This dish is the second in a series this week on throwing a birthday dinner. See the Kabocha and Fennel Soup post for the full menu. I’ll post the Tarte Tatin recipe this Saturday. (more…)

I believe this bread was invented as an excuse to eat cake for breakfast. My kids request I make this as their birthday cakes each year and sells out at the school holiday bake sale. It’s from King Arthur Flour and needs no adapting. If you ever have (more…)

This is a hello/goodbye kind of salad. Bittersweet for the short window when it is possible. Figs are on their way out and the asian greens like mizuna are just coming in. That makes this fleeting culinary combination all the more delightful. (more…)

I love all things Lucques and this little gem was inspired by Suzanne Goin’s Clafoutis in Sunday Suppers at Lucques. She did it with cranberries and walnuts and topped with bourbon whipped cream. I had dried cherries and pecans in the (more…)

All hail the 6″ cake pan. I love me some cake and I like to make other people happy with cake. But I do not want cake lingering around like that last glass of wine I didn’t need. Enter this lovely little coffee cake adapted from Cook’s (more…)

It was love at first sight (or more accurately conversation) when I met my husband Nick on a street corner in Brazil. Three weeks later at a country home in Wales, I decided I was going to marry him when he cooked me a chicken curry for the first time. (more…)

For the past couple of weeks I’ve been feeling low. Much of it is the duress of our times, but there’s also a genetic component to my brain chemistry that means occasionally a blue period sweeps in like a dark cloud. When it does, I have (more…)

I’m always on the lookout for vegetarian entrees that my whole family can get down with which is no small feat. We eat a lot of fried tofu tossed into noodle bowls or stir fried with broccoli but I know there’s a bigger world of tofu possibilities (more…)

If you’re not Cuban can you rightly even say what Cuban Black Beans are? All I know is that this is a mash up of several influences, all of which were titled Cuban Black Beans. These are a staple in our house because they are cheap and easy to (more…)