matcha puppy chow
So we've established my matcha obsession in an earlier post. I love matcha in just about every form I've encountered it. And guys, I'll admit it. I have a great weakness for puppy chow. I'm not sure what it is about that stuff, but I had it for the first time in high school and have been mildly obsessed ever since. I hardly ever let myself make it, but it's full-on gorging when I do. So what better, methought, than to combine those two things into one glorious masterpiece? It
taro root ice cream
For the degree I'm obsessed with taro currently, it's a bit surprising that I've only known it existed for about a year now. My college roommate came to visit us on her way to Turkey last year and we took her to one of our favorite places for dinner - Santouka ramen. It's a small, counter-serve restaurant nestled in the food court of Mitsuwa, the Japanese grocery store in our area that I've referenced before. It's probably one of my favorite places ever. So while we were ther
real fruit grapefruit jello
I remember being jealous beyond reason of my childhood friends for one particular delicacy they were allowed to consume. No, not the candy bars and Happy Meals (though let's be honest, those were definitely the runners up for Little Whitney). This was no mere junk food. This was dessert magic. Toy food. Entertainment on a plate. Pure Joy. Clearly I was exactly the target demographic of their marketing campaigns, because nothing could convince my childhood self that joy was at
caramelized bourbon banana shake
When I was little, one of my absolute favorite things during the summer was a fresh banana shake. We would almost always have ice cream and bananas on hand, whether frozen or fresh, and I still have never had a banana shake I've liked better than the ones my mom made. A plain banana shake, that is. I think this one might rival it. She would whip them up so effortlessly and serve them in these tall, greyish, bird-festooned pedestal mugs that were often chipped or missing a han
lemon curd
There are few things I love more than a nice, tart lemon curd. The trouble often is, while you can get some quite good store-bought brands, they're inevitably just too sweet for me. I realize this is mostly because I have a fairly low sweetness tolerance, but there it is. But in my defense, everyone I've served this to has said it's far and away better than what they've had from stores. Plus, it reminds me of our lemon meringue pie recipe (more on that in the future), so that
vanilla pound cake with grapefruit curd & basil cream
So apparently this is just basil and grapefruit week over here. Well, in fairness it's because I had leftover grapefruit and basil simple syrup from the Basil Rathbourbon and I didn't want that to go to waste. We were already having a few friends over earlier this week and I'd promised to have a dessert on hand, so that seemed like a promising potential vehicle for my leftovers. I thought at first of doing our family recipe for a Grapefruit Chiffon Cake, but I'd just used tha
gingerbread
I am terrible about making gift lists. Birthday lists, Christmas lists, any-occasion-where-I-get-a-gift lists... you name it. Well, with the exception of the wedding registry. That I thoroughly enjoyed. Plus, I wanted to be sure there were enough things on there that no one would be tempted to go off-script. Because as we can all imagine, that almost never ends well. But for most any other occasion, I am the worst person in the world to ask for a gift list. I'm not sure why I
date and walnut cookies
I've saved the best holiday cookies for last, guys. My childhood self would shriek "heresy!" if she heard me say that, but I tell you what... I can (and just did) binge on these cookies like no other. They are crisp, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, nutty, and just a smidge chewy from the dates. Also they're incredibly easy. Pretty much the ideal scenario for a holiday cookie, right? The easier the better with all the chaos of December looming around. As a child, I remember think
