Raspberry Lemon Pudding Cakes

Josh, Rachel and I went to Grandma's house the other day, and while we were having lunch, I found this recipe in one of her magazines. I thought it would be a nice, afternoon desert, and she had all the ingredients, so I whipped them up.

The North American Organic Beer Festival

Last weekend, Phil was in town, and we made it over to Overlook Park for the North American Organic Beer Festival with my friends Saba, Owen and Kira. While there were a lot of beers (FULL beer list here), and we tried as many as we could, there were a couple that really stood out. The Widmer, Teaser XPA was innnnnnncredibly refreshing and crisp, and had a ton of floral aromas that I normally don't like, but fell in love with. So that was the light - the dark one that I really loved was from Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing. Their People's Porter was delicious, though I don't remember why. I just kept a notepad of all the beers I tried, and rated them on a scale of 1-10, and I gave that particular porter an 8, so I must have really enjoyed it.

Kitty!

I wasn't really going to share this creepy catness with everyone, but Phil saw it and said, "That belongs on the internet!" So here it is. Heheheh.

No Knead Bread

For a long time, I didn't think about Jake's No Knead Bread post. But then Rachel moved in. She brought her cast iron dutch oven, and overnight, there was suddenly this incredible, hard crust, chewy inside, big holed boule in our kitchen. Surely it was store bought? No! This is the infamous no knead bread! Holy cow! For years, I have tried wetter breads in a refrigerated rise overnight, putting a cup of water in the oven, tossing water on the element in the oven (shhh, don't tell the land lords), baking on a stone, baking in a loaf pan, and then finally that bread machine incident when I gave up on doing all the labor. Searching for the perfect homemade crust is not easy when you're accustomed to the product of large, professional ovens, and years of professional baking experience. But now you can have it all. Cheaply, and simply!

This article in the NY Times mentions a bit about the molecular theory behind this bread, which you can explore more in depth if you happen to own a copy of On Food and Cooking (thank you PK!). Watch a video of Jim Lahey (the recipe creator) making this bread with a total of FIVE MINUTES of labor. Now go make some!

Grandma Eileen's 90th Birthday

Mom's Birthday

If you know me, you know I loooooove surprises. Surprising other people, that is. For mom's birthday, we had Josh AND Wes in town, and a homecooked spread out at Pat's with Grandma, Doug, Janet, Kenzie, and Max to join us. The sun even came out, the mosquitos left us alone, and it was a beautiful day. Recipes, and more food shots to come...

Road Trip!