disclaimer: i am not a pastry chef. but i like pie – no, actually i LOVE pie – but i feel like a bit of an amateur, as about half of my crusts used to turned out well, while others turned out soggy or too dark. and honestly, i’m a little nervous posting this because there are so many amazing pie/pastry chefs out there….but here goes with my story of how and why my crusts turn out really well every time now (and because i just wrote this, i’m sure my next one will flop!).
a coworker kindly gave me an enormous zucchini from her garden a few weeks ago, and i spent a few days trying to decide what to do with all that zucchini…besides photograph it for posterity, that is.
a couple of years ago, my aunt sent us the gift of a creme brulee kit, complete with ramekins and a mini blow torch. i was so excited by this present that i got a little creme brulee happy, and made the dessert more times than i can count (the pic below is from that era of creme brulee at every party, circa 2006).
years ago, when we were living in a townhouse in capitola, we were having a barbecue outside when a guy came around, selling strawberries door to door. usually i say no to door to door salesmen, but the strawberries looked so delectable, and the price was low, and there they were, right in front of me – i didn’t even have to leave my house to purchase them! so i bought a whole flat of strawberries and instantly decided i had to make a strawberry shortcake, which is one of my absolute favorite desserts. whoever decided to combine cake with fresh berries and whipped cream was a genius.
hi everyone, i’m back from my trip to the midwest, and finally sitting down to post after a long week at work. i had a fabulous time with my family in indiana and chicago – we had beautiful weather, and spent time celebrating my great uncle’s 99th birthday, looking at pictures with my great aunt (my grandmother’s older sister), walking around the campus of purdue, viewing exhbits at the chicago art institute, taking the “l” to wrigley field, and most importantly, getting to know our family in the midwest a lot better and learning about my norwegian heritage. i discovered that my love for cooking and welcoming friends into my home is decidedly norweigian, and learned that norwegians get upset when people visit without calling, because they can’t prepare coffee and bake cookies before inviting guests into their homes. to that end, when our friends came over this weekend, i decided i had to honor my heritage and make some cookies (albeit with them, not before they came over).
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