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Coffee Cookies

September 26, 2014

Do you love coffee? Yeah, me too. I don’t mean that in a casual “yeah, I love coffee” kind of way; I. Love. Coffee. We’re hot & heavy. It’s a torrid love affair that has no end in sight. I once (foolishly) thought I should give up coffee… Why, you ask? Well, I thought I should get off caffeine, or rather it should get out of me. Then, after 3 absolutely miserable weeks, I had a revelation of sorts. I don’t really drink (I’m usually a 2 drink max kind of girl), I’ve never had a cigarette in my entire life and I don’t do drugs. Pretty boring, I know… So, here’s where I decided that coffee and I are lifelong partners; I don’t do anything else! Everyone has a vice and dammit, coffee was going to be mine!

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Key Lime Pie from scratch

May 1, 2013

Key Lime Pie. These three little words make me sit on the edge of my seat in anticipation. In my book, it is one of the most perfect desserts. The fact that it is ridiculously easy gives it major bonus points.
Growing up, I don’t think I’d even heard of key lime pie. We had apple, peach, strawberry-rhubarb, blueberry, pecan, pumpkin, lemon meringue, chocolate cream, but never key lime.

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Blushing Valentine

January 21, 2013

I know it may seem a bit early to start thinking of Valentine’s Day, but it’s only a few short weeks away. If you like to make a special treat on Valentine’s Day, this is the cake.
It is a towering 4 layers high and lovingly encased in the most delicate rose-scented buttercream. It is outrageously good and worth every. single. calorie.

This is also the type of cake that could easily become adorned with say a few candles for a little celebratory birthday party? The colors could be swapped out for any, the flavor of the buttercream could be adapted to whatever you’d like it to be. Using a vanilla base for both cake and buttercream allows you the flexibility to change colors and flavors to suit the occasion or intended recipient….

Dutch Puff Pancake – My Momma’s Recipe

May 11, 2012

My First Love.

Look at that gorgeous kid… and the baby isn’t bad either! That woman in the pic still makes the best dutch puff pancake in the Western Hemisphere.

The first love of my life: my Mom. As little girls, we often play “house” and pretend to be Mommies to our baby dolls and try to emulate our own mothers. As teenagers, we are less inclined to compare ourselves to our Moms. As adults we come full circle, realizing that “Mom” is a person just like we are who had worries and struggles, peacefulness and triumphs . Mine, like most, had to balance job and kids, errands, our activities, laundry, blah, blah, blah… and yet still found time to take us to movies or little excursions. We didn’t have much, but we didn’t know it. She made the most of what we did have and rarely did we feel like we had “gone without”.

One of my all-time favorite memories, which my Mom & I still giggle about to this day… Ok, this is going to date me a little, but you regular readers already know I turned 40 recently, so here we go:

Do you remember that show from the ’80’s, “V”?! It was about alien-lizards disguised as humans living on Earth. We LOVED this show. It sounds ridiculous, but it was the early ’80’s…
Well, one night we were in our Chevrolet Chevette hatchback (yes, a Chevette hatchback… named “Skeeter”, btw) and there were radio and television towers with flashing red lights on the road. They looked like they were so high up in the sky to me as a little kid… like they could have been lights on an alien spacecraft!

All of a sudden, my Mom hunches down over the steering wheel and starts saying “Oh no, they’re gonna get us!” Well, you can imagine our reaction! My brother & I started screeching & laughing like crazy and she just kept egging us on…

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And the award goes to…

February 19, 2012

Picture it… Ohio, early 1980’s. A girl and her Momma, glued to the television watching movie stars walk the red carpet. We used to watch the Oscars as if it were a runway show during fashion week. I feigned interest in the actual awards part of the show, but to be perfectly honest I didn’t really care who won “Best Picture”. My Mom was letting me stay up past my bedtime and that was award enough for me.

I have friends who host elaborate Oscar parties and I must admit the thought of it has crossed my mind on more than a few occasions, but considering the size of my shoebox apartment it doesn’t seem to be an option this year.

However, just because I won’t be hosting a gathering doesn’t mean I can’t make some good party food…

I tried to keep it fairly simple, with options that could be served warm or at room temperature. These can also be transported fairly easily if you are a guest bringing a little something to the festivities.

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17th of May

May 17, 2011

These days my neighborhood is primarily Italian, but rewind a couple of decades and you’d see a very different picture. A few blocks over from where I live now used to be Scandinavian, specifically Norwegian. The streets used to be lined with Norwegian bakeries, stores, restaurants, etc. but unfortunately the majority of these have disappeared. However, all is not lost… every year there is a 17th of May parade, which is a national holiday in Norway marking the signing of their constitution and the best part (besides the food) are the people dressed in traditional clothing showing off their Norwegian pride.

photos courtesy of Keith Alexander

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