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Mis-en-place

January 13, 2008

French culinary terms always seem snooty and unapproachable to me.  Mis-en-place is no different, but it’s the concept behind the term that’s important.  Translating into “everything in it’s place” the term has everyday baking signifigance.  Simply stated, in American English, “get all your stuff together before the flour starts flying.”  Soften the butter, get the [...]

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