This is about as simple as it gets. Buttermilk, raspberries, and sugar. This is one of those times when it really pays to get the very best ingredients possible. For me, that meant a trip to the Green City Market to buy a quart of Blue Marble Family Farm’s Buttermilk, and a pint of organic raspberries. read more+++

Friends often ask me where I get my recipes. I have a lot of cookbooks. Some of them I use several times a month, some of them I have only used once or twice. I have a hard time getting rid of them. The books combined with the magazines I subscribe to (Bon Appetit, Gourmet, Cooks Illustrated, and Martha Stewart Living) and the blogs I read (my favorites are linked on the home page) provide me with more recipes than I could ever make. Sometimes this makes me feel anxious and panicky. I recently started a list where I can keep track of the recipes that are waiting for a turn. read more+++

I might not care very much about pumpkin—but cranberries are a different story. I love cranberries and will find as many ways as possible to eat them in the coming months. I will also fill my freezer with them before they go out of season so that I can be eating them throughout the winter and spring. This simple quick bread seemed like a good use of my first bag of fresh cranberries. read more+++

This past weekend I celebrated my birthday with a trip to Chicago’s most highly anticipated new restaurant: The Publican. Brought to us by the same folks that own Avec and Blackbird, The Publican is in the west loop on Fulton Market. read more+++

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies are one of the signature dishes from Baked in Brooklyn. They have quite a following, and this recipe replicates them very well. I brought these to work and they were a big hit, but I have to be honest—these aren’t my favorite (although that hasn’t stopped me from eating them). I think that I like pumpkin things less that I am supposed to. Maybe it’s a texture thing? For the pumpkin fans out there, I think you will really love these.

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Oh boy.

Baked is the name of a bakery in Red Hook, Brooklyn that is worth a visit next time you are in NYC. Baked is also the title of a cookbook that the bakery recently published, which has been getting lots of press. With good reason—it is exceptional. And perhaps most exceptional of all is their Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Swirl. It is a dream come true.

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In July I spent a week in Paris with Bryan. We rented an apartment in the Marais and basically ate our way through the city. I dream of moving to Paris—it really is the most beautiful city in the world. And it is full of the best food you’ll ever eat. Recently a friend moved to Paris for the year and I tried to compile a list of my favorite places to eat. This seemed like a good thing to share here because everyone needs to go and you all need to eat at these places.

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In last week’s Time Out Chicago David Tamarkin describes all that is wrong with the localvore movement, likening it to a dangerous cult, which careless, self-centered, trend-obsessed people are blindly joining. The article is offensive and silly for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the irritating illustration which accompanies the text.

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