Made these yesterday morning to take to brunch. They came out perfectly spongy and quite most. Oh, and they were banana nut.

Labels: food

The other weekend I watched a Barefoot Contessa episode where she made cheddar and dill scones. I had neither of those ingredients at the time, so I improvised and made rosemary and thyme scones with havarti and parmesan cheese. Quite good.

Labels: food

A friend of mine lost her beloved dog this week. Clearly she was in need of homemade chocolate chip cookies. I used some leftover Pottery Barn ribbon and new Chinese food containers for the presentation.

Labels: crafty, food

I had been planning for a while to make some hand-made candies for my mom and Grandma for Christmas. After some research, I cobbled together my own recipe based on ones I found here, here and here. I added Bailey's for some extra deliciousness. Poor Tim traipsed all over Manhattan to find me a melon baller, which ended up not working as expected, so I rolled each truffle by hand. Messy but effective.

Just before I made them, I also saw that Tracy at Shutterbean, my newest favorite site, had made some as well, and I borrowed the candy cane idea from her. I also dipped mine in cocoa powder, chopped white chocolate (food processor worked perfectly to turn it into tiny bits), chopped bittersweet chocolate (same stuff I used to make the ganache centers) and chopped toasted almonds.

I presented them in small Chinese food containers lined with waxed paper and tied with red and silver ribbons. The platter of extras I put out at Christmas dinner was wiped clean pretty quickly, making me think they tasted as good as they looked.

Labels: food

We spent an awesome long weekend in Boston ... design exhibit at the ICA ... wandering the city with Tito ... beers at Kingston Station ... sushi with Tito, Mark and Christi ... the coolest bathroom sink any of us have seen ... Anna's birthday party complete with pinata and Darren ... Sophia that cat at the Roslindale B+B (aka Mark + Christi's apartment) ... more design exhibits, in the form of Blogorelli's rad typewriter collection ... homemade brunch with the best brown bread ... Paper Sourcing with Jenna, a true expert ... finally making it to Wagamama for a big bowl of nostalgia ... pizza and more beers in front of Jenna and Steve's fireplace, with Hazel the pup ... then taking the train home, so much nicer than the bus. Thanks friends!

Labels: food, travel

I really like this shot of my mom on Thanksgiving before the big meal. Notice the open window in the background... the only time I ever remember it being warm enough to have them open at the end of November in Jersey!

This is the house that I grew up in, but the kitchen got redone after I moved out. I remember it more like this.

Labels: family, food

When Jen gave us this awesome sushi set we decide to try making it ourselves. The rolls came out surprisingly well. We made all veggie versions, of course. The avocado and peanut was my favorite. Asparagus and cucumber were lovely too.

Labels: food

Made these for Darren's birthday. Just a store-bought chocolate cake mix bottom, but topped with Magnolia Bakery's Buttercream Frosting.

Labels: food

So we went to Pittsburgh on a whim this weekend. Tom talked us into it and luckily Jackie didn't object to spending their first wedding anniversary with company. Jer drove us like a champ in the Prius. Tim and I drank too much beer and ate WAY too many fries. So all in all a fantastic time.

This was our first real meal at Primanti Brothers where tomatoes, cole slaw and french fries come on every sandwich. Holy heart attack.

Labels: food, friends, pittsburgh