Spring Tea Party Roundup

There is something indescribably "spring" about a tea party. Perhaps it is the way the warmth of tea staves off the lingering chill of winter. Perhaps it is the tendency to top sweet morsels with pastel colors that evoke the lightness of flowers. Either way, I have had tea and tea treats on the brain in a major way. The decision to focus on tea for the month of May lead me to a number of

Souffle Confessions: How I lost my kitchen virginity to a French madame

It all started with the sort of daring that borders on hubris: I've never made souffle, I've never even (gasp) had souffle, so probably a smart thing to do is to have a friend over on a Saturday morning and just try to make it, right? So there we were, two souffle virgins, two aprons, and a world of food blogs to fuel the fire. A little poking around lead me, like a lamb to the slaughter,

Five Quirky Food Facts About Me

I wrestled with whether or not I wanted to do this for a while. I started this blog with a very "website" based mentality, in which the author isn't usually a presence. But over the last few months of experiencing the wide world of "blogging" I've come to appreciate that one of the wonderful things that separately this new media revolution from older journalistic media forms is precisely the more

Taste and Create: Old Fashioned Irish Raisin Spice Scones

If you are looking for a healthy scone, it doesn't get much healthier than this. It isn't fancy, and if you are accustomed to those big butter, big calorie scones sold at American cafes, you may find this old fashioned scone a bit humble. This is the brawny, salt-of-the-earth peasant scone to Starbuck's high maintenance cosmopolitan diva. It is a dense scone when compared to its butter-rich

Almond Crusted Shrimp Tacos with Raspberry Pico de Gallo and Spicy Lime Mayo

This is a seafood taco that is dressy enough to impress guests, unique enough to dazzle your foodie friends, and still fast enough to whip up when pressed for time (20 minutes or less from start to finish). There is no other way to say it: this is is absolutely the best thing I have made in a long time. It was unexpected bursts of fruit dancing through crisp and crunch and tangy spice. It was

Ten Mistakes New Herb Gardeners Make (and How to Avoid Them!)

So you're thinking of herb gardening, or maybe you tried it last year and it was an utter disaster? Have no fear. There are a few simple mistakes that many herb newbies make (and I know, because I made most of 'em myself). Master these simple and practical tips for herb gardening and you'll be using your own fresh herbs like Mario Batali in no time.Fresh herbs are one of the greatest ways to

Pasta Alioli with Lobster

To me, pasta alioli is like a more elegantly simple, and healthy, version of fettucini alfredo. People will go to great lengths to reduce the fat and calories in traditional fettucini alfredo, and along the way it becomes a sort of franken-sauce with all sorts of odds and ends and quirky substitutions. So before you reach for the partially hydrogenated defatted cream cheese for some franken-fredo

Food Blogger Event: Spring Tea Party!

Gird your pinafores, artfully cuff your kimonos: you are cordially invited to a tea party.Tea is a global industry with a thousand local faces. It is also a really tasty excuse to get together with some friends on a Saturday afternoon and have a good time. So I'm getting in the mood for warm saturday afternoons in the garden and smart picnics with an annual food blogger event: a spring tea

Against Risotto

For a while I've been carrying a guilty secret around with me: I don't like risotto. I mean, I would eat it if it were the only thing standing between me and starvation, but I would really never order it by choice. And with foodies all around talking up risotto, risotto appearing on all sorts of fine dining menus, I couldn't help but feel a bit, well, estranged. So I brought a little wisdom from