Right after graduating from undergrad, I was lucky enough to spend a month traveling around Europe. It was the first time I had been out of North America and it was a real adventure. In Florence we ate at a small family-run restaurant that we discovered by chance while wandering around one evening. I remember everything being lovely but I have never forgotten the onion soup I had that night. It was a puree of onion and at the time I thought it was the best thing I had ever eaten. That flavor has stayed with me all of these years and I have often lamented the fact that I didn’t record the name of that restaurant so I could go back.

I was excited to see this recipe for an onion soup in the most recent issue of Bon Appetit and hoped it would live up to my memory of that soup in Florence. read more+++

A couple of summers ago, Bryan and I spent 4th of July in Paris with some family friends. They hosted a lovely barbecue in our honor and we ate and drank all sorts of delicious things. What stood out to me the most was an aperitif that the grandfather of the family had made. My French is pretty bad so I have no idea what it actually was, but I think it had something to do with prunes. In any case, I liked that liqueur so much and I loved that it was homemade. The kind man was clearly proud of his creation and spent the early part of the evening holding the bottle and giving out tastes to anyone who was interested. I had more than my share. read more+++

This is the part of winter I hate the most, the wasteland between late February and the end of March where spring seems so close and so far away. Each sunny day feels like hope, only to be followed by another 6-inches of snow. It can be discouraging. I think at times like this we should all be grateful for citrus—a little orange or lemon to brighten the day. The blood orange tart did wonders to lift my spirits and I hoped the remedy would continue to work with these classic lemon bars that Faith Durand made over at The Kitchn. read more+++

Happy Valentine’s Day to all of you, dear readers! If we were in second grade I would drop a valentine into each of your cardboard mailboxes. Instead, I thought I would go out on a limb with these lemon and olive cookies from The New Portuguese Table by David Leite. If you have spent any time on the internet these past few weeks you have undoubtedly heard people raving about the recipe for milk-based (and egg-free) mayonnaise, maionese de leite, which is also included in this incredibly beautiful book. The milk mayo is something special and a real wonder to behold, but I was immediately drawn to these simple cookies.

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The first time I had a king cake I did not enjoy it. Not because I didn’t like the taste of sweet bricoche-y bread topped with icing and colored sugar, but because I happened to get the slice with the baby in it. For those of you who don’t know the tradition, a small plastic trinket (often of a baby) or a coin is hidden in the baked cake and the person who finds it in their slice gets good luck, or to be king, or to bring the cake the following year, or something. Well, for some reason at the time I had that first slice of king cake with the baby inside of it, I did not want to tell anyone I had found it. I’m not exactly sure why, but it seemed embarrassing. So, I hid the baby and didn’t say anything. By the time we had finished the cake and everyone was complaining about the bakery forgetting to include a baby it seemed too weird to fess up. So my first experience with this cake was awkward. Thankfully, I have recovered from my king cake issues and am now able to enjoy a slice, baby or not.

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If you follow me on twitter you probably know that I was recently freaking out about the Angostura bitters shortage which was being written about in several places. My fear wasn’t that the shortage would effect the Manhattan or Old Fashioned I like to drink. I was worried it would effect something much more serious: Your Drink.

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After the earthquake in Haiti I was feeling both incredibly depressed and helpless. The images I was confronted with every night on TV were devastating. Like many of you, I donated money and encouraged others to do the same but felt like there must be more we could do to help. Then an email from the lovely Julie Van Rosendaal arrived asking me to participate in Blog Aid, a cookbook she was compiling to benefit Haiti. It seemed like a wonderful idea (although I will admit I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of producing a cookbook in 3 weeks!) But it happened! And it is lovely! Julie assembled such an amazing group of food bloggers/writers that I am very anxiously awaiting my copy of the book, and proud to be in their company!

Details: ALL of the proceeds from the cookbook will go directly to the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders to assist in their efforts in Haiti.

It’s a POD (print-on-demand) system, meaning the books are printed and shipped as they’re ordered and arrive at your doorstep in about 8 days. You can purchase yours in softcover ($25US) HERE or as a hardcover ($50US) HERE.

Both West Canadian Printing AND Blurb are  supporting the project in many ways and even matching the dollar amount of the proceeds raised (up to 10k), to TRIPLE those dollars going to Haiti. AND until February 12th, the Canadian government will match that!!!! It is a great effort by all!

For more on the book, including a complete list of contributors, click HERE.

Thanks all! xo

UPDATE: Blog Aid has already raised over $18,000 in one day! Thanks to all who bought a copy and please help spread the word!

I have been making this sorbet for months, but am just now getting around to writing about it. It is, quite simply, one of the loveliest little things to ever come out of my ice cream maker.

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I’ve already mentioned how much I loved my meal at Rustic Canyon Wine Bar in Santa Monica. I especially loved the desserts we had there and was excited to rediscover this recipe I had bookmarked from Zoe Nathan, the pastry chef at both Rustic Canyon and Huckleberry. I love citrus and am especially fond of blood oranges but often I don’t like the taste of cooked citrus—it can lose its brightness really quickly. I was skeptical about this recipe, which is why it had been on hold for so long. But when the ice cream I had planned for dessert fell through because I forgot to freeze the bowl of the ice cream maker—I decided to finally give this tart a try.

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I have been promising you pictures of our new place ever since we moved in. This week’s Time Out Chicago features a nice story on Lottie + Doof and our new apartment written by Jessica Herman. I love her series on Chicagoans homes and am happy to be a part of it. The beautiful photos of our space were taken by the very talented Lizz Sisson, who also keeps a blog. Lizz very kindly sent me some additional photos that didn’t make it into the magazine for me to share with you. Thanks to Jessica and Lizz for a good time and to Bryan for playing along. Click HERE for many more pictures and click through for some bonus photos. read more+++