I found this recipe for crumb cake on a cold Chicago day that made spring seem like a dream that would never come true. I thought about it every day. Strawberries, strawberries, strawberries. I tried other recipes that seemed more appropriate for my climate. Strawberries, Strawberries. I wanted delicious fresh spring berries that were freshly picked, deep red, and perfect. Strawberries.

We spent a rainy weekend making some improvements to Lottie + Doof! First of all, and most exciting, I am now twittering. Tweeting? Whatever it is, I am doing it. So you can follow me on Twitter, see what I am reading eating and doing. I think it will be a good way to tell you about restaurants I love, books I am reading, and other cool stuff happening online. I’m super excited and fascinated by all of the folks that have preceded me into the land of Twitter, and am especially glad to see familiar faces. There is a feed in the menu to the left, so if you’re afraid of Twitter you can get my latest updates right here on L+D. I think I currently have two people (I love you both) following me, but hope to find lots of you on Twitter.

I love shortbread and already have several recipes that are exceptional. This recipe by Claudia Fleming is so good that it has me wondering if I need any other.

I think we found our Drink of Summer. My friend Katie and I like to declare an official drink each year. They’ve ranged from a classic mojito to more complicated concoctions with cucumbers and gin and lots of muddling involved. This classic Italian cocktail combining prosecco and Aperol is leading the pack for summer 2009. 

My friend Sophie Buhai is one half of the design genius behind Vena Cava, a women’s fashion line that launched in 2004 and has been rocking the fashion world ever since. The duo (which also includes my pal Lisa Mayock) won runner-up honors in last year’s prestigious CDFA Fund Awards and have garnered countless accolades from the fashion world and their loyal fans. If you’ve read a fashion magazine in the last few years you have undoubtedly heard about Vena Cava. Their clothing is consistently beautiful, relevant and smart and always has a sense of humor. The only problem I see with Vena Cava is that they don’t make men’s clothing—yet. I keep begging and hopefully one day I’ll be spending my paychecks on VC menswear.

Still we wait for spring. I don’t know about where you are, but here in Chicago we haven’t put our parkas away yet. Everyone is so anxious for warm spring days, but so far they are not materializing. I am trying to use these final days of winter-like weather to cook some cold-weather favorites before all I can think about it fresh fruit and ice cream. This oatmeal snack cake has been a favorite in our house since I first tried the recipe a year ago. It is so comforting and delicious. An extra moist oatmeal cake is topped with a sweet icing containing pecans and coconut. The whole cake is stuck under the broiler for a couple of minutes to cook the frosting and turn this into a serious bit of good food.

Oh, carrots. They are such a reliable and safe vegetable, like the sedan of the vegetable world. They make their way into the brown paper lunch bags of countless school children across the country. Onto crudités platters at corporate meetings and dinner parties. They get glazed with some sweetness for holiday meals. If they’re really lucky they get turned into a carrot cake to celebrate a special day. And in every incarnation they are consistently good.

This recipe goes out to all of you chocolate lovers—don’t say I never did anything for you. This chocolate and caramel tart has provided me with a bit of an adventure, nerd-style. You may recognize it from the cover of the current issue of Saveur which features it as part of a story on the beloved Marlow & Sons in Brooklyn. The tart looks beautiful, but I first come across the recipe a while back in Diner Journal, the quarterly culinary publication by the folks that own Diner and Marlow & Sons. If you haven’t already checked out Diner Journal, please do. It is such a beautiful publication, beautiful and inspiring. And if you haven’t already eaten at Marlow & Sons and Diner—do.

This weekend a car full of my favorite ladies drove from New York to Chicago on a roadtrip. I wanted to make something delicious for them and I pretty quickly decided on Macaroni and Cheese. Mostly because, like me, my dear friend Tini can’t get enough cheese. She asks for extra cheese on everything and usually is upset because it still isn’t enough (lucky for her, she has the metabolism of a hummingbird). In honor of Tini and our mutual love of cheese, I decided to try to combine a few of our favorite things into one perfect dish of baked pasta.

Sometimes you just feel like a challenge, a recipe with multiple steps which extend over a couple of days, right? Well, I do. Lately I’ve been attracted to slightly more complicated recipes. I think I am in a bit of rut and find myself anxiously waiting for spring and all of the fresh fruits and vegetables the new season will bring my way. In the meantime, I am trying to keep myself busy. My fancy dessert phase started with the Tres Leches cake and has lead me to this Aurora Tart.  I made this bit of decadence a couple of weeks ago when we had friends visiting—everyone loved it. It took longer than I thought, but tasted better than I expected- which seems like a good trade-off. And guess what, friends? There is chocolate in this recipe! (Okay, only an ounce of chocolate. But still!)