Diving Into...

My new book just arrived - can't wait to devour what I hear is a truly delectable treat of a read! Such great new (food and otherwise..) literature out now. I must catch up! For more information, see the author, Kathleen Flinn's site here.

Lemon Coconut

I must admit, I got on the cupcake bandwagon early on. Weddings, bakeries, books & articles all centered around the lovely cupcake. What's not to love? Of late, however, my tastes have turned to not actually eating the cupcake, but admiring from afar - for no good reason other than that I must have been on cupcake overload. Oh what a fool I have been...

Coming across the literally magical combination of lemon and coconut is a revelation. But in a cupcake, it's really perfection. Here are a couple of recipies; one with lemon curd in the center, and a good old fashioned lemon cake with coconut creme. Happy Friday!

Photos via measured memory

If Johnny Cash drank hot chocolate.

Must be all the snow, but I have been really feeling the need to cuddle up with hot cocoa lately. Preferably with marshmallows and Cinnamon. Upon further research into recipes for spicy hot chocolate, giving homemade gifts of Oaxacan hot cocoa mix, and visiting Rick Bayless' Xoco for drinking chocolates - there is so much more to this 'cuddle beverage'.

Canelle et Vanille Churros with Spiced Chocolate Bisque (recipe here)

Lucid Food Spiced Chai Hot Chocolate (recipe here)

Vosges Haut Chocolate Aztec Elixir Drinking Chocolate

A girl can dream can't she - that a plate of hot churros and spiced chocolate bisque would be brought to her by a roaring fire after a long day of ice skating, sledding, skiing...all in a long winter day's work.

New decade!

We have successfully recovered from what was a lovely New Year's Eve - ending what was not our favorite year to date. The Scandinavian feast went well, although our resident seven year old "kid" Buddy the border collie mix had a memorable beginning to the new decade with a full belly of Gravlax. We decided that the Omega-3's were good for him and left it at that. Lucky dog.

We did manage to push through and enjoy ourselves with a fantastic Rose Cremant, Quilette oysters and blackberries. Very civilized with some CNN times square coverage, a full blue moon, sparklers, and Van Morrison.

The first weekend of the year was spent with a major organization & cleaning session of our terribly over sized closed (it has it's pros and cons). It had become somewhat of a mess to say the least, and it was time to clean it up - and we did....for the whole weekend, with a few televised sports games intermixed, joy. Since 2009 was not our 'fave' year as I mentioned, we decided that a jambalaya with smoked chicken sausage, stewed tomatoes, gala apple, onion, amber ale, and of course the good luck of black eyed peas said to bring prosperity in the new year and was perfect for the chilly weekend.

So all in all, a great start to the new year, the new decade. We all need any luck we can get these days, but it's enough to just be - which is a lot easier with a clean closet!

posted by vanessa

Scandinavian New Year

In the past couple of years, it's become a tradition of ours to spend New Year's Eve cuddled at home leisurely sipping some bubbles and making a special dish we wouldn't normally think to make. In choosing a recipe, we also have come to embrace the theme and/or tradition of the culture in which the dish comes. Last year we went Greek with Moussaka paired with Retsina wine, made from pine tree resin (it was a valiant effort, but we quickly switched to some nice bubbly Cremant). However, the full on bechamel, lamb, roasted eggplant moussaka I can still taste it a year later, and in truth, although time consuming and labor intensive, it was really fun to make.

This year, without knowing it, we tossed around both our English and Danish backgrounds for recipe ideas. While enjoying a traditional Harvey's Bristol Cream with my father on Christmas, we decided on a traditional Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pudding English feast would be the choice. - not to mention our fondness for Jamie Oliver. As the day has drawn near - we have been hemming and hawing, not getting too excited about the whole thing. Then it really came to us - a Scandinavian feast! Perfect for the full moon that falls on this New Year's Eve. Light, fresh and clean. Truly a great way to start off the new decade. While the actual dishes have not been determined, we have turned to one of our fave PBS cooking shows, Scand Cooks for some inspiration. Stay tuned and Godt Nytår!

Images via The Scandinavian Cookbook

Mid-Summer's Dream

With the cool summer we've had, I suppose we could be forgiven for our low expectations regarding the garden. Plants seemed as though they'd never grow taller than our knees, vines would creep along centimeter by centimeter. I would say inch by inch, but it was not that fast. We coaxed them along, even when our new neighbor seemed bent on destroying our garden by tuckpointing his entire building. We replaced soil, adjusted pH levels, added manure (which made us extremely popular with the rest of the tenants). It did not seem promising. At the beginning of July, however, the first blossoms started to appear, and it seemed as though we might get a little reward for our efforts.


It was shocking though to see peppers go from blossom to this:


in only a couple of weeks. Needless to say, we are excited that there is fruit sitting on all of our plants, from the first tomato at marble size:


to clusters waiting for the ripening sun, and a nice caprese salad.


Maybe the cool weather made our plants hardier, maybe it just made us appreciate what actually has come to fruition. Regardless, we now know patience is a virtue when dealing with our garden. I will not underestimate the power of sun, soil and seed again. And if you're lucky enough, we will be sharing seeds with all of you this winter. Save a sunny spot in the yard.

Summer Coolers

We have talked amongst ourselves about how the internet is full of drink blogs, and while we enjoy our drinks, our site isn't dedicated to them. Thank goodness, as there is only so much our livers could handle. Plus, I get very ornery after a couple, so we try to limit our experimentation.

Two that we have been very fond of this summer are very different in their origins. First, the Pimm's Cup, which has seen a splendid resurgence thanks to people rediscovering the pleasure of liqueurs and light mixers. It might be the easiest to make, but with as much complexity to the flavor profile as you want. Our recipe is as follows:

highball glass
ice
2 1/2 oz Pimm's No.1
juice of 1/2 lemon
Seven-Up
cucumber spear

The nice thing about this recipe is the flexibility. I like a touch more Pimms, Ness prefers a little more lemon. Easy to accommodate. Thanks to my Mom for insisting I try this when I was 21. It has been her summer standard for years, though just how many years is Top Secret.

Our second favorite was born out of necessity. Ness needed something refreshing and didn't want another gin & tonic. Not that she has those to excess, nor are they a tired drink; she merely wanted something she hadn't had before. Looking in the fridge, we had recently purchased Trader Joe's Pomegranate Limeade. Possibly the easiest and freshest mixer we have ever found. Mint from the yard, soda, Hendrick's gin: the birth of Ness' Mint Lemonade Mixer.

rocks glass
ice
fresh mint
2 oz gin
3 oz TJ's Pomegranate Limeade top
w/ soda
lime wedge

Again, flexibility with the mixer, but this drink isn't rocket science; it's just really tasty. We have also talked about how it is probably a sin of the worst magnitude to be using Hendrick's in a drink like this. Well, our justification is that is seems to be the only gin we have around! Now to see if the garden will provide us with more cucumbers and mint so we don't run out of essential supplies.