This blog has been moved here. I will continue to use this journal to read and post on friends pages and in communities.

Thank you!

In the great brownie debate that has been raging since 1952 some of us are "corner" people and some are "middle" people.

I am a corner person.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pretty sure I never have and never will refuse a brownie, middle or not. It's just that nothing satisfies like that sweet, crunchy corner with just a hint of chewy, delicious middle. ( Read more... )

Finalized the menu for the June 24th event. I love this caterer. They do an exceptional job with the food, but more importantly, they are amazing with the service.

Here's what we're having:

Flakey puff pastry filled with wilted spinach, Swiss cheese and mushrooms.
Petite Wellington beef
Delicate Maryland crab cakes with horseradish cream
Confetti ( Read more... )

The title to this entry is both misleading and unfair, as my husband often does the dishes. But on this day he quite literally licked his plate clean. And then he licked my plate clean. And then he took the pan to the couch and licked that clean. And then he did the dishes.

It was a special New Year's Eve. It was our first as a married couple. It ( Read more... )

Thom and I had been discussing gingerbread for a while. It's definitely a staple from his Austrian-centered childhood and I have fond memories of thick squares of gingerbread cake consumed with tea whilst sitting in the dining room with my mother and grandmother.

What I wouldn't give to be able to talk to my grandmother now that I'm grown...

Anyway ( Read more... )

A while ago Thom came home with Saranac Caramel Porter beer, a limited release for the holidays. I tasted it - yummy. I don't normally drink much, but I asked him to save me one to cook with. I wasn't sure what I would make (and assumed something with beef) but in the end there was a birthday and I made a cake instead.

I loosely based my cake on ( Read more... )

Last night afforded me one of those all too rare opportunities to have dinner at home with my husband. Knowing well the contents of our refrigerator I had planned all day to make a meal reminiscent of a Provencal/Northern Italian comfort food dinner. We started by making a basic risotto (using what we had on hand, we omitted the white wine and used ( Read more... )

When my mother was a child she would accompany her mother from their apartment building to Biancardi's butcher shop. Mom used to tell me her memories of sawdust on the floor. My grandmother always referred to the shop as "Anna's" because the owner's wife was Anna. Many years later when I was a small child and we were living in New Hampshire, my ( Read more... )

More often than not, I am inspired by what I see at the market. Whether it's the supermarket, the Haymarket or any one of the dozens of food boutiques and emporiums in and around Boston. Last week Stop & Shop had great little packs of Baby Bellas (small portabella mushrooms) and veal shanks packaged two to a pack. That sounds like it's just the ( Read more... )

I have a long standing love affair with Beacon Hill Bistro. Like any good clandestine affair we only see each other occasionally. But the meetings were always passionate and incredibly satisfying. The long tiled dining room with its banquettes and bistro chairs setting the stage beautifully; the efficient servers with their crisp button down shirts ( Read more... )