Posts tagged ‘weekend links’

Weekend links, Feb. 27

Pizza dough ready to rise, Friday evening.

I’m a little preoccupied today by the presence of an adorable 17-month-old, but I still have a few things to pass along.

You should probably look at these ridiculously beautiful photographs of fireflies.

This cake has been on my “to make” list for a while, and I’m excited to make it today for a potluck at Brett’s office tomorrow. Also, yes – I apologize for posting this since it’s probably not strawberry season for most of you. We are super lucky to have strawberries at the farmer’s market about 11 months out of the year, and that is something I try not to take for granted.

Experimenting today also with a slightly Mexican-inspired version of my favorite banana cream pie. Cinnamon-infused and agave-sweetened pastry cream, cajeta instead of caramel sauce, cinnamon whipped cream, and Mexican red bananas. I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Now back to pretending this remote control is a telephone and giving airplane rides through the living room. Have a great week!

Weekend links, Feb. 13

Table’s all set for last night’s Indian-themed dinner party.

It’s roasted chicken season! Don’t let this scare you – get comfortable so you can always pull a roast chicken out of your back pocket. (Not literally.)  Ruth Reichl lays out the basics.

My lovely and super-talented friend Rachel just coordinated an event for New York Fashion Week. See her behind-the-scenes scoop!

Speaking of food to pull out of your back pocket – The Kitchn is compiling a list of recipes to know by heart. My list of stuff to memorize looks something like this: chocolate chip cookies, brownies, roast chicken, basic vinaigrette, granola, buttermilk scones, focaccia, pizza dough, risotto. I’m about a quarter-way there!  Any other suggestions?

I’m in the process of designing my new business cards and am a little overwhelmed when I look at how many awesome ones there are out there in the world.

I’m going to go with an emphatic “pop” on this one. Sometimes I actually am Midwestern.

A look at how one family plans a week of meals. We’re good at this sometimes, other times not so much.  Maybe once our schedule settles a bit we’ll get into a new routine.

One follow-up to last week’s links: this week I made my go-to granola with coconut oil instead of olive oil. Verdict: amazingly delicious, but super rich. I find it best in smaller quantities as a snack (rather than in a big bowl for breakfast), or mixed with other cereal (Trader Joe’s bran cereal is a winner!). Perfect for granola gifts, which I always make a tad bit sweeter or richer.

Have a great week! I’ve got a super busy and hectic one ahead of me, but it includes lots of things to look forward to: Valentine’s Day, charcuterie week in cooking class, finishing our croissants in baking class, a milk steaming/latte art class at Intelligentsia, teaching three of my favorite classes, doing my favorite lecture in a class at Pomona, happy hour with one of my favorite ladies, and a visit from an old friend … so I think I’ll make it through.

Weekend Links, Jan. 23

We ended the weekend very well. Finally had the neighbors over for dinner and thoroughly enjoyed a big platter of our favorite Zuni Café roasted chicken and bread salad, which I continue to maintain is one of the best dinner party items of all time.

We ended the meal very well, too, with a new cake creation. Chocolate layer cake filled with peanut butter Italian buttercream, frosted with vanilla Italian buttercream and topped with crushed honey roasted peanuts.  This one’s a keeper.

Speaking of chocolate cakes, maybe I’ll try this next time. I love the tang of buttermilk, sour cream, or vinegar in a chocolate cake, so why not?

A really fantastic guide to selecting knives for use at home.

Quarterlies are the new monthlies. I wouldn’t say no to a subscription to any of these.

Freezing balled cookie dough is indeed an awesome way to have freshly baked cookies just a few at a time. Patience is not a virtue I tend to exhibit, but I can try my best (or I could just eat frozen dough …)

Sustainable seafood is incredibly important, and every day it’s getting easier to find!

I spend nowhere near 20 minutes cleaning my kitchen every day, but this is nonetheless a really helpful guide to keeping my most heavily used room a little less of a mess.

And I would love to take tons of free, interesting classes about food and nutrition. Any day now, I’ll start that …

That’s all for now – we’re headed to San Diego for three days of tacos, microbrews, and Extraordinary Desserts. Have a great week, everyone!

Weekend Links, Jan. 16

Earlier this weekend I posted my new Bowen Appétit Bar Guide – a detailed guide to developing a home bar for classic and creative cocktail-making! That took up most of my attention this week, but I’m working on a few favorite recipes today and have plenty of links from the week to keep you going in the meantime …

Bourbon for breakfast? It’s like they read my mind. Kentucky breakfast cocktails. Just try not to run into anyone you know for a little while afterward, because it’s quite a start to your day.

How to know if you can trust a politician? Ask if he travels with his own homegrown meat.

Swedish tree hotel. I’d stay there.

I love lists, and I love this handy guide to what “every house needs” – in the kitchen, the bathroom, the guest room, the garage, etc. If you’ll be registering for a wedding soon, take a look at this!

Super helpful tips for making perfect muffins at home.

Easy homemade ravioli with a surprise pasta alternative. Brilliant!

I love LOVE the art of creative, gorgeous restaurant menus.

Are you interested in learning how to sew? This ongoing series is a super-informative and easy-to-understand intro to sewing at home.

Peanut butter banana toast is one of my favorite go-to breakfasts. Never thought about making them even better …

This post makes me both incredibly hopeful and totally terrified. Meg confirms for me that I’m doing the right thing in making a pretty big life transition – but also makes me realize how much work I have ahead of me. Oh, boy.

One last thing: just made this for lunch and updated the post with new pictures. Eggs fried in bacon drippings from yesterday’s breakfast and a few freshly baked sourdough rolls made it absolutely perfect, in a slightly eggs benedict sort of way. Kale masquerading as eggs benedict. Yes.

Have a great week, everyone!