Summer is almost here, and that always makes me crave my favorite tropical flavors to match the warm weather. 🙂 I made these tropical whole wheat pancakes one morning, and now they keep showing up on our weekend breakfast menu! They are very easy and tasty, and I almost always have the ingredients on hand. […]
May 1st is Lei Day in Hawaii, so I thought the month of May would be a good time to bake some Hawaiian inspired coconut cupcakes! Coconut is one of my very favorite flavors, so I will take any excuse to make something with it. And Hawaii is one of my very favorite places, so […]
Happy Cinco de Mayo! This year, I made a fresh and springy dish from Mexico to celebrate the day. I had this soup in a class from Sur La Table a few months ago, but I thought tonight was a perfect night to recreate it at home. It has a long history in Mexico, which […]
One of my favorite local authors started a little webpage called Books and Bites that I am totally enjoying. The idea is to pair great books with great food. That’s something I love to do, and I like to see how others are inspired to cook or bake (or mix!) something to fit the stories […]
Happy Easter! I wanted to make something special but simple for our Easter dinner, since I didn’t have a lot of time to put it together today. I found a pasta recipe from MarthaStewart.com that fit the bill. I made a couple of minor changes, but stayed pretty close to the original recipe. I replaced […]
We enjoyed a sweet finale to our spring anniversary brunch – Strawberries Dusted With Cardamom Sugar. It was such a refreshing and unique flavor combination. It felt like a special dish, even though it only took a couple of minutes to assemble. This would be a very nice addition to any special brunch. (Easter and […]
We made a Broiled Portobello Topped With Creamy Scrambled Eggs as the main course of our spring anniversary brunch. We often make a scramble on a regular Sunday morning, and this was only minimally more effort. We usually lighten our scrambles by using about half of the egg yolks to egg whites, and we did […]
Every year on March 24th, my hubby and I celebrate the anniversary from the day that we met. We love to mark our little milestone anniversaries, which gives us a reason for a nice meal. I’m always up for another excuse for a celebration! 😉 This year we made a nice brunch at home. The […]
Happy Saint Patrick’s Day! (Well, almost ;-). I start to get in the Irish holiday mood once March begins). I love this holiday, even though I’m not even a wee bit Irish. I make a different Irish inspired recipe every year to celebrate. (Check out some of the fun and festive recipes from years past […]
I read a page turning novel this winter called The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley. It is set in Scotland, and follows two interconnected story lines….One in the 1700s and one in the present day. I felt like I took a little trip to Scotland while learning a lot about their history. Much of the […]
The second ravioli course that we made for our romantic Valentine’s Day dinner was lobster ravioli with warm lobster vinaigrette. The recipe is from the chef at Corton restaurant in New York City, so it was our second stop on our virtual trip to NYC. I could almost see Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan on […]
We jetted off to New York City to explore their world-class restaurants this Valentine’s Day. Well, not literally, but in our own way. I found two recipes that I was excited to try, and they both happened to be from chefs in NYC. They couldn’t be more different, but they are both types of ravioli. […]
Happy Valentine’s Day! I found some adorable Valentine cupcake recipes on MarthaStewart.com. I combined a few of my favorites, since there were so many cute ideas that I couldn’t decide on just one. 🙂 These are inspired by a combination of Martha’s recipes for Raspberry Cupcakes with Pink Buttercream and Lacy Chocolate Hearts as well […]
Happy New Year 2013! On New Year’s Eve, we celebrated the last day of the year with a few Spanish tapas. My favorite was made with quince paste, Manchego cheese, and Marcona almonds. I had never cooked with quince before, and it really intrigued me! If you’ve never had it, I would describe it as […]
Santa needs to have some cookies on Christmas Eve, so I baked up a batch of my favorite pine nut biscotti for him ;). This recipe makes me think of Christmas since the creamy nuts are another part of the Christmas tree! I think it’s a fun but sophisticated version of a Christmas cookie. I’ve […]
I discovered a new recipe website this year called Food52.com. It is an online community where you can share recipes, compare them and just chat about food. My favorite part about it is that they run recipe contests, so everyone’s favorite dishes rise to the top. When I found myself with a bunch of turkey […]
Happy Halloween! I was in the mood for something sweet, something chocolately, and something a bit spooky today ;-). Devil’s food cupcakes! I followed a recipe from Bon Appetit magazine, but omitted the frosting. I like them plain or with a little powdered sugar on top. I also made them cupcakes instead of full cakes […]
We finished our Italian anniversary feast with a light little dessert. It was so small and refreshing that it could actually be served in between the courses of a rich dinner, as well. I found the original recipe from Epicurious.com, but I reduced the sugar quite a bit. We like our citrus desserts to be […]
We enjoyed an Italian steak dish to compliment our crab ravioli on our anniversary. Surf and turf :). We just wanted a little something to snack on as we lingered at the table, enjoyed the candles surrounding us, and sipped our wine. These were perfect. The original recipe was from Epicurious.com. I replaced the heavy […]
We celebrated our wedding anniversary this year with pasta! Last week Rob and I took a cooking class at Sur La Table about making homemade pasta, and afterwards we bought a pasta machine as a gift to each other. The traditional anniversary gift for 12 years of marriage is silk, so we thought making silky […]