My friend Irvin, of Eat The Love, sent me a text saying “I made this and it’s so you”. I tapped on the attached photo and saw luscious rosemary lemon bread. He was right, it was so me.
My feelings about citrus are well-documented and I love putting rosemary in sweet baked goods. It’s nice to have a friend who knows me so well.
So Irvin and I got to talking, and he came up with this really cool idea… What it we each made our own version of a recipe? Like if I put my spin on his Lemon Rosemary Bread and then we each did a version of a recipe that I love. Then, what if we posted those recipes on the same day? You can’t help but love this guy. He’s adorable and super smart.
So I set to work thinking about what I’d like to do with my rosemary lemon bread. We based the recipe off of this fantastic looking lemon loaf from Simply Recipes. I knew mine would be gluten-free, extra lemony, and full of fresh chopped rosemary from my backyard. I’d go for an unprocessed sweetner and oh, I’d add some buttermilk for sure.
So what happened when this little loaf came out of the oven? A delicious little cake happened, that’s what. It’s got a tender crumb, but it’s also hearty- more of a sweet quick bread than a cake. The coconut palm sugar give a dark molassesey taste and … get the recipe
When I was about six, I worked it out in my head that if August 4th was my birthday, February 2nd must be my half birthday. While I wasn’t exactly right about that, you’ve got to love the logic behind it. Fast forward 20 years to August 28th, 1999- that was the day I met my future husband. So, by my six year old logic, February 14th is our “halfiversary” and we celebrate it accordingly.
I am one of those people that adores Valentine’s Day- not the stuffed teddy bears with “I Love You” t-shirts and not the cheesy Hallmark cards. Honestly, it’s not even the excessive amounts of chocolate we’re allowed to consume. I love Valentine’s Day because it’s one day, set aside each year, to celebrate love in all its many forms.
Sharing homemade foods is one of my favorite ways to express my love for friends, family, and my man. I feel such joy when I get to see someone I care for savoring a bite of something I’ve made for them.
Two years ago, Joshua and I celebrated Valentine’s Day with heart-themed dinner (quite literally). Last year, I surprised him with vegan strawberry cashew smoothies and champagne and roses caramel. This year, I’ve created an amazing vegan treat, a decidedly decadent one. You see, Joshua loves chocolate—when I say “love” I mean it. When he was a boy, he could sniff out the chocolate bars his dad tried to hide in a hidden jacket pocket. … get the recipe
My grandmother was 44 years old when she gave birth to my mother. Her husband was 27. They met in Paris, on a train, after the war. She had been an artist’s model, he’d been a soldier in the French underground.
He spoke to his friend in English, saying “She’s a looker, too bad about her legs” She chuckled, she was famous for her legs. “You speak English.” he said, a little surprised. “I am English.” she replied- for the sake of simplicity.
He introduced himself and began to tell her the story of how he’d been staying in Paris with another English girl and her husband. He mentioned the girl’s name– Gilda. “Gilda,” my grandmother informed him, “is my sister.”
And so it began, a love story (of sorts) that began in Paris in 1946, came through New York ten years later with a child in tow, landed in San Francisco then scooted a few miles south to a sleepy suburb called San Bruno specifically a subdivision called Crestmoor.
Crestmoor with the black and white tiled floors, and the gold flocked wallpaper, with the stone foyer, and my friend, the weepy willow. The little ranch house which was 5831.79 miles from Paris but must have seemed one million miles away to my immigrant family. So much of my early life is tied to that place, the place where my grandmother lived, larger than life, full of warmth and life and laughter. Equal parts well-mannered Brit and fiery Italian/Frenchwoman. She … get the recipe
I’ve been so excited for this day to arrive- for two reasons. Firstly, the amazing ladies over at Love Feast Table invited me to share a cookie recipe for their Holiday Cookie Exchange. I worked on this gluten-free citrus sugar cookie for a couple of weekends, and I really just love it. I want you to have the recipe, and to bake it, and eat it, and share it with friends. Secondly, Love Feast Table sent me the most beautiful recipe journal to give away to one of you!
Just head over to Love Feast Table, check out my cookies (does that sound naughty?) and follow the instructions there to enter the giveaway. Then, come back here and leave a comment. That’s it- simple as pie. Or cookies.
Giveaway ends at 11:59 PM on Friday December 11.
Summer in San Francisco is a funny thing. It’s a little like an elusive lover who comes and goes as he pleases. Summer in this town is full of dashed hopes, broken promises, and yet you wait, remembering how good it was the last time you basked in the warmth on a lazy Sunday afternoon. For me, sunny summer picnics aren’t associated with bright red cherries or plump juicy peaches. When I think of summer heat, I think of figs, plums, and pomegranates- and oddly enough, the beginning of school. True warmth, comes to our city in the 9th month.
I can be sure that as soon as the first figs appear at the market, I can happily lounge in the sunshine with a glass of wine and a smile. And so it’s September and time for a Vintage Recipe Remake; it’s been a long time coming. This recipe from a book Christianna found in the Burwell, Nebraska library is a real treasure of Depression-style American-plains cooking. The recipe is hardly a recipe at all: Pork Fruit Cake. The instructions are vague at best, and the finished product doesn’t sound all too appetizing, to tell the truth. Good thing, I happen to love all three components. Pork. Fruit. Cake.
The first place my brain went with this was towards a plantain and cornmeal cake with cochinita pibil and some spicy salsa. I think I still need to create that recipe, because it sounds really fantastic … get the recipe
We all have our likes and dislikes- and things towards which we feel ambivalence. I have a predilection towards vanilla bean, bright green herbs like cilantro, cauliflower, winter squash, florals (like jasmine, rose, lemon verbena, lavender or rose geranium), berries, chilies, and citrus. Ah yes, fresh, bright, punchy, slightly tart, like a burst of sunshine through the cold grey wet weather.
My friend Irvin of Eat the Love knows about my citrus crush (I’ll stop short of calling it an addiction). When Irvin brought me as his +1 to this year’s Chocolate Salon, he was able to steer towards bars and confections that he knew I’d love “That one is so you” he said about the lovely confection with lime and cardamom, and he was so right. When he needed advice about bergamot, he pinged me. I flushed with warmth and affection, not only does my friend know my tastes, he trusts my strange, quirky, area of expertise… citrus.
I don’t mind, on a personal level, being known as a girl with strong tastes, but I’m careful to try to pepper this blog with a good variety of marvelous seasonal things. If you knew the consistency with which I eat cottage cheese, kale, arugula, grapefruit, farro, and oat berries, you might think me a bore- you also may not need my recipes anymore.
In an effort to shake things up a little, I made a pretty outstanding pot of chili, my very first with … get the recipe
For 13 months, I’ve been participating in the Burwell General Store Vintage Recipe Swap, yet this month is simply bursting with firsts.
I’ll start with the obvious: it’s my first time posting a vintage recipe remake on a Wednesday. For those of you who are familiar with the swap, you might be used to them coming on Sundays. Well, our group of 30 or so, has split into two groups of 15 with half of us posting on the first Sunday and half of us posting on the third Wednesday.
The second first (that sounds funny) is this. Of all the vintage recipes Christianna has given us, this is the first that has ever actually repulsed me. From hot slaw to jelly cake, grandma’s chicken pie and drop biscuits to company time lemon cake, I have always found something to love in the recipe we’ve started with. This Orange Snowflake Salad may be my bête noir, the thought of it is completely horrifying. he recipe contains two packets of orange jello, pineapple juice, pineapple, cottage cheese, onion, cottage cheese, and celery- oh and just to be elegant, one should serve it on a lettuce leaf- with mayonnaise.
With morbid fascination, I some researched Orange Snowflake Salad. While I was unable to find it’s exact match, I found an abundance of Jello-salad related delights. My favorite little chestnut gleaned from said research? By the 1950’s Jello salads were so wildly popular that Jello launched a whole line of flavors … get the recipe
I may have mentioned before here and here that I love Valentine’s Day. It also happens to be my halfiversary- sort of. When I was a kid, I figured that if August 4th was my birthday, February 2nd must be my half birthday. Pretty fancy division skills, right?
Joshua and I met on August 28th, and were married on the same date 6 years later. We’ve always celebrated our halfiversary using my awesome kid-math- so… February 14th it is.
This year, a last minute change of plans, means we’re staying in, and I know exactly what we’re having for dessert. Champagne (pink champagne at that!) and roses turn this caramel sauce into pure romance. While I have been eating this off of a spoon, tonight, we’ll have ice cream parfaits layered with blood orange pound cake, champagne-soaked strawberries, and vanilla bean whipped cream topped with some rose petals nicked from my neighbor’s organic garden—with his permission of course!
Happy Valentine’s Day!
- INGREDIENTS
- ½ cup of rosé champagne
- 1 cup organic sugar
- heavy pinch of sea salt
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon rose water
- ½ teaspoon whole ground vanilla (like Love Street Living Foods) or a whole vanilla bean
- 4 tablespoons butter cut into small pieces
- INSTRUCTIONS
- In a heavy bottom sauce pan, reduce champagne over medium high heat until it’s volume is reduced by half.
- Add sugar and salt and bring to a boil while swirling the pan gently. Turn down heat to
… get the recipe
