Flavors 518

Its hard to believe, I have been having salad bar parties for five years! Here's the link back to the post of the first one . You can see my punch was a bit more attractive for that party. The idea is everyone brings an ingredient to add to the salad bar, and then everyone can go down the line and even make several very different salads. It ends up feeling interactive and community building, I think. This is a tradition I've been really happy to keep going because I feel like it was a really great idea to start off with. It doesn't require much cooking which is great for summer months, sometimes people have extra produce in the summer from their gardens or CSA memberships, and its really healthy and refreshing so it just feels perfect for this time of year. I thought I'd break it down how this year went. Alright, so first on this punch... uh what can I say, everyone thought it was like a science experiment. Started out with Joy the Baker's Lavender Lemonade ...

My friend Jessica's Bachelorette Party was this weekend in Saratoga. It was a fabulous time. I couldn't believe how many really nice ladies she's friends with. I really love the movie "13 going on 30", and I watched it recently while out in North Adams dogsitting. I've probably seen it more repeat times than any other movie the last few years. I really love the pitch she gives on how to change the magazine. While her rival character gives the pitch to make the magazine more cynical, darker, more anorexic, the Jennifer Garner character says she wants to feature real women who are smart and pretty and happy to be who they are. Everytime I see that movie, I just love that scene so much. And so what a pleasure it was last night to meet so many interesting, accomplished ladies all in the mood to have a great time. We started out at Boca Bistro . Our friend Tiffany did a fabulous job organizing it for such a large party, and $30 per person for three courses was...

I sometimes have ridiculous ideas that I talk about doing forever and sometimes they actually make their way into reality. I totally think my friend Sandy is a genius, a butter and sugar genius that is - which is of course the best kind. She has a business called Chaos and Buttercream , where she manages to make cakes that are delicious, creative, and beautiful. Ever since I bought my bear cake pan, Sandy and I have said "Do you know what would be awesome? If we made a whole army of bear cakes and invited everyone we knew to decorate them!" Who knew we would actually do it! I'll also mention that I am going to the Bear's Steakhouse for my birthday in a couple weeks, so this is all a way of building bear related excitement for me. Here are the bare bears starting out: What was awesome about it was how different everyone's was from each other and how creative everyone was. This is mine: Hello Kitty bear: psychedelic bear: coy bear: gen...

Dear Mrs. London's , I love you so much. I love your baguette (pictured above) - so crispy and flaky on the outside and yet chewy and moist on the inside. It is a marvel of baking perfection that I can't accomplish since I spend my days running around a museum, but payng you $4 is well worth the price. I love croissants too (I haven't tried them, but Daniel has ). I love the look of all of your pastries, and simply just being in your store. I love that stopping for anything, not only gives me something that tastes great and vastly improves the sophistication level of whatever I am having for dinner, but makes me feel vaguely glamorous - like I should be carrying a hat box and going to pick up my poodles from the groomer (yes, I will take a pistachio macaron, thank you!). I love you like I love a sparking rosé wine on a hot and humid day. I love you like I love Valentine's Day. I love you like I love meeting a girl who loves watching "13 going on ...

As part of my Treat Yo'Self this afternoon I checked out Yeh! Yogurt in Crossgates Mall. This may be the first time in the history of this blog that I have genuinely disliked something. Ugh! It was like ice milk - grainy with a viscous texture and cloying flavors. I tried the cheesecake and vanilla flavored yogurt. Toppings were alright, but there is no getting around the yogurt tastes bad. I don't say Yeh! I say Nay! Yogurt. Check out Kristi ranks the area's frozen yogurt shops ! About Yeh! Yogurt Kristi says: "It tastes similar to ice milk with little flavor and even less creaminess." Much better I think is the Yo D. Sert near the movie theatre. I am pretty sure that one seemed way more reasonably priced, but you'd have to compare directly to know for sure. Tour de Crossgates Yogurt - Daniel !

As part of Tuesdays with Dorie , using the book Baking with Julia  I made the blueberry nectarine pie. I made it for some friends we were having over for dinner, and even though I just walked in from a trip to the flea market late in the afternoon, I was able to make it in time for when people came over. I thought it was a pretty easy recipe. Everyone really enjoyed the pie and the unexpected combination of blueberries and nectarines.  Then, after we ate the full size pie I had a good amount of blueberries, nectarines, and pie crust leftover. I decided to make these little handpies to serve at my salad bar party .   To do this I used my tortilla press with small balls of dough. I did the first few by folding the dough around the mixture, but then I realized it was much easier to treat it like a ravioli. I put one piece down, put a spoonful of filling in the middle, laid another piece of dough on top of the whole thing and pressed down on the edges. I can than...

I went to the Bennington, VT Farmer's Market today. They are open on Saturdays and Tuesdays. You may remember when I tried to go in November and it didn't work out .  I love Vermont so much. I went to the anti-hydrofracking concert at The Egg a few months back, and they mentioned how Vermont had a ban on hydrofracking. That's a good thing, since it seems like easily one of the most beautiful places on earth. It would absolutely break my heart if anything were to ever happen to that state to diminish its natural beauty (also there doesn't seem to be any gas deep down there, so it wouldn't seem likely hydrofracking would occur, but its nice their priorities are in the right place). Oh, Vermont, doughnuts , cheese , and produce! How can you not love it completely? My former coworker has a farm, it is actually called the True Love Farm , and she posted on facebook about the Tuesday Farmer's Market which reminded me about it. It was small and adorable, but I did ...

As part of Tuesdays with Dorie using the book Baking with Julia , I made the French Strawberry Cake. Check out the discussion about the recipe here .  Check out all the other bakers here . You can read the recipe on Sophia's Sweets . Check out mine: My thoughts: This is a great summer dessert. The cake is easy, tasty, and has a great spongy texture that holds up nicely against the juicy strawberries. It is not as tough as a biscuit for strawberry shortcake, but absorbs liquid better than airy angel food cake.  There is something very luxurious about desserts with contrasting multiple layers.  Light and refreshing, this recipe would be great to take to a summer BBQ.  Overall, from husband and coworkers rave reviews!

Today I am going to talk about something very serious and that is cakepops. Now, I know they have gotten a bad rap. Elizabeth doesn't like them and Joy the Baker thinks they are lame (you know, all the cool girls). Some say they are a trend that will pass like cupcakes, and I offer the controversial stance that they are better than cupcakes. Cupcakes are not actually that easy to eat with all that extra frosting. In fact, I went to a place in Boston that sold shots of buttercream frosting, and I thought that was just gross. Cakepops are a smaller portion than cupcakes and therefore not as bad for you. Also, they are easier to transport. Here are things that are good about cakepops with some caveats. Of course the idea of smashing up cake and mixing it with frosting seems gross, but I sort of agreed to go in on a pan with my coworker without realizing I was agreeing ( Me: vague and open-ended - "Oh that sounds interesting." Coworker: "That will be $13." Me: ...

Today I went to the food swap with the From Scratch Club over in Troy. I would say that maybe I got a little more used to things, and that for me it went a little smoother than last time . This time I decided to make doughnuts. Here they are all packaged up and ready to go. These doughnuts were a bit of an epic experience for me. I went through a lot of ideas for what to make for the food swap. I think it was down to bagels, doughnuts, cake pops, and onion potato chips. I think for next time I will make hot sauce. Anyways, I thought it would be fun to do a couple different kinds of doughnuts. This was fun because I got to compare some recipes. First I made Joy the Baker's chocolate doughnuts . These were a bit like biscuits and easy and quick to make. Then, I made doughnuts with vanilla glaze in the new Pioneer Woman cookbook . These were very epic. Actually the dough reminded me of Joy the Baker's cinnamon rolls and Dorie Greenspan's white loaves . I could tell...

As part of Tuesdays with Dorie using the book Baking with Julia , I made the chocolate truffle tartlets. Check out the full recipe here . I am going to start out by saying I did not find this recipe easy. I do feel like I knew a thing or two about pie crust, but I also learned more in trying this recipe (you've got to be careful and don't overwork it or force it too much!). One thing I have really enjoyed about this exercise it that I am encouraged to try recipes I might not normally try. But not only were these tartlets very laborious, but also expensive if you go for the Ghirardelli chocolate and if you buy the biscotti. They are also incredibly rich for regular consumption - but I think for a dinner party these would be amazing. If you had people coming over, it probably wouldn't matter so much about expensive ingredients or time consuming cooking techniques. First, the dough! Dutch process cocoa powder, flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor, then chopped up piec...

I heard on NPR today that the average person this year is expected to spend around $700 on Christmas. If you don't have a lot of extra money or you aren't able to travel to your home town, Christmas can seem like something you might rather just skip over . But one thing I have realized this year is that you don't have to spend a lot of money to make things festive or enjoy a bit of the holiday spirit. The cookie exchange , for example, was a great cheap way to do something a little bit special that brought people together. Today my coworkers and I went out for lunch, and tomorrow we are having a pizza party. Even though our employer said there wasn't any extra money for holiday parties we've found ways to have fun anyway. Same with presents - you really don't need to spend a lot of money just to let people know you are thinking of them. Somehow I went from wanting to skip the whole thing to going a little overboard in terms of my gift assembly line. To start w...