It’s hard to imagine Ukrainian life without vareniki (or pierogi - the polish name). Some foreigners don’t understand why everybody in Ukraine are so obsessed with vareniki, cause according to them “they are just the dumpling-like pastry of unleavened dough with different stuffing”. But for Ukrainians vareniki are magic dish, I would say that they ( Read more... )

I went roller skating recently. I won't bore you with the details (here, anyway -- I'll bore you with all of them over on my blog...), but suffice it to say it was a blast from the past. And now I'm sore ( Read more... )

I really, really want you to make these. These are the best cookies I've ever tasted, seriously!

And I know you're going to see the anise extract in the recipe and say, "Ew, licorice," but DON'T BE LIKE THAT. I actually HATE licorice flavor, but the anise extract here is just enough to give an amazing depth to the orange, not enough to make the ( Read more... )

After a couple of late night cooking extravaganzas, I’ve finally managed to work my way through all the remaining plums from my parents’ plum tree. I made three variations of regular stewed plums, and I’m quite pleased with the way they’ve all turned out. They’re now all sealed up in containers and have been banished to the depths of the freezer. I ( Read more... )

I posted Pumpkin Spice Pull-Apart Bread with Butter Rum Glaze awhile ago and lots of folks around the interwebz have already made and loved it (side note: I LOVE it when that happens! Totally makes my day). But several of them said something to the effect of, "It took 3 hours to make and about 20 minutes to devour." Those time-consuming recipes ( Read more... )

I made the hour trip to Bobolink Dairies, an organic cheesmaker and purveyor of brink oven bread in Milford, NJ. I got the chance to take a look at their brick oven close up. It''s all custom made (of course) and the owners' daughter described it as "Steampunk" and that's a very apt description. On one hand it is handmade brink oven that would be ( Read more... )

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I made these for a Saved by the Bell potluck I went to on Friday night (I know, right? I have cool friends). The sultry honey cardamom cream cheese was an oasis of smoooooth between two spicy carrot cake cookies. Those hunky cookies, by the way, boasted toasted pecan, candied ginger, carrot, and a kick of cinnamon. The final product was perfect ( Read more... )

As promised, I'm posting two fantastic ways to use the homemade croissants that I KNOW you're thinking of making. Right?! Am I right?! You should go for it ( Read more... )

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