Another Birthday Cake…

Happy almost Thanksgiving, peoples. This past Sunday was my lovely sister Genevieve’s birthday and I made her a cake. Because I’m the one who makes the cakes.

Three Cheese Souffle

Sunday my good friend Eileen and her boyfriend Grant joined Eric and me in the kitchen. Eileen recently took a cooking class on souffles at Flavour Cooking School in Forest Park, IL and was anxious to practice what she learned.

Noodles & Kabobs

Sometimes I’ve just gotta have noodles. Noodles are different from pasta. Pasta is Italian; noodles mean a trip to Mitsuwa. I’ve been meaning to try that new noodle bar, Urban Belly, but till then I suppose I’ll have to settle for homemade.

The Cheese Board: Humboldt Fog

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Humboldt Fog. Remember Sarah from Dessert Day? Well she and I used to work together behind a gourmet cheese counter- best job ever, by the way -and just because we don’t work there anymore doesn’t mean all that knowledge should go to waste. A lot of people are mystified by cheese and pairing it with wines, so we’re here to help you out. Humboldt Fog seemed a fairly obvious choice for our first cheese since it’s one we both adore.

A Birthday Dinner

Sunday was my birthday. I am not opposed to birthdays. I like hearing the phrase, “Whatever you want- it’s your birthday!” Since we did the family thing last weekend (see terrible birthday cake) Sunday I spent the day with Eric. He took me to the Brookfield Zoo where I walked around in a tiara and asked every animal if it wanted a jelly bean. None of them said yes, so none of them got one. Although I have to say, those meerkats got pretty close.

The Publican and A Birthday Cake

My older brother, Jeremy, was in town from Colorado this weekend, and we celebrated my week-early birthday on Sunday. More importantly on Saturday my sister, Genevieve, suggested that she, hubby Alex, Jeremy and I all go to dinner at The Publican.

Apple Dumplings & Apple-Cheddar Turnovers

Saturday my family and I went apple picking. There are a lot of orchards and farms about an hour northwest of Chicago near a town called Woodstock. We started out at a big commercial farm and after checking out the prices and everything we decided it wasn’t exactly what we were looking for. We ended up at a little orchard that was literally in someone’s backyard. The whole thing was family-run and very peaceful and quaint. It was perfect.

A Day of Desserts

This past Sunday my dear friend Sarah and I decided we should indulge our sweet teeth, which I sometimes think are the only kind of teeth we have. Sarah is a longtime friend, ex-schoolmate, ex-coworker, and all around good time. We’ve often come together in the kitchen to create masterpieces and messes, and Sunday was no exception.

We each had two recipes to make. I decided on Apple Rhubarb Crisp and Pumpkin Cupcakes with Ginger Mousse filling and Cream Cheese Frosting, and Sarah chose Oreo Truffles and Vanilla Panna Cotta with Strawberries and Basil Syrup. Impressive-sounding aren’t they?

Ginger Cookies and Winter Squash Soup

Greetings, all. I must apologize for the slight delay in getting a new post up. My nine-year old iMac only has internet access because my genius IT friends have jury rigged it to connect to my house’s wireless network. Unfortunately, every time the power is cut to my router (ie. if it comes unplugged or the power goes out) the internet becomes stubborn and requires a little coaxing to come back to life. Luckily, my wonderful friend Chris came and fixed it and was rewarded with cookies.

Blueberry Muffins and Lemon Curd

Recently I realized that I’ve been doing dinner and dessert pretty exclusively, and I decided it was time to change it up a bit. I love breakfast food. When I lived in London breakfast was my favorite meal of the day, probably because English breakfasts are just so darn good. When I’m eating breakfast in the States, though, I definitely lean toward the sweet, and I’ll pass up the world’s most beautiful omelet for a lovely fluffy stack of pancakes with real maple syrup. Today I decided to do something a little different, and while Eric made hash browns and sauteed ham steaks with brown sugar I made lemon curd and blueberry muffins from scratch.

Lemon curd is one of those things that sounds impressive and complex, but is actually really easy to make (but don’t tell your friends- it’s better they just think you’re a kitchen genius). The only note I have on this recipe is to strain it when it’s done cooking to eliminate the inevitable little egg bits. It comes out smooth and thick and oh-so-lemony.

The blueberry muffin recipe I used was a little out of the ordinary for me. It’s an Emeril recipe. I’ve never used one of his recipes before, but I must admit these muffins were delicious. They were extremely light and fluffy, not dense and dry like a lot of muffins can be. I used all blueberries instead of a raspberry-blueberry combo and my muffins came out gorgeous and delicious. When I was making the streusel topping I realized I didn’t have any walnuts (a rare occurrence as I am usually obsessively organized) so I ended up using chopped almonds instead and it tasted rather nice if I do say so myself. Sort of toasty, like almonds will be after being roasted in a 400° oven for 20 minutes. The cook time in this recipe was pretty dead on too, a baking plus of which I’m always appreciative. 

The lemon curd went particularly well with these muffins because there’s lemon zest in both the muffin batter and the streusel topping- and because blueberries and lemons are yummy together. But I was trying to get it all done in a rather timely manner and I won’t pretend that my thumb didn’t get zested along with the lemons. Ouch. Oh well. Completely worth it.

So next time your friends are in the mood for brunch, whip up some lemon curd and a batch of fluffy muffins. And if they’re still not impressed, just show them your zested thumbs and act faint like you’ve lost a lot of blood. The compliments will pour in, and you might get out of cleanup duty. It’s never actually worked for me, but you should try it anyway. Let me know how it goes.

Till next time- never underestimate your microplane!