garlics

One Bowl Chocolate Cake

This recipe is from Martha. It's one of the best chocolate cakes I've ever had from scratch. And it's the easiest one, too.

The first time I made it I followed the frosting recipe, but the second time I used 1 stick of butter, 8 oz cream cheese, and about 1/2 c less powdered sugar. I thought it tasted too buttery (I know, as if that's possible, right?) and needed more of a cream cheesy taste.

Top image from Martha.

Bruchetta

I'm pretty sure I've posted about bruchetta before. But that was a while ago. So here it is again.

For the topping: Roma tomatoes, garlic, basil, olive oil, s+p.
For the bread: Brush both sides of thinly sliced baguette with olive oil and rub each side with a piece of raw garlic clove. Sprikle with a little salt. Broil on top rack of oven for 1-2 mins each side, then top with...the topping.

Potato Leek Soup with Bacon & Cheddar

recipe from Fine Cooking.

It's quite good.

consider the leek.

Boardwalk Treasury

More pretty Boardwalk-ish photos like this here.

Image from Depius' shop on Etsy.

Pear Galette

recipe from Martha.

Did you know that Galette and Crostata are the same thing - Galette is French and Crostata is Italian? I just found that out today. Thanks, Martha.

I made them

...those roasted parmesan parsnip fry things. They were pretty good. I think they needed more salt. And I'm thinking the sweetness of the parsnip was almost too sweet in contrast with the saltiness of the parmesan...but they were still really good. And the SMELL. Ahh.

nina smiles

Roasted Parmesan Parsnips

um, yeah. These are on my list of things to make. Recipe & image from The Sprouted Kitchen.

chai

I'm still looking for the perfect chai recipe. The last one I tried was from The Sprouted Kitchen, and it was pretty good (although I didn't like the nutmeg in it). I like how she tells you to smash the peppercorns, cardamom and cloves - that made it nice and spicey. But the big chai flavor just wasn't there. Maybe I need fresher tea or to brew it longer...anyone have a perfect chai recipe to share?

I got a couple good pics in the process, though!

my favorite Gina picture

This was taken about two hours after she was born.

peaches

before I made them into an unfortunate rum-poached "soup." So sad.