This is probably an odd pick of recipe from April Bloomfield’s beautiful cookbook, A Girl and Her Pig. The young British chef has made a name for herself cooking with animals and all forms of fat. Those recipes looked great, but I got stuck on this one for a fool (like a fool?). For anyone who doesn’t know what a fool is, (insert joke about you being a fool—somebody stop me!) it is a decidedly British treat of fruit and cream. It is about as simple and satisfying as a dessert gets and good for everyone to have in their bag of tricks. There are so many awesome flavor possibilities, but here we are at the start of the growing season and the first “fruit” out of the gate is rhubarb.

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Yesterday was quite a day. Highs and lows. It seems appropriate to now turn to a recipe that is sour and requires patience, but in the end transforms into something beautiful.

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It seems like a good time to share this photo again. It is a picture from my wedding. This is what people in North Carolina and everywhere else in our country are so disgusted by that they want to make laws to prevent.

Patience is not a fucking virtue, we need to fix this now.

UPDATE 5/9/12 2pm: I guess Obama reads my blog?

Olive oil cakes make me feel like a real health-nut. It is a small part of what draws me to them, mostly I like how they taste. This Gina DePalma recipe may be the best I have come across. The cake itself is made with a healthy dose of olive oil, almond meal, and some citrus. It is bright and beautiful on its own, but the glaze that DePalma suggests makes this one of my new favorite cakes. The brown butter glaze adds a richness that is the perfect compliment to the bright cake. Also, it is pretty.

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“I made you a white pizza” was said by Jennifer Aniston on an episode of 30 Rock a while back. For some reason it struck me as funny and has stuck with me. Maybe because white pizzas seem a little sillyfoodie, and also Jennifer Aniston. But white pizzas are also delicious. At the time, I thought it would be an amazing blog post title. I guess I still do.

I did make you a white pizza but I was so excited about it that I forgot to take photos. So I made you a red pizza and managed to take some pictures—not because it was any less delicious or exciting—but because I had gotten over the initial shock of having made a good pizza at home. read more+++

Thank you!

I can’t say it enough. You wonderful people are responsible for my little site being named the Best Cooking Blog of 2012 by Saveur magazine. I am happy, and still a little shocked. I was already honored by my inclusion in the same category as Tara, Kate, Kimberley, Alaina and Cara— a group of bloggers that keep me inspired and energized to do what we do. Winning the prize was the cherry on top.

I will wear the crown well and make the next year even better than the last. Hopefully there are no sex scandals that force Helen Rosner to revoke my title.

And I promise I will post a recipe soon! Like, tomorrow.

xoxo

ps. special high-fives to my friends Amelia and David for their wins! And if you haven’t already, take a look through all of the nominated blogs to find some new favorites.

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My friend Karin likes to pronounce financiers like the occupation, which I highly recommend.

I had a financier from The Little Door Next Door in Los Angeles a few years back that set my standard for these tiny cakes pretty high. It was crisp and caramelized on the edges and tender in the middle. It had an intense almond flavor and was completely delicious. Every other financier has paled in comparison, they can be sort of  insipidly sweet. Long story short, I had written off financiers.

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First, some gratitude: Thanks to everyone who sent their good thoughts about Bryan’s grandma. The whole family was comforted by your kind words and warm wishes.

You also helped get me nominated for one of Saveur’s annual Best Food Blog Awards. For the second year in a row (amazing!) I am nominated for best cooking blog. I don’t normally go in for competitions like this—they just aren’t my thing. Everyone wants bloggers to enter competitions so that we send our readers to their website and they make money (sorry! I am getting old and cynical). Saveur very smartly subverts this (sort of) by getting the editors involved. The nominations are not just a popularity contest, the editors hand-selected the finalists. It is why I enjoy these awards and really value being nominated. I already feel like I won. All sorts of sites are finalists, both small and large. It is another instance of Saveur taking food, bloggers and writing more seriously than their peers. I love them for it. And yes, in the end we will encourage our readers to visit their site so they can make money—but at least they worked for it! I hope you will check out all of the blogs that have been nominated and vote for the ones you like best. read more+++

Growing up, my family often celebrated special occasions at Chicagoland supper clubs. These were restaurants that had red leather (vinyl?) booths and white table cloths. They seemed a lot fancier than they were. On holidays they were filled with middle-class families dressed up (to whatever degree people still dressed up) and on their best behavior. I loved having dinner at these places. The menu consisted of classics like prime rib or chicken piccata (wedding food) and always came with your choice of soup or salad and potato (go for the double-baked) along with a wonderful basket of dinner rolls. Dessert was always cheesecake or rainbow sherbet. I still love restaurants like these, though they seem more difficult to find nowadays. read more+++

Enamelware Bake Set by Falcon
I’ll be honest, I got these because they are pretty. Function followed form. But they work well, so we all win-win. Oven, stove top, and dishwasher safe, the chips they develop with age just add to their charm.

Black Label Preserves from Rare Bird Jam
My friends Elizabeth and Kaitlyn over at Rare Bird have launched a series of limited edition jams. Kumquat, Tarragon & Honey was up first and it exceeded even my high expectations. This is a seriously good jam. I regret buying only one jar. read more+++