This is overdue, but who cares? Cake is cake. I made a birthday cake late last year, for my lovely sous-chef, editor, and boyfriend. (One of those roles came before the other two, not vice versa. I’m not that kind of girl.) I demand inspiration each year for this cake. You may remember last year’s [...]
In case anyone was wondering – and you were all wondering, right? – this is the birthday cake I made for my boyfriend this year. It’s a tradition that I ask him every year what kind of cake he wants, and in return he gives me not a flavor, but a fairly broad category that [...]
We recently invited a dear friend over for dinner, a dear friend who is going a-courtin’ with a sweet new fellow. This fellow happens to be vegan, which isn’t an issue until you invite him over for your annual Kentucky Derby party and realize three hours and a few mint juleps into the party that [...]
And finally, we come to this. I was well pleased with myself for figuring this one out, I must say. When I decided to cook a special Valentine’s Day dinner for my Special Lady, Ruth Bourdain, there was one ingredient I simply had to include: smoked tangerine zest. (She kinda has a thing for it.) [...]
Every year, I ask my boyfriend not if he wants an elaborate, ridiculous, complicated, over-the-top birthday cake, but what kind. As I was trained as a pastry chef, the chance for me to flex my pâtissière muscles once a year is irresistible. I dive into the research stage like a student studying for final exams, [...]
Oh, it’s one of my favorite times of year. I’ll admit it, I just love Christmas. The weather isn’t too bad yet, there’s sparkly lights everywhere, and the Chicago Transit Authority runs a holiday train with a Santa and tinsel and candy canes and everything! Everybody – but everybody – on that train has a [...]
To explain how I discovered the Best Sandwich Cookie Probably Ever, I must begin with soccer. For those of you who aren’t big into soccer, allow me to explain: it’s World Cup time. To put it in more familiarly American terms, imagine if the Super Bowl were held only once every four years. And imagine [...]
(This is part three of a three-part collaboration with Cybelle Codish and Taryn Bickley. For part one, click here. For part two, click here.) As soon as Spring breaks here in Chicago, something amazing happens. Aside from the trees greening themselves overnight, and the frenzied blooming of flowers, there’s a sea change of a decidedly more human [...]
This is the second of a three-part collaboration with Cybelle Codish and Taryn Bickley. For the first part, click here. For the third part, click here. Quinoa, for those of you not familiar with it, is an ancient grain (well, pseudocereal, to be exact) from South America. Pronounced “KEEN-wa”, it’s a rare plant source of [...]
