Like sanding sugar through the hourglass...

The only thing better than decorating cookies is watching your little girl grow up to be able to do it all by herself. Boo prepares cookies for her class cookie exchange.





Her cookie choice, her design, her elbow grease. I will say that she was trying to recruit help by cookie number three.

Walking where the feathered ones have gone before me!

'Tis the season...

...to get down to baking!!! In the immortal words of my sister, "Go big or go home!"

By the way, don't just separate your cookie tiers, make 'em chuckle!

Peppermint Meringues

I will admit that even though these clever little meringues liven up any Christmas cookie tray, they are a bit cloying. I felt the need to bust out some Christmas tree spritz cookies to keep things real.

Am I the only one that sees poetry in buttercream?

Italian meringue buttercream is a pain to make. It requires simultaneous feats of whipping whites on your kitchenaid and boiling a sugar syrup on the stove to a soft ball stage. There is one moment of heart-pounding intensity where you have to pour a furiously boiling sticky liquid into a whirring machine of delicate and touchy egg whites. After that, you get elbow deep into pounds of cold butter that must be man-handled until pliable. The drama culminates in chunky nasty goop that makes you think it can't possibly come together--until it DOES. What you have left is the most heavenly buttercream, stable enough for tall feats of cake, and rich and smooth enough for the most discerning tastes. Even though this Mom-wife only has third grade and kindergarten fans, even they seem to understand. This year, I fully intended to short the short ones by making a confectioners sugar based shortcut for my daughter's birthday cupcakes. Then I was told, "Rebecca can't wait for my birthday celebration at school. She loves your frosting!". That did it. I may not have Clients, but I have fans. Little people, yes, but real fans.

Love at first sight

It was sitting on a high shelf in an antique store. A red metal cake carrier with painted flowers and handles. There is even a pie shelf inside. It makes me want to redecorate my whole kitchen to match. I'll have to come up with a worthy cake recipe instead.

How To Make A Tomato Sandwich

1. Grow a tomato. This can be done by someone you trust.
2. Do not refrigerate this tomato--or any tomato. Ever.
3. Lightly toast some bread.
4. Spread generously with mayonnaise. Set tomato slices into the mayo so it will oozsh together. Do not make the mistake of separating the tomato from the mayo with lettuce or cheese. Mayo and tomato oozsh is one of the top ten best sauces.
5. Sprinkle a good quality salt on the tomato. This is critical for bringing out the sweetness of the tomato.
6. Add a slice or two of cheese. Either American or fresh mozzarella. Stick with a mild cheese or it will over power the delicate flavors of the tomato.
7. Add some good lettuce or greens and coarse ground pepper.
8. Wrap the sandwich, deli-style, in wax or parchment paper. (Place sandwich on square of paper. Bring opposite sides of the paper together above the sandwich. Roll down toward top of sandwich. Fold in corners and then tuck under sandwich. Cut sandwich through paper.) This will keep even the most unwieldy sandwiches together.
9. Best paired with a tall glass of iced whole milk. Heaven.

Chanterelle, my belle

I adore mushrooms, champignon, xiang gu! Oh, my lovely little fungi. So woodsy and rich, yet so delicate of texture. Musk of the earth. I so rarely get to indulge because my husband can't stand them--can't be in the house with them. So tonight while he works late, I've sauteed up a whole plate for myself. Just a little butter, salt, pepper, and fresh sage from the garden. Divine.

Study for a wedding cake

The perfect solution for a groom who wants dark chocolate and a bride that wants a traditional cake is a dual filling layer. A tiny layer of rich bittersweet chocolate ganache under each fluffy layer of Meringue buttercream looks so elegant when it is sliced and served. The chocolate would be way to dark and rich on its own. Here we have a lovely contrast and balance. The perfect marriage.


I couldn't resist using the tasting as an opportunity to try out a few purple sugar orchids.

Real chess cookies

I admit that I was extremely disappointed when I realized that you can't actually play a game of chess with a package of Pepperidge Farm Chessman cookies. Like most kids, I pondered the point of it all. Unlike most kids I calculated how many bags it would take to have enough pieces. Then, I needed to take into account the probability of getting the right pieces. Nevermind that the cookies are all white! Luckily, that nerd-child grew up and realized that it's far easier to bake your own. There is a real satisfaction in devouring your opponent's captured pieces. Just don't eat the Queen so fast, you never know when a pawn will make it all the way across to the other side and demand a promotion.

Library Tote

We are constantly paying library fines around here. The good thing is that we go to the library often, check out lots of books, and read them all over the house. The bad thing is the around the house part--we can never find them all when it's time to head back to the library. The solution is


a dedicated library tote that permanently resides on Boo's bedroom doorknob. We can be off to the library with all books ready at a moments notice and the kids can carry their own books! You will need a paper cutting system. I have a relatively inexpensive Slice machine because I craft, yes, but I do not scrapbook. (Confession: scrapbookers scare me. But that's a whole other story). You simply cut letters out of freezer paper and iron them shiny side down in place. Fabric paint and then peel the stencil off! We added an iron-on owl embellishment. Boo loved this craft and it's so useful too!

More berry tarts

This one for my sister's birthday.

A berry good day...

Cristina's Wrap

We had our annual knitting group's gift swap and I made this wrap for my friend, Cristina. We usually have a few months to complete a gift for the swap and I had originally planned a fern green ruffle scarf made will skillions of short rows. It was a disaster and I bound it off and gave the length of knots to my daughter to play with. This was, of course, only a few days before the swap and I was in a panic. Salvation lies in the form of size 19 needles and a quick Twinkle knit. I finished this in less than two days. Just in time!

How To Tame An Artichoke

Artichokes are formidable opponents. They are dangerous. You may need a first aid kit handy when you wrestle with choke. But a perfectly cooked artichoke is certainly worth it. And let's face it, the battle is half the fun. You will need: a chef's knife, a serrated knife, pairing knife, kitchen shears, a steamer, a melon-baller, a lemon, patience, and a sense of adventure.

Step One: Trim off the stem

Step Two: And for all subsequent cutting steps...immediately cover the fresh cut with lemon juice.

Step Three: Pluck off the smallish leaves near the stem.

Step Four: Peel the stem with a paring knife.

Step Five: Slice off the upper third of the artichoke. If you don't have a very, very, sharp chef's knife, use a sturdy serrated knife.

Step Six: Using kitchen shears, trim off the tips of all remaining outer leaves.

Step Seven: Rub lemon juice over all cut surfaces.

Now take a moment to appreciate the simple beauty.

Step Eight: Pry the artichoke open in the middle. Be very careful here. Lots of super sharp inner petals that will really hurt you.

Step Nine: Very carefully grab a few "petals" toward the base and pull firmly using a pinching motion to pluck out the whitish, purplish, super sharp petals.

Keep going...

Until you have removed all of the whitish-purplish, super sharp petals and you hit the fuzzy choke on the bottom.

Step Ten: Using a melon baller, (a spoon will NOT cut it...literally) scrape out the choke. You have to cut under the choke where it will come out in chunks. Underneath the choke is much harder stem, you'll know when you hit it.

This is what the chunks of choke look like.

Keep going...

Until the the choke is all gone. Squeeze lots of lemon juice into the cavity.

Step Eleven: Put the choke into a steamer insert, I like to toss the used lemon halves into the boiling water, and steam artichoke until a paring knife slides easily into the thicker part of the stem.

Step twelve: Serve with some yummy dip like an aioli or pesto. Just pluck off a leaf and dip. Bite down as you pull the leaf out of your mouth to scrape off the artichoke meat that hangs on to each leaf. Artichokes are wonderful for social eating. When you get to the middle, you can cut up the artichoke heart and dip those in too.

Or you can get extra fancy with the artichoke hearts.

Fi's First Communion Cake

When I asked what she wanted the cake to look like, Fi's mom handed me a graceful pink invitation with a Celtic Cross. The fondant knots made me crazy dizzy.

Strawberry Shortcake

A trifecta of perfection.



The shortcake is made with a barely blended dough. The chunks of butter are what gives it the flakiness. As my chef-instructors used to say, "an ugly dough is the best dough." In fact, the dough should be near impossible to work with. Thats how you know it will be perfect. Muffins, short cake, scones, quick breads and biscuits all fall into this category. Under mix!

The strawberries are gently macerated with sugar. The best strawberries need no further embellishment.

Then there is just enough creme fraiche (mixed with vanilla and demarara sugar) to drizzle around it all. Sure, whipped cream would make it more photogenic. But trust me, the tang and ooze here tastes much better.

Craftzine.com blog : How-To: Mail Needle Book

Craftzine.com blog : How-To: Mail Needle Book

Go ahead and breathe in deeply...

...allergies be damned. I love the perfume of spring!

Lemon Meringue Pie

On the first glorious day of spring everyone I knew headed outdoors, but I just wanted to be in my kitchen with all the windows open. The answer was Lemon Meringue Pie. These were made with wonderfully fragrant Lisbon Lemons that grow on thorny trees--be careful! They have about ten segments, and few and small pits. They were just beautiful. This is a great pie when kids want to help out. Kids all seem to love to juice lemons. Don't forget to brush the pie crust with some beaten egg when there are about five minutes left during blind baking. This helps seal out any moisture from the filling and will keep the bottom crust crisp.