A TWD Two-fer: Cream Puffs & Cobbler

In the spirit of driving Peabody *nuts* I'm a week late for last week's assignment but on time for today's. How'd I manage that? I spent the hottest Sunday of the summer season in the kitchen with the oven on. What can I say Peabody...? I live to serve!

First last week's Peppermint Cream Puff Ring selected for our enjoyment by Caroline of A Consuming Passion. Like many other Doristas, I elected to make individual cream puffs rather than a ring because they're easier to transport and serve that way. And rather than mint, I infused my whipped cream filling with a vanilla bean and a bit of chai-spiced tea. We went out to dinner with friends on Sunday, and it was easy to pass up the dessert menu when we knew these waited for us at home.

Next on the baking to-do list: a delightful biscuit topped Mixed Berry Cobbler offered by Beth of Our Sweet Life. Frozen fruit, tossed with sugar, lemon and cornstarch, topped with a flakey slightly sweetened biscuit crust. I added a half bag of frozen mangoes to my berry medley because it was time to use them in something. Baked them up in individual ramekins, and I've discovered they make an indulgent but not unhealthy breakfast topped with a generous dollop of yogurt.

These two selections prove my longstanding theory that some of the very best things in life and in food are comprised of a handful of simple ingredients thoughtfully combined.

Oh... and Peabody? Hang tight love... I'm eyeballing the Apple Cheddar Scone recipe now... who knows... I might *really* surprise you and come in *early*!

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Tuesdays with Dorie

Mushroom Madness

For June's Taste & Create event I've been paired with Ben from What's Cooking. As a result a Mexican meets an Italian in Ireland; I selected his Creamy Stuffed Portabella Mushrooms as the recipe I'd attempt to repeat in my kitchen.

I love it when a recipe inspires me to use what I have on hand... There's a leftover chicken breast and a package of cream cheese in the refrigerator, and there's *always* an open bottle of wine on the counter. This week's CSA delivery included an onion and a handful of summer squash, and a quick trip to the farmers' market produced a couple of hearty looking portabellas and two ears of Brentwood corn.

I started simply, poaching the chicken breast in some lightly seasoned leftover turkey stock. While the chicken cooked I chopped the mushroom stems, onion and the summer squash and cleaned the corn.

From there I followed Ben's lead pretty closely, adding the corn and the corn milk to the butter/cream cheese/wine mixture and tossing the summer squash in with the mushroom stems.

The result: a meal that traverses the seasons, using fresh wholesome ingredients, in not much more time than it would take to dish up a plate of takeout. Thanks Ben... I know I'll be making riffs on this one again!

From the archives...
In 2006 Hannigan's failed to deliver a satisfying salad.

Technorati Tags: Food | Key Ingredient: Mushroom

I'm late... I'm late...

It's been another crazy week in my world...those of you here in search of cream puffs are going to have to give me another day or two to catch my breath. In the mean time, check out nearly two hundred others over at Tuesdays with Dorie.

Fresh flavors

I don't know how people with kids do it. Most evenings it's just me, and after a long day and a longer commute I have a hard enough time putting together a dinner that is both healthy and inspiring. But since one can not subsist on microwave popcorn alone (and one's food blog would certainly suffer if one did), a well-stocked refrigerator, freezer and pantry has become my best friend.

Tonight's dinner started with some pineapple pork sausage I pulled out of the freezer this morning. A couple of handfuls of arugula and some sliced red onion from the CSA box. Another handful of dried cherries leftover from the great brownie experiment. And the last of a bottle of poppyseed salad dressing we picked up during one of our wine tasting adventures last fall.

Fifteen minutes, refrigerator to table with half a strawberry tart for dessert... AND I wasn't embarrassed to admit it to my personal trainer this morning. Score!

Technorati Tags: Food

TWD: My cheatin' tart

So this week's Tuesdays with Dorie assignment comes to us from Marie of A Year from Oak Cottage: La Palette's Strawberry Tart.

I participated. But by some standards I cheated.

You see in the name of economizing and in getting a handle on what I have in "inventory" I'm working my way through the freezer. And way down at the bottom, beneath a hunk of tri tip and two bags of edamame, I found a bag of frozen pastry dough. Leftover from my April contribution to A Taste of Yellow. And thus Thomas Keller's pine nut pate sable became the base for Dorie's strawberry tartlettes.

I baked off the tartlette shells, spread the warm pastry with some strawberry chipotle jam, topped it with a generous handful of Swanton Berry Farm strawberries and a dollop of jam studded goat yogurt. In fifteen minutes from freezer to table we have a sweet light dessert that makes the perfect ending to a warm summer weekend.

I know I'm going to make this again and again this summer and well into the fall (with Dorie's tart recipe as well as Thomas'). It's a great way to showcase whatever fruit flavors are abundant throughout the seasons.

Want to try this in your kitchen? Dorie has the recipe posted here.

From the archives...
In 2007 I refused to be conquered by cupcakes.

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Tuesdays with Dorie | Key Ingredient: Strawberry

I've been tagged!

Another meme makes the rounds, and this time I've been tagged by Jessica over at My Baking Heart. In the spirit of sharing the love, here's a little bit about me, Q&A style...

But first the rules: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

And now the Q&A:

What was I doing ten years ago?
Adjusting to life at thirty. The first of what would be many gray hairs. People calling me "ma'am". Far more traumatic an experience than I'd expected... Thankfully forty's been *far* more fun!

What are five (non-work) things on my to-do list for today?
1. Finishing this post.
2. Laundry.
3. Next week's Tuesdays with Dorie assignment
4. Grocery shopping.
5. A quick stop at the library.

5 Snacks I enjoy:
1. Kettle chips.
2. Frozen grapes.
3. Marcona almonds.
4. Popcorn.
5. Chocolate.

Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
1. Quit my job and join Gina in culinary school.
2. Pay off the mortgage.
3. Fund my nephews' college education.
4. Buy a Prius.
5. Donate to end hunger and cure cancer.

Places I have lived:
1. Oakland, CA
2. Eugene, OR
3. San Jose, CA
4. San Ramon, CA

Jobs I have had:
1. Public Relations Intern for the circus
2. Mens & Boys Department manager at Target
3. Office Manager for a mail order business specializing in dog books
4. Inventory Planner for a software company serving the biochemical industry.
5. Finance manager for one of the many companies ultimately acquired by Oracle.

Sharing the love... (Tag, you're it)
1. Brownie at Blondie & Brownie
2. Jenny at Foray into Food
3. Dharm at Dad - Baker & Chef
4. KJ at A Cracking Good Egg
5. anyone else who feels like it

From the archives...
2006 saw us touring the summer food festivals.
In 2007 I borrowed a recipe from Bron.

Technorati Tags: Meme

TWD - Fussy French Brownies

'k people, what I like *best* about brownies is their no-fuss nature. Even from scratch, they typically use one bowl, one spatula, one spoon. Twenty minutes in the oven, and out emerge 16 squares of tasty chocolate goodness...

Not so these fancy French "brownies." Look at the mess they made in my sink! Leave it to the French to add complication where none is necessary...

'k, they're not *really* brownies. According to Dorie's introduction to the recipe, they're a fudgy, fruit filled chocolate cake, a recipe she created for guests while she was in France, and those guests fell in love with her "brownies."

Well the dirty sink be damned, so did I.

I omitted the raisins, opting to flambe cherries for a black forest inspired brownie instead. John wasn't crazy about them... he's a purist when it comes to chocolate: Chocolate. Dark. Lots of it. With nothing to distract from it.

But my coworkers loved them... the entire tray was empty in under seven minutes.

Thanks to Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook for choosing this week's recipe. And check out the blog roll to see what the other Doristas thought.

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Tuesdays with Dorie | Key Ingredient: Chocolate

TerraMar: Deja Vu all over again?

It's taken us several years to re-cross this particular threshold. For good reason.

Ono Maze was a discovery we made during one of our favorite pastimes. Like many women window shop, John and I menu browse. We pick a neighborhood and stroll the streets studying the menus of its restaurants searching for inspiration.

This was a warm, late summer Friday evening. Sometime in August of 2001. Meandering North Main Street in Walnut Creek we were beginning to see a pattern. Italian... Italian... Italian... Brew Pub... Italian... French Italian... Italian... Wait... What's this? Pan Asian? Hmmm... Lots of seafood. A fair number of shareable appetizer options. With Japanese, Chinese, Thai and Vietnamese influences. No sign of Italian. We looked at each other... "Let's eat here".

Neither of us could know it at the time, but that evening would ultimately be a tipping point for both of us from a culinary perspective. We walked across the patio and through the door... and Ono Maze drew us in like a magnet. Over the course of four years, we commemorated birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and frantic Fridays. We made friends. First Kelly and then Kevin encouraged us to explore and develop our palates. Their influence has an ongoing impact on how we approach food today, from the way we shop and prepare food at home to the restaurant choices we make and how we evaluate each experience. In many ways although we were well into our thirties when we discovered them, we grew up with Ono Maze. From a food perspective 1616 N. Main Street holds the same mystique as a treasured childhood home.

So when the senior management closed the doors in November 2004 to explore other opportunities we've followed our friends to their new ventures and venues, but we haven't explored the restaurants that occupied the old homestead. Until recently.

I first discovered TerraMar through American Airlines' dining rewards program.

"Terra Mar features casual upscale dining, offering small plates for sharing and a fully stocked bar. They use only the freshest locally grown and harvested California ingredients and strive to provide some uniquely delicious dishes. One of Terra Mar's features is their amazing Oyster and Raw Bar..."

Intrigued, I clicked the link to the menu and started exploring. It was only after I decided this was a must-try that I looked at the address. 1616 North Main. I checked with John and he was agreeable, so off we headed one Friday night. Heck, even if it sucks we'll get some airline miles out of the deal...

Our homecoming experience was a little odd. Three tenants occupied the building between Ono Maze and TerraMar, but very little has changed. The patio and the entrance are identical. So is the bar. The decor. Even the *furniture* is the same. And it was more than a little ironic in an almost squicky kind of way that the hostess -- with no connection whatsoever to us or our long-ago connection with the location -- sat us at *our* table. Where we celebrated the aforementioned milestones. Where we closed the place in November of 2004...

TerraMar, you've got some big shoes to fill...

We decided to make one selection from each section of the TerraMar menu: a raw starter, a garden, a sea and a farm. Because the menu follows a "three ways" theme we selected what would prove to be quite a variety. We started with a "raw trio" that included a tuna tartare John loved, a scallop cerviche I loved, and a beef capaccio we both quite enjoyed. We followed our first course with the house frittes, (served with a cumin-chipotle ketchup we both found intriguing) sliders three ways (barbecued pork, kobe beef, and meatball in marinara), and the duck three ways (confit, duck breast, and foie gras).

I certainly didn't think our experience was this bad. Nor was it without flaw.

The good: The service was friendly and attentive without hovering.

The presentation on *every* dish was stunning. Someone has spent a lot of time, effort and energy picking out the perfect accessories for showcasing the chef's talent. There are no pictures in this particular spotlight because my crappy cell phone camera wouldn't do the presentations justice. Next time I'll take a real camera, I promise!

The menu is very creative, and for the most part well-executed. On a return visit, we wouldn't hesitate to reorder many of the same dishes. The raw trio was excellent. Their ketchup's a far cry from the Heinz or Del Monte of my youth. I'm not a duck lover (well not a *cooked* duck lover... I did spend my college years in Eugene) but I ate my share of the confit and the duck breast.

The not-so-good: For as pretty as the presentations were, most of the dishes were *very* difficult to eat without making a mess. Which is awkward in a white tablecloth, fine dining establishment, even if you're us. (Probably more so if you're the newly dating couple seated next to us, still trying your damndest to impress one another). My inner Len Goodman: "If you want a ten, make the pretty plate easier to eat."

For small plates, the portion's a bit large. John and I are NOT small people. It takes more than a plate of lettuce and a couple of ounces of protein to sustain us. So we were more than a bit surprised when after splitting four "small plates" we weren't sure we'd saved room for dessert. Perhaps our focus on the trios did us a disservice in that regard, but especially with the sliders, if there are three 'burgers' on a plate, they don't need to be fast food sized.

The foie gras. I don't touch the stuff (because the texture and the taste of liver squicks me, not for political or religious reasons). But John loves it. And his assessment is it came to the table unpleasantly cold. More the texture of lard than butter.

Would we go back? Absolutely. There's a lot of the menu that intrigued us that we'd like to explore. And TerraMar's only been open for a couple of months and still finding its footing. If you ever find yourself hungry in Walnut Creek without reservations at Va di Vi, I'd highly recommend you check out TerraMar. Start small and ask for an extra napkin... you'll enjoy the experience.

TerraMar | 1616 North Main Street, Walnut Creek | 925.472.0400

Others who've enjoyed TerraMar...
Julie and Loyd of Artisan Adventures called it "Christmas morning in my mouth"

From the archives...
In 2007 I twisted my pretzels into hangman's nooses.

Technorati Tags: Food | Restaurants | SF Bay Area | Small Plates

Jumping on the bandwagon

No, I'm not a Barefoot Blogger. Not that the idea doesn't appeal, but a girl's got to know her limitations. I'm already chronically late for Tuesdays with Dorie and the Daring Bakers. Between the two, I'm going a long way to keeping the butter and egg industries afloat in the bay area. Ina does some amazing things, but she's no stranger to saturated fat... and if I add two or three of her recipes to my queue each month my trainer and my doctor will have my head. So I'm content to sit on the sidelines and watch. Until images of Herbed Baked Eggs start appearing all over my blog reader.

Reading through the recipe, it occurs to me that I can do this one "locally," making it my first contribution to One Local Summer. Eggs from my brother's chickens. Herbs from my CSA. Cream and butter from the friendly folks at Strauss Family Creamery. And it doesn't take two days to construct.

And so Ina's eggs became the base for a couple of lazy weekend breakfasts, served simply with a couple of Boccalone's Easton Breakfast Sausage links and a wedge of organic bread toasted to sop up the eggy goodness.

From the archives...
In 2006 I went a little local with Halibut Olympia.
In 2007 I channeled my inner Shakespeare.

Technorati Tags: Food | One Local Summer | Key Ingredient: Egg

In sleep you sang to me...

...in dreams you came
that voice which calls to me and speaks my name...

and do I dream again, for now I find
the Phantom of the Opera is there, inside my mind...

In response to the challenge laid down by Ivonne (Cream Puffs in Venice), Lis (La Mia Cucina), Fran (Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie) and Shea (Whiskful), some of you emerged from your kitchens with operatic masterpieces. Divas. Prima Donnas. Leading ladies (and a couple of men). galore.

My experience was a bit different. I went through the same motions. The joconde. The simple syrup, flavored with lavender and honey. A French buttercream laced with calvados. A lavender-infused white chocolate glaze. But what emerged from *my* kitchen at the end of the ordeal was less patisserie and more... rural... rustic. Okay... ugly. More likely to dwell in the depths beneath the opera house than to star on its stage.

But like Larousse's tragic hero, my little cakes are far more than they appear on the surface. There's depth. There's character. There's flavor. My gawd, there's flavor.

A year ago I never would have tried such an elaborate endeavor. And I certainly wouldn't have posted *pictures* of less-than-stellar results. But part of the daring baker code is that participation helps us all learn and grow.

May's Daring Baker Challenge -- a little Light Opera -- is brought to us in honor and celebration of Barbara at Winos & Foodies, whose brave and graceful battle against cancer is an inspiration to all of us. My contribution reminds us to look for the light in even the darkest of days -- it's there.

Want to try this masterpiece on your own? Ivonne has the recipe posted here.
Check out almost a thousand other opera and operetta at the Daring Baker Blog Roll.
And the new Daring Baker Forum.

From the archives...
In 2006 I combed the intranets for recipes to add to my to-try list.
In 2007 I turned a sheet of leftover puff pastry into a satisfying dinner.

Technorati Tags: Food | Daring Bakers

The fat lady's napping

She's had a rough couple of weeks. But here are some images of the dress rehearsal to keep you amused until the final curtain...



Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Daring Bakers

Serving Crazy with Curry...

Devi's decided life's no longer worth living. Her sister Shobha is bored in her arranged marriage and considering an affair. Each of her parents and her brother-in-law harbor their own set of secrets. The Veturi family puts the "fun" in dysfunctional.

Who are these people and what does this have to do with food? There IS a connection...

Meena over at Hooked on Heat claims she was born with a pen in one hand and a book in the other. In my case, I'd modify that to a pen in one hand, a fork in the other, and a book open across my lap. So when she announced a Cook's Book Club where food-focused bibliophiles are encouraged to read a monthly book selection and prepare a meal inspired by its plot or its characters, I knew this was going to be the event for me. The first book club selection: Serving Crazy with Curry.

After her intrusive but well-meaning mother foils her attempt at suicide, Devi goes mute, moves in with her parents and channels her emotions into some wildly creative and elaborate meals as she winds her way through healing toward happiness. A Blueberry Curry. Cajun Prawn Biriyani. Not exactly her grandmother's Indian cuisine.

In Devi's honor, I stared with a published recipe for Tandoori Tilapia with Hearts of Palm Salad. Substituted rock cod for the tilapia because it's seasonally appropriate and on sale this week. Used goat cheese yogurt because that's what I had on hand. And unleashed my creativity in the salad, adding avocado and arugula tossed in a couple tablespoons of the marinade mixture. The end result was a little Indian, a little American... and quite tasty. I think Devi would be proud...

Technorati Tags: Food | Indian Food | Food Blogging Event | Cooks Book Club

A shoe-in for a reservation...

Saw this over at Eater SF and it amused me... perhaps because picture-less reviews of our experiences at several local eateries are coming soon to a blog near you. I like to think I'm an exception to their critique of food blog reviewers... my pictures probably suck but I'm a fair judge of what works and what doesn't... and willing to admit that my experience is just that... *my* experience, which may not be indicative of reality.

From the archives...
In 2006 I indulged in some food blog silliness.

TWD: An exercise in economic stimulus?

Or just an excuse to wander around Sur la Table like the proverbial kid in a candy store?

One of the best parts of the baking groups I belong to is the occasional opportunity to supplement my supply of kitchen equipment. A crepe pan. Six four-inch heart-shaped springforms. A jellyroll pan. And now, thanks to Tara over at Smells Like Home, a Madeleine tin joins my kitchen collection.

Hey... I consider it doing my part to stimulate the economy...

I'd never made Madeleines before and assumed since they were French they had to be ingredient rich, fussy and time consuming to make. I was somewhat surprised when I consulted the recipe and realized that they're none of the above. Ten minutes to mix a handful of ingredients together, a couple of hours in the refrigerator and another ten minutes in the oven and presto: French pastry. I can DO this! (with a step stool, my five year old nephew can do this).

I stayed pretty true to the published recipe for Dorie's Traditional Madeleines, substituting orange for lemon zest rather than running to the grocery store for a single ingredient. Like many of my fellow Doristas, I got a little overzealous in filling my Madeleine forms so the end results are more rustic than patisserie… but I'm proud of them. We're having a heat wave out here in Northern California, so I'm serving them with Ben & Jerry's (Fair Trade) Coffee Ice Cream. Yum!

Curious how other Doristas fared with this one? Check out the blogroll. Got a new Madeleine pan and want to try them out for yourself? Tara's posted the recipe.

From the archives...
In 2006 we enjoyed local food with an Italian flair.

Technorati Tags: Tuesdays with Dorie

Love is in the air...

Pasta enrobed morels. Another batch lightly battered and fried. Caramelized pineapple & blue cheese tartlettes. Roasted grapes. Her mom's simple but sensational taco dip. A yummy sounding salmon puff. Fifteen minutes browsing her blog for ideas and it was pretty clear to me that my partner for May's Taste & Create event was a young woman after my own heart *and* adventurous taste buds.

The hardest part of being paired with Kelly of Sounding my Barbaric Gulp was going to be settling on a single recipe... I want to try almost every link I followed. After much deliberation I selected a celebration of love that's easily adapted to a one person meal. I changed her Lobster Stuffed Avocado into a scrumptious crab and avocado salad.

I started with a half of a buttery smooth Haas avocado. Scooped out a bit of the center as the recipe instructed, carefully removed the peel and and pared off a bit of the bottom to create a stable and edible bowl. Chopped up the avocado 'scraps' with the other half and tossed them in a bit of meyer lemon juice to prevent browning. I browned a bit of Boccalone Guanciale in place of the bacon; wiped out the pan and toasted my pine nuts in the last bits of tasty salted pig part essence. Whisked together the garlic, lemon juice, mustard and olive oil, tossed it with the avocado, guanciale, pine nuts and other residents of the ingredient list, piled the salad high in the avocado cup, poured a glass of Viognier and grabbed a fork.

Oh. My. Gawd. Yum. With Belgian chocolate dipped strawberries and whipped cream for dessert this is going on a menu a deux in the *very* near future. Use caution people... this salad will hijack your tastebuds and steal your heart.

Thank you Kelly. I'm glad we've met. I'm sure I'll be making more from your menu. And if you ever find yourself in Northern California, you have a standing invitation to join me in the kitchen.

Technorati Tags: Food | Taste & Create | Key Ingredient: Crab | Key Ingredient: Avocado

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy (somewhat belated) Mother's Day! Stay tuned for John's dad's recipe for Belgian Waffles... and some fun stories related to it.

One (more) local summer

Lemonade stands. Swim lessons. Backyard barbecue. Catching fireflies. Warm evenings out on the porch with grandpa listening to Harry Caray's seventh inning ode to America's game. These are the sense memories from the summers of my youth. Memories flavored with the sweet tang of my grandmother's bread and butter pickles atop a barbecued brat, the tart taste of my great-aunt's strawberry rhubarb pie smothered in sweet cream from Harry's dairy cow, a creamy potato salad studded with bright yolked hard boiled eggs from Julie's chickens. Several decades before I heard the word locavore I savored favorite summer flavors from local purveyors.

Fast forward to 2008. I'm not half the gardener my grandmothers were, but I'm fortunate to live in a land of year-round farmer's markets and CSA deliveries so a farm fresh local meal is never far away. For the last couple of summers I've been inspired by One Local Summer, and I was rather disappointed to learn that Liz had closed up shop; her Pocket Farm blog and the event I enjoyed so much were a part of the past. So I was delighted when Nicole over at Farm to Philly chose to take up the torch and host One Local Summer 2008. Beginning June 1, she's asking participants to make one meal per week using locally sourced ingredients, and she'll post a weekly roundup of the results.

In anticipation of good things to come I compiled this morning's pre-workout breakfast from a handful of local ingredients: 1/2 cup (give or take) of Redwood Hill Farm Plain Goat Yogurt, a handful of Capay Organic strawberries, a teaspoon of honey and a sprinkling of blueberries, the last of the bounty from last weekend's field trip to the farmer's market. Sweet, tangy, simple, nutrition-packed and satisfying. Move aside Mary Lou... *this* is a breakfast of champions!

Technorati Tags: Food | One Local Summer

TWD: Two great tastes...

Okay so perhaps I'm showing my age, but Dorie's taken one of my favorite kid candies and turned it into a grown up treat. And then Elizabeth at Ugg Smell Food chose it as this week's TWD assignment. A creamy, dreamy, chocolate and peanut buttery Peanut Butter Torte.

I could have subtitled this post "How to Torment your Personal Trainer." Because I didn't want the cream, cream cheese, peanut butter and chocolate in this one taking up permanent residence on my waistline, I chose to make it in "mini" heart shaped torte-letts. "Mini" torte-letts that would easily serve 3 people each. And I wasted NO time shuttling them out of my refrigerator and onto the dessert menus of friends and family everywhere.

The morning after I made them, John had a standing appointment with our trainer Lisette. Lisette is our personal antidote to all of the caloric wonderment you see on this blog; she is in our lives so that our mutual love of food doesn't turn us into middle aged diabetic heart attack candidates in the making. She provides both the trade-off to a weekend of indulgence and the voice of conscience that keeps us from sliding into OVERindulgence. And she apparently has a weakness for peanut butter. A weakness John chose to exploit...by taking her a torte all her own.

Like a lot of my friends and acquaintances at the other end of Generation X, Lisette's favorite form of communication is the cryptic text message. So I came out of my Wednesday morning staff meeting with my cell phone alerting me of a new message:

OMG! U R Fired! So good!

I guess she liked it. And I'll probably pay for that on Friday...

A peanut butter & chocolate care package to the first reader who identifies the actors in my classic commercial. No fair Googling it!

From the archives...
In 2006 I found a food blogging meme and shared some linky love.

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Tuesdays with Dorie | Key Ingredient: Peanut Butter

Dorie's going to be a few days late...

Sorry to disappoint you folks, but there's just not any room on my counter (or on my thighs) for another dessert just yet. So my homage to peanut butter and chocolate will wait until the weekend, when I can share it with friends. Until then, go check out the hundreds of others available at Tuesdays with Dorie. Or try it yourself... Elizabeth's posted the recipe at Ugg Smell Food.

From the archives...
In 2006 I followed the yellow brick road to Barbara's first annual Taste of Yellow.

Technorati Tags: Food | Baking | Tuesdays with Dorie

I picked the *right* month...

...to ditch the ATM card in favor of cash.

I shop at the Danville Lunardi's not Los Gatos, the culprits only tapped a single register's ATM, and the store and its owners have been wonderful with the affected customers, but it's good to know no one's wandering around Southern California partying with access to MY checking account...

From the archives...
In 2006 I went through the first of what's now four blog remodels. If you like my new look, go check out Shauna's other amazing work.