The Event: Iron Chef Potluck (ingredient: “spirits”) The Recipe: Guinness Cupcakes with Irish Whiskey Ganache Filling and Baileys Buttercream The Verdict: while I announced the following on Twitter pre-baking… “Baking cupcakes filled w/whiskey ganache & topped w/Baileys buttercream. In other words, cupcakes I’m 98% sure I won’t eat. #5YearOldPalate” …I ended up eating…uh, several. Cake:…
Preparing My Heart for Christ with Belgian Chocolate I’m sure you’ve all been wondering how I spent my free time in November. I spent it making advent calendars for me and Dave. Heads up for the devout among you, this has nothing to do with preparing my heart for the coming of Christ and everything…
Praise all that is holy, this year’s buckeye making is complete. Buckeye rolling movie: Crazy Stupid Love (I’d give it maybe 2.5 stars? It was good for what it was, silly entertainment to keep my mind off the monotony of rolling buckeyes.) Yield: 170 (new record) Elapsed Time: 2 hours, 40 minutes to roll. Almost…
The future of the corner bakery is at risk. The cupcake craze, in particular, has peaked. Baking at home will never be the same. You may be curious how I know these things. Well, Sunday I saw this George Foreman cupcake grill at Wegmans and then I knew. This is a game changer, people. Cupcake-making…
Are any of your family members living away from home? Do you imagine them lonely and longing for homemade treats? Maybe you want to send them a care package, but don’t know what might ship well? Perhaps you are lazy, but want to seem giving and skilled at baking? Make Toblerone Shortbread! I settled on…
It was a delicacy we had only once, but my family still speaks of it decades later. Mom’s cauliflower goo was before its time. Today she could call it “cauliflower mash,” an ingenious carb substitute! In my pre-FoodTV youth, overcooked (and/or canned) vegetables were the norm. My family hadn’t even tried Chinese take-out yet. But…
Dave and I went to a members-only celebration for the Kids’ Farm at the National Zoo last Sunday morning. We like the zoo, but it was supposed to be 8 million degrees that day and Kids’ Farm implied many, many children. But there would also be free Georgetown Cupcakes. We have our priorities. We stood…
Years ago, I got some sample Mr. Food ooh-so-easy Recipe Collection cards in the mail. The free cards were supposed to entice me to purchase the rest, but I simply kept the one for Rocky Road Fudge Brownies. I remember liking them a lot and they were quite easy to make since the recipe used…
Dave decided we shouldn’t go to his family reunion empty handed. I have no clue about the etiquette for this shit, but I tried to talk him out of it. We don’t have time in the evenings during the week, especially the week before we take vacation days. Whatever we bring also has to travel…
Before I got married, my work colleagues threw me a party. One of the gifts was an insulated picnic backpack, which we never used until years later, after we adopted Chuck. Our first Memorial Day with Chuck, Dave suggested we have a picnic by the Potomac. The first picnic consisted of a very long walk…