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I'm a big, huge, enormous fan of Nigella. She makes so many things that are both simple and delicious, and makes no apology for the decadence of many of her recipes ( Read more... )

This is what the bashed pavlova actually looked like at service....

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You really do have to break a few eggs to make a decent pavlova.

I set out yesterday to make Nigella's Chocolate Raspberry Pavlova. It was a perfect day to do it, really--very cool and low humidity. I was so excited, because it had been so sticky-hot and humid all summer to make it, and I really wanted to try it before berry season was over ( Read more... )

I'm a fanatic about birthday cake.

You probably know that already, but in case you don't--well, I am.

Because a birthday cake needs to be something magnificent. Because it's a celebration of the past, and a wish for the future, and a very, very sweet present ( Read more... )

Over the last few years, I find that I have had both the funds and the equipment to raise my culinary skills somewhere a tad past the Hamburger Helper stage. I have to say that learning these new things and creating meals that induce orgasmic eye rollings and having conversations with my husband that go something like, "Do you like it?" and him ( Read more... )

There are some recipes that are good. There are some that are less than good.

And then there are those that are lethal.

This is one of them.

( Bailey's Irish Chocolate Mousse )

Today, we had our bake sale for the Relay for Life, which is quite probably the most popular charity of all the charitable stuff we do at work. The organizers are real go-getters--they have soft pretzel sales and PTO and gift basket raffles and such, and they generally, over the course of the year, pull in a good bit of cash for the cause ( Read more... )