The Red Spoon

cherries

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 11:00:22 +0000

In Season: Cherries, having a very short season, are available and peak between June and August.

What to look for: Buy cherries with the stalk still on and make sure they have been kept cool as their flavor deteriorates when exposed to warmth. Pick cherries that are unblemished, without soft, wrinkled, spotted or burst patches. Choose ones that are firm, shiny and large with green stems.

read the rest of cherries on theredspoonblog.com

©Produce Stand 2010 | Permalink | 2 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

radish

Wed, 25 May 2011 15:36:14 +0000

In Season: Radishes are available year round, but peak from April to July.

What to look for: Choose radishes with bright green fresh looking tops, which indicate freshness. The skins should be firm and smooth without growth cracks, browning or wrinkling.

read the rest of radish on theredspoonblog.com

©Produce Stand 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

rhubarb

Wed, 04 May 2011 14:56:43 +0000

In Season: Rhubarb peaks between April and June.

Varieties: Stalks can range in color from pink and red to green; color is not an indicator of maturity although generally the red stalks are sweeter.

What to look for: Rhubarb dries out quickly and becomes flaccid, so look for thin stalks that are firm and upright, avoiding very thick ones as these will be fibrous.

read the rest of rhubarb on theredspoonblog.com

©Produce Stand 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

asparagus

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 14:00:15 +0000

In Season: Peak season for asparagus is between February and June, though most supermarkets carry hot house asparagus year round.

What to look for: Avoid wrinkled, dried out or split stems. Tips should be tight, bright and clean; avoid limp and floppy. Thickness is a matter of taste, however choose a bundle whose stalks are roughly the same thickness so they will cook at the same time.

read the rest of asparagus on theredspoonblog.com

©Produce Stand 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

broccoli rabe

Thu, 10 Mar 2011 17:00:53 +0000

In Season: Broccoli rabe, which has several names including raab, rapa, rapine, rappi, and turnip broccoli, peaks in the spring, though is available year round in most super markets.

What to look for: Look for bright, crisp leaves without tears, holes, yellow spots, or patches of slime. Look for thin and firm stems, which will mean your rabe will be more tender. The florets should be dark green and tight.

read the rest of broccoli rabe on theredspoonblog.com

©Produce Stand 2010 | Permalink | 1 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

celery root (celeriac)

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:44:53 +0000

In Season: Celery root, also known as celeriac, is harvested in the fall and winter months, though, as with most produce, it can be found year round in most supermarkets.

What to look for: Avoid overly large celery root — they will have cottony centers. Select bulbs that feel heavy for their size, that are firm and about the size of a baseball. If they have leaves, they should be bright green and, if freshly harvested, will have a green tinge around their tops.

read the rest of celery root (celeriac) on theredspoonblog.com

©Produce Stand 2010 | Permalink | 1 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

cauliflower

Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:29:45 +0000

In Season: Cauliflower season peaks in October and extends through April, however, it can be found year round in most supermarkets.

What to look for: Choose cauliflower with compact, creamy white, unblemished heads with tight florets surrounded by perky green leaves.

read the rest of cauliflower on theredspoonblog.com

©Produce Stand 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

swiss chard

Thu, 28 Oct 2010 03:24:07 +0000

In Season: Swiss Chard, though frequently found year round in most supermarkets, is usually harvested from late summer through fall.

Varieties: There are three types of chard: Rainbow chard has beautiful red, pink, yellow or even white stalks; Fordhook Giant has froofy, crinkly leaves with thick white stalks; and Ruby Red chard has thin red stalks and usually has a stronger flavor than the previous two.

read the rest of swiss chard on theredspoonblog.com

©Produce Stand 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

strawberries

Tue, 06 Jul 2010 01:47:05 +0000

In Season: Strawberries can be found year round in most supermarkets, however, the best ones arrive between the peak season of April to July.

What to look for: Choose strawberries that are plump, fragrant, and firm, with no signs of bruising, leaking or mold festering in the container. Pick strawberries that are bright red in color and ones that do not have greenish white shoulders, which indicate unripe fruit.

read the rest of strawberries on theredspoonblog.com

©Produce Stand 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

deciphering boiling times

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 19:00:54 +0000

So the question has popped up on several occasions if you should time boiling when your food goes into the water or when the water returns to a boil. And really I think it is a different answer for what you are trying to achieve. If you are blanching a vegetable, you should start counting the minutes as soon as you plunge your vegetable into the boiling water. The goal is not to cook but to soften slightly while still being crisp and tender. If you start counting when the water returns to a boil, your food will be overcooked. For foods to be cooked all the way through, like pasta or potatoes you should start counting once the water returns to a boil. Of course, when something must be cooked completely it is safest to start checking early to prevent overcooking.

©Tips 2010 | Permalink | 1 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

cocoa powder: natural versus dutch process

Wed, 09 Feb 2011 21:37:18 +0000

Natural unsweetened cocoa powder is very bitter and gives an intense chocolate flavor to baked goods. It is acidic and when used with baking soda, it creates a leavening reaction causing the batter to rise when baked.

Dutch processed cocoa is mild in flavor and reddish-brown in color. It is treated with an alkali to neutralizes it’s acidity and will not react with baking soda. Instead it must be used in recipes calling for baking powder, unless there are other acidic ingredients (like buttermilk) being used.

For more information, David Lebovitz has comprised a FAQ about natural and dutch process cocoa powders. You can find the answers to questions like “Can I use cocoa powders interchangeably in recipes?” or “What is the best brand of cocoa powder?” over here.

©Tips 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

soften ingredients quickly

Wed, 08 Sep 2010 21:46:28 +0000

Forgot to stick your butter on the counter to soften? Perhaps you just don’t feel like waiting before you start your cookies – I mean, it is that time after all, I need my warm, gooey triple chocolate cookies. When running short on time (or patience) don’t be tempted to throw your butter in the microwave to get a quick 30-second softening session. The heat from the microwave will cause the butter to heat unevenly and can tend to over-soften or even melt the butter in places. Instead, throw your butter into a ziplock bag and submerge it in a bowl of cold tap water. (Not ice water, which will prevent softening, yet not lukewarm or hot water which will have the same effect as the microwave.) It will take about 5 – 10 minutes for your butter to become soft and pliable and ready for use.

You can also use this technique on other cold ingredients that need to be brought to room temperature such as cream cheese.

©Tips 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

parchment paper versus wax paper

Wed, 07 Jul 2010 16:34:53 +0000

Is there really a difference between parchment and wax paper? They’re both non-stick and wax paper has the benefit of being waterproof. Does this mean I can use them interchangeably? No. Wax paper is great for food storage as it keeps water out or in. But when heated to high temperatures it will smoke and the wax will melt into your food. Parchment paper, on the other hand, is coated with silicon which is able to withstand very high temperatures and almost eliminates the need to grease your pan. You can always substitute parchment for wax paper, but never the other way around.

Now if parchment paper is so great why keep wax paper around? Wax paper is great for use in the microwave. Since microwaves are not strong enough to heat the paper to the point of smoking and melting it can be used to prevent spills and splatters. This makes it more functional than plastic wrap which can melt from the heat and, of course, it is safer than aluminum foil which should never be used in a microwave.

©Tips 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

how to freeze summer produce

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:36:37 +0000

If you are like me, then you tend to bring home baskets full of produce when the two of you can only eat an armful at most. But it’s so pretty! It’s red and shiny! This entire bushel is flawless, we must buy! It smells so good, I can’t leave without 3 pounds! Perhaps you have said this too? Convincing ~~yourself~~ your better half that the 5 different varieties of tomatoes were absolutely necessary, and that you could not survive without them. Yes, that is where I live in summer. The farmer’s market, the produce section at Whole Foods, the produce stands on the side of rural roads. Just smelling the sweet earthiness of produce sends me into a tizzy sometimes, and well, when your budget is suddenly threatened because, hey, I decided we needed $50 worth of cherries today means you may find yourself on the other end of a harsh look, or disapproving head shake from the man taking care of the bills.

Even with the constant ~~whining~~ explanations of we only get this for 3 months, and then nothing! Just boring squash and collards and dried out peppers until next summer, we must eat now! doesn’t mean he will actually then applaud you for bringing home the overwhelming bounty you seem to haul in every week. So, in order to make it more cost effective, to make the summer’s best stay with us until next summer, and so we don’t get produce lust every June because we have been without it for far too long, we freeze. We freeze our produce booty and eat it all year long until next summer, when we can stock up a little more, without over killing it because hey, I’ve had great blackberries during February so it’s not as much of a shock when I see their delicious black beaded balls sitting in front of me in June.

read the rest of how to freeze summer produce on theredspoonblog.com

©How To 2010 | Permalink | 1 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

how to make chicken stock

Sun, 06 Mar 2011 19:00:08 +0000

I must admit, for being all “organic/local/don’t buy anything store bought” I never had any problems throwing a container of stock in my cart. It was easy and fast and, really, can you actually taste a difference? Well, after a recent endeavor to be more thrifty in the kitchen I couldn’t bare to think of wasting a perfectly good chicken carcass on the trash — which means raccoons and all sorts of nightly creatures in my part of town. So, I made stock, and I must confess, I have been planted back on the path of “everything should be homemade” — it does make a difference.

Despite my ignorance of what actually goes in stock I looked up recipes — and there are a ton out there. But what I had to come to realize was that you don’t actually need a recipe. Stock should not be something you go buy chicken and vegetables for so that you can boil the heck outta them just so you can use “the yellow juice”. If you have chicken, save the bones. If you have a spare carrot or two, save them — freeze them. Until eventually you have ingredients for stock.

read the rest of how to make chicken stock on theredspoonblog.com

©How To 2010 | Permalink | 1 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

how to make fresh pumpkin puree

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 14:30:31 +0000

Because I like doing this the hard way, because I am not satisfied with the canned pureed pumpkins, and because I’m me, I decided to make pumpkin puree. It was a long, arduous journey going from small cutesy pumpkin to pureed mash, my hands screaming in agony from chopping and slicing virtually impenetrable walls of pumpkin. The thought of how long the canned variety sits on the super market’s shelf every year waiting for Thanksgiving season to bring in hoards of grabby pumpkin mongers to descend upon it’s easy, simple, uncomplicated addition to recipes was alarming. Can you really justify the purchase of years old pumpkin puree when you can bring home bag-fulls of pumpkins for next to nothing? One batch of fresh puree was all it took to help me realize, those cans are a life-saver. It took an incredible amount of strength and time to make this, but for those like me here are the steps to your own battle with the gourd:

Remove the top section of the pumpkin* and scoop out the seedy, stringy center reserving these for something yummy.

read the rest of how to make fresh pumpkin puree on theredspoonblog.com

©How To 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

how to hard boil an egg

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 04:34:34 +0000

There are about as many techniques for hard-boiling eggs as there are recipes for them. I use the American’s Test Kitchen’s fool-proof method which I have found to be, indeed, fool-proof. The recipe can easily be doubled or tripled as long as you use a pot large enough to hold the eggs in a single layer, covered by an inch of water.

read the rest of how to hard boil an egg on theredspoonblog.com

©How To 2010 | Permalink | 1 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

how to trim an artichoke

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 19:37:35 +0000

Artichokes can be scary. But that’s why I’m here, to take the scary out of scary. Er, never mind. Really, I needed some artichokes and I couldn’t justify buying canned artichoke hearts when fresh ones are bursting through the produce section. So I gulped, took a big breath, squeezed my eyes shut and reluctantly bought a few artichokes. And it’s true, there is a lot of waste when it comes to fresh artichokes, and a lot of prep work. We just have to accept it and move on, because fresh food is always better than canned or frozen food.

There are a few things you should know before getting into the dirty business of de-choking and artichoke. These babies turn brown faster than you can blink. If you are needing artichokes for a salad or something where their green color is pivotal to your presentation, then you will want to have some lemons on hand. Just like when preparing apples and avocados, rub the juice from a lemon wedge over your artichoke as you work. You can also keep the parts of the artichoke you are not preparing submerged in lemon water to prevent the browning process.

read the rest of how to trim an artichoke on theredspoonblog.com

©How To 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

how to make ricotta cheese

Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:49:04 +0000

I always hear conflicting instructions from different chefs and home cooks. Preferences over what primary salt you should cook with, home made versus store bought stock, salted or unsalted butter even salted water against oiled water for boiling pasta. Everyone’s got their opinion and it’s great that everyone finds their own groove and knows what works for them and gives them consistent results. This however, is not me pushing home made ricotta on you. I had the ingredients on hand, and I find ricotta so versatile it can be used in so many different dishes – because anything with cheese tastes better – from cheesecake to ravioli to cannoli to the perfect accompaniment to fresh fruit.

Directions are simple and the results come fast. Boil together your five ingredients, drain them and squeeze out the excess. Your fresh ricotta can be saved for later use or can be eaten right away.

read the rest of how to make ricotta cheese on theredspoonblog.com

©How To 2010 | Permalink | 0 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

how to season a cast iron skillet

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:16:50 +0000

A few months ago my mom gave me her treasured cast iron skillet — not any cast iron skillet, but a very special cast iron skillet. It belonged to my Great-Great Grandmother, and has been passed down mother-to-daughter for four generations, so this baby has been around for a while. When I received this piece of history, let’s just say it had seen better days. So if you have a cast iron skillet that is really old or been stuffed in the cabinet for so long that it looks like an ancient artifact, here are a few quick how-to’s to get that skillet back to its former glory.

First, you will need to take a damp cloth or paper towel and wipe out any dirt, grime, or rust that has collected. Next, heat up the skillet over medium heat — it is always important to preheat your cast iron before use. Once your skillet is preheated, pour vegetable oil in the pan until it is about 1/4-inch deep. Let the oil heat up a bit. Pour 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of coarse salt into the skillet. While wearing an oven mitt, take some paper towels and scrub the pan until the rust and grime are gone. Rinse the skillet out in hot water, washing out all the oil and salt.

read the rest of how to season a cast iron skillet on theredspoonblog.com

©How To 2010 | Permalink | 1 comments | read more:

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

italian wedding soup

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 19:25:33 +0000

Last Tuesday was our four year anniversary. I know. I’m twenty-three with four years of marriage under my belt and a still alive, somewhat small-ish two month old. We celebrated (the anniversary, not the still alive baby, though both deserve a party) by going on our second date after the whole baby thing happened. Thankfully your prayers worked. We did not once discuss our little valentine (unless you count the time when I realized there was dried spit up on my shirt, sigh). Our prix-fixe menu was superb with lobster risotto, tender short ribs (apparently I am a sucker for a good short rib since I’ve ordered it the last four times we’ve gone out) and a champagne caramelized mango tatin, if you’re me, or a hazelnut chocolate bread pudding and caramelized banana parfait if you’re him. Yes, our anniversary date was a success and the deep red roses are still perfuming the house (even though the florist was a day late, “too many orders”. Excuse my eye roll).

But before he knew the florist would fail him, my husband thought he would “have some fun”. After far too many hints (in my opinion) and a desperate plea to go to the store for a “few items” (read: at least bring home a picked over bouquet of daisies) he came home with the ugliest, half dead, burnt orange and brown Idontknowhwhaththeheckyouaresupposetobe flowers and a package of baby’s breath (which in four years of marriage he has made one thing clear: his hatred for the tiny white buds) and a card (sorry, honey. I thought you were actually serious about this…) making me think he tried his hardest to find the most decent, award winning flowers and a funny/cute card (copy this card I got him 2 years ago) to make me laugh. I will not lie. I was extremely disappointed*. I wanted to shove the flowers in the trash can behind him, but refrained and left them on the table to finish their long, slow, miserable wilting death. I channeled my anger into reading my CI magazine that appeared last week instead.

read the rest of italian wedding soup on theredspoonblog.com

hear ye, hear ye

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:11:52 +0000

Tomorrow is the big day! Men, I hope you’ve alerted the florist and scored a reservation at the romantic restaurant your gal loves, but in case you prefer to skip the crowded dinning establishments or like to get right to it directly after dinner (and by get to it I mean dessert) then here are some options you just might like to make for your sweetie.

read the rest of hear ye, hear ye on theredspoonblog.com

oven spareribs with vinegar barbecue sauce

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:30:25 +0000

I was probably the last person to find this out, but Sunday night was Superbowl night. Really, I should be more in-tune to these things as I am raising a little man, but the love of football was for my college years. A time in my life where everything was more exciting and nail-biting, a time where I would actually choose to devote three whole hours on a Sunday afternoon to watch an oddly shaped oblong ball being tossed around on a ridiculously long field by rather big, thickly men running in tight spandex — let’s just say, I’ve out grown this. Partly because men in tights no longer has an appeal and partly because I’d rather be ~~baking up~~ devouring a chocolate cake or taking a nap, or doing laundry (the latter is more of a I-have-no-more-clean-anything, must.do.laundry.)

But my husband, being a man’s man loves sports. I’ve given up precious Grey’s time (alright, I lie. I instead allow it to be recorded while I watch the holy grail of shows on Thursday nights) so he can watch his slew of basketball, football, soccer, hockey, golf, and tennis matches. But watching them is not the only part of his ritual. There is also a fantasy-team, fantasy-league parties, matcho-man talk with his other manly men friends as discussions and debates revolve around the latest upset or the coolest dunk or swish or ace. And me, as a good wife, I pretend to be interested by talking to the wives about cooking or vacations or babies or really anything, as long as it does not revolve around sports.

read the rest of oven spareribs with vinegar barbecue sauce on theredspoonblog.com

homemade marshmallows + whipped hot cocoa

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 22:00:18 +0000

Marshmallows are a sticky, messy business people. Had I known this prior to setting off to tackle awesome mom-dom by way of making fun mallow shapes dyed the color of a rainbow (because what ~~adult~~ kid would turn this down) I became tangled in a rather large sticky mess of mallow strings and almost gave up the notion of being anything resembling a cool parent. I know, my kid is a mere seven weeks and not in the least able to get messy with me in mallow webs of yummy, currently preferring a good hoot with his forest friends over rainbow stickiness, but when the day comes, I will be prepared.

read the rest of homemade marshmallows + whipped hot cocoa on theredspoonblog.com

orange currant muffins with pistachio crumb

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:00:43 +0000

Shhhhhh. The baby is sleeping. Finally. The husband had the audacity to leave our home office and get whisked away to the Big Apple on a business trip for three whole days taking my dutiful put-baby-down-for-nap and wake-baby-up-from-nap partner, leaving me the bad guy.

This guy also took my daily dose of grown up as it’s just me and baby in the house…alone. Albeit, I am glad to take a break from our most frequent conversation topic:

Josh: Hey, his diaper needs to be changed.

…

Josh: Then I want him back.

read the rest of orange currant muffins with pistachio crumb on theredspoonblog.com

shitake, radicchio and taleggio pizza

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 16:11:27 +0000

This week has been brutally cold and windy. Which makes me sad, very sad. Winter has been great — it brought the biggest cheese ever — yet I’m ready for it to be over. I reach this point every January, after the holidays have gone, and there is no lingering celebrations with family or friends trying to drag out the merriment for as long as possible, and the point has been reached today. I’m done. There is nothing left to look forward to in the remaining winter weeks, except my four year anniversary — and really the husband and I have discussed picking a totally random day, like May 19th or October 8th or another day where it is not hard to come by a dinner reservation, or enjoy one anothers company in the middle of a crowd as we just had to pick, ahem, I had to pick the day of hearts and roses to get hitched.

Spring is now in the forefront of my mind, a time that will bring actually ripe fruits and vegetables instead of the hot house and imported varieties from other countries. But with spring comes color, flower buds that eventually turn vibrant yellow, or tiny green sprouts of grass that shoot up into a thick carpet. And the sun, it melts the gray filled days of a dead and unappealing winter away.

read the rest of shitake, radicchio and taleggio pizza on theredspoonblog.com

new york times chocolate chip cookies

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:14:43 +0000

This is a celebration people. We have survived the first month, err, I should say our baby has survived. And frankly in honor of our success, the baby’s well being and my current chocolate chip cookie obsession what better way to say thank gawd than these. It was something I was content keeping to myself, I know you all don’t need another recipe for something that is pretty much the same thing over and over — butter, brown sugar, flour, some eggs and chocolate chips. To be honest, to say one recipe is superior to another is something I have scoffed at for years, until now. It wasn’t until I made these, err, someone made these for me that the marathon of *cough* a dozen cookies for breakfast *cough* *cough* came about.

Not only was I blown away by the ratio of chocolate chip to cookie — I’m pretty sure David Leite was trying to find a way to shovel in chocolate chips without having to eat them directly from the bag while maintaining some level of sophistication — but the fact that the chips were still gooey and soft and melty four days later. Seriously. Then my friend gave me the recipe and accompanying dissertation and I, ashamedly, put it aside to pull out the back up of pillsbury I’ve kept on hand since my third trimester cravings.

read the rest of new york times chocolate chip cookies on theredspoonblog.com

penne à la vodka

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:57:09 +0000

Yesterday was a sad, devastatingly upsetting day in our house, well, at least for me it was. This kid, who let us take a peek at some blue eyes he likes to hoard under his eyelids, has grown out of his newborn-sized clothing. (I will give you a moment to grab a tissue box and think of something encouragingly sweet to comfort me with. Also, chocolate chip cookies would be nice). After folding tiny onesies and stretchy pants my foot couldn’t even fit into if it wanted, I have now had to graduate my quickly growing kid into the next size up (and really, this should have been done a week ago, but I slightly enjoyed — to my kid’s dismay every time I had to dress him — the struggle to snap a cute fox onesie on him, and the elephant, oh and the monkey one and the I am handsome one while I still could squeeze him into it).

And thus dinner was comfort food. Something mama could drown her sorrows in as my kid has already thrown my back out just from feeding him — yes, he is that heavy already. Plus my husband finally joined in on the twitter front, and I was not his first follow…more like his seventeenth. 17! Marrying each other, living together, having a baby together, yes, it has all been good. But following me on twitter — it’s like I asked you to chop off a finger*.

read the rest of penne à la vodka on theredspoonblog.com

leek and pancetta risotto

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 17:53:49 +0000

Well folks, it’s officially 2012 and my ubber gracious and fantastic friends have deemed me capable enough to get back into the kitchen without the aid of their promised meals. (Yes, I brought it on myself, really.) But for the past two and a half weeks I have been amazed at all the delicious meals Josh and I have chowed down on, most notably a creamy parmesan shrimp risotto brought to us last week and something I have not stopped thinking about since.

Now, I don’t believe in giving up anything one enjoys, especially if it involves cheese, but because I have been thrown to the sharks of the nightly ritual of dinner, I decided to start the New Year and its night-time meal with risotto. I know, I know three days after Resolution Day is not the best time to bring up creamy, cheesy, bacon-sprinkled rice dishes, but be thankful that I decided the chocolate chip cookie kick — more like marathon — I have been on has not yet shown up on these pages (as I’m sure any day now I will crack and bake up a batch and thus cause you to stumble over warm, gooey, slightly melted chocolate chip studded cookies).

read the rest of leek and pancetta risotto on theredspoonblog.com

homemade ferrero rocher

Wed, 28 Dec 2011 20:32:16 +0000

First of all I want to thank you for the warm welcome you have given little Henry. He is quite smitten with us as we are with him, and it seems as if everyone else is too. I must be a mom because reading comments, and being stopped by a friend or random stranger and getting compliments on baking up something so sweet, precious and insanely cute never gets old.

And he is cute and adorable and every other cliche (but not really) adjective you want to use. Did I mention he is trying to suck his thumb (mama called that one), he snorts like a pig when he’s hungry, or that he has so much hair not a single person can walk past him without giving him a loving pet — which means we have bought stock in baby shampoo and have taken home a teeny tiny comb and brush set to make sure his locks stay in place (which have yet to obey us). Tsk, tsk, so unruly baby Henry!

Not that we will ever blame him for his adorable cow licks and nap-static hair. He is just too cute. But while we are catching up, I almost hate to mention the fact that in addition to the world’s easiest pregnancy (did I mention, other than the insane lack of energy, I otherwise felt, err, not pregnant?) I also had a labor that would make most first time moms a wee bit jealous. Besides coming a whole day prior to his due date (he and I had a talk about this and we both agreed a prior eviction would be easier and more pleasant for us both) and the almost embarrassing moment of my water breaking at a friend’s birthday party, my labor lasted for a mere six hours and left me feeling like I could do it again real soon. (Though, I must shoot down rumors of us baking up a brother or sister for Henry any time soon. As good as he is, I think we will enjoy him a little bit before we start thinking about adding more awesomeness to the mix).

read the rest of homemade ferrero rocher on theredspoonblog.com