I was asked to participate in a Get Baked Google Hangout Online show about pies because I’ve co-produced the event Pie Party Potluck LIVE for the past few years! My theory is it’s best to talk about pie when you’re eating pie so I had to make pie. What to make? I settled on Apple Cherry Ginger hand pies because they bring the CUTE! If people have to look at a pie that they don’t get to eat, it’s wise to make them adorable.
People who love to cook and cook well don’t get invited to home-cooked dinners very often, unless it’s by other people who love to cook. I’ve had many of my friends tell me that they’d never invite me to dinner. I’ve told them not to worry about me. Don’t be intimidated. They laugh uncomfortably and make reservations.
So I make it my business to have a lot of friends who love to cook. Whether you love to cook or not, if you love eating, it’s a true gift to be invited to dinner.
On the last day of Chinese New Year, my friend Kian of the blog, Red Cook: Adventures from a Chinese Home Kitchen, had us over for a banquet he called Spring Awakening Dinner.
Do you ever want to just smash something? When I was a little girl I was rather partial to a temper tantrum. I’d get so angry, I’d simply want to throw things and hear them smash. There is something so satisfying about the sound and it’s a nice way to get one’s aggression out. Are you angry about the never-ending winter or the coming of spring? You can take your aggressions out on the cucumbers in this salad… they don’t seem to mind.
There was a time when you had to have egg rolls on the menu in New York Chinese restaurant like it was the law of the land. These days, I have to hunt them or make them.
Please drink for a good cause. If I told you there was a line of wines that you can buy to help support no-kill shelters like the North Shore Animal League you might think that’s a nice gimmick to sell some crappy wine. However, Château La Paws from Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines is actually a quite drinkable selection of reasonably priced wines. I went to the launch the other night where I cuddled puppies and met Effie, the only dog from the 12 dogs that were photographed for the wine labels for the Château La Paws line that has yet to be adopted. She is a sweetie and deserves a forever home.
We had some hot dog onions when I was a kid. Unfortunately, the onions you get from a New York City dirty “dawg” cart, these days, literally pale by comparison. II made a recipe for NYC Style Smoked Paprika Hot Dog Onions that not only brings back memories from my Big Apple childhood, but surpasses them with the addition of smoked paprika. We were lucky to have plain paprika on our spice rack when I was a kid. It had one purpose, sprinkling on deviled eggs to make them look fancy.
There are six reasons beyond, how gorgeous and delicious this Beet Cured Salmon Gravlax is, to make it. I should be making it this weekend for the Oscars because I can totally picture George Clooney eating it naked…
When you live in another country for a long time and you move back home, you occasionally pang for things you could only get there. I missed Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef Rolls. I’ve never seen them on a New York Vietnamese menu. They are finger-sized, leaf wrapped, parcels of lemongrass scented meat, studded with crunchy water chestnuts and dusted with peanuts. Here’s my recipe.
I first had a version of this Endive Salad with Apples, Blue Cheese and Candied Hazelnuts at the Dominion Square Tavern, in Montreal, on Boxing Day. On their menu, it’s called a “Witlof and Blue Cheese Salad” since witlof is the English word for endive. When I tasted it, I thought, “I must make this!” and never did. I tasted it again in the summer of 2014 and finally made it for a French themed dinner party in October.
When life gives you lemons make lemonade or divine Coconut Lemon Curd Shortbread Cookies.
Life has been giving me lemons every morning for months. I get up and the first thing I have is twelve ounces of warm water with lemon and honey. [Cue my mom’s voice.] “It’s good for you”, followed with a litany of reasons why “THEY,” say I should drink it. I’m not going into that here because Google.
I don’t like it. I hated it when it was just lemon and water. Lately, it’s semi-improved by the addition of raw, local honey (“THEY” said the honey was good too). It certainly had not grown on me.
I hate “THEM”. Why can’t “THEY” just mind their own business?