We’ve had a heat wave here in Minneapolis, which I’ve welcomed with open arms for two reasons: last year we were robbed of a fall (it rained and was cold and the sun rarely shone and we never got our bright, crisp, Autumn days) and I’m not ready to let go of summer quite yet. I’m still drinking an Iced Americano through out the day, my windows are…
This recipe for S’mores Ice Cream Cake first appeared on my site in 2016. It’s from my book, The Vanilla Bean Baking Book (affiliate link). I love it so much, I’m sharing again. ************************************ First of all, I want to say thank you, oh my goodness thank you, from the bottom of my heart. I had so many kind emails and comments and tweets yesterday; your support of my…
This just might be a perfect summer dessert: a chocolate cookie crust, no-churn (and so easy!) coffee ice cream, with a topping of caramel whipped cream and candied cacao nibs. The crust and ice cream base can be put together a day or two in advance, which also comes in handy. If you aren’t into the candied cacao nibs, crushed chocolate covered espresso beans would also be delicious…
Somehow we are already on the front steps of 2018. The door is open, and another January welcomes us in with a glorious smile, reassuring those waiting out in the cold that right inside, just through that open door, things will be better. The new year will bring hope, and change. So we resolve to evolve, and put our faith in the dropping of a ball, a countdown…
My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears, And true plain hearts do in the faces rest; Where can we find two better hemispheres, Without sharp North, without declining West? Whatever dies was not mixed equally; If our two loves be one, or thou and I Love so alike that none do slacken, none can die. -John Donne, The Good-Morrow This past week I found volumes A-F…
“Summer afternoon – summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James I have to agree with Mr. James here; summer is magic. With my littles at home and days filled with swimming, reading, long walks, trips to the library, canoeing, hammocking, lego building, and not homeworking, I am entering August on tiptoes, knowing there are only…
‘I took my girl’s hand In mine for two blocks, Then released it to let Her unwrap the chocolate. I peeled my orange That was so bright against The gray of December That, from some distance, Someone might have thought I was making a fire in my hands.’ -Gary Soto, ‘Oranges’…
“The weeks stood still in summer. The trees’ blood rose. Now you feel it wants to sink back into the source of everything. You thought you could trust that power when you plucked the fruit; now it becomes a riddle again, and you again a stranger.” -Rainer Maria Rilke In between squirt-gun fights and the jingle of bells on kid-sized bikes there is the faintest whisper, a warning.…
(1) Turn off the Radio. (2) Read all the good books you can, and avoid nearly all magazines. (3) Always write (and read) with the ear, not the eye. You should hear every sentence you write as if it was being read aloud or spoken. If it does not sound nice, try again. (4) Write about what really interests you, whether it is real things or imaginary things,…
“But the kitchen will not come into its own again until it ceases to be a status symbol and becomes again a workshop. It may be pastel. It may be ginghamed as to curtains and shining with copper like a picture in a woman’s magazine. But you and I will know it chiefly by its fragrances and its clutter. At the back of the stove will sit a…
