Two of the most observed traditions of St Patrick’s day are probably pinching someone who isn’t wearing a bit of green and knocking back a couple of green beers. Ok - those probably aren’t the most popular St Paddy’s Day traditions, but they certainly seem to be ones that people enjoy! I personally like to celebrate with a little bit of Irish Food, like corned beef, braised cabbage and some homemade baked goods.

I’ll always do an Irish Soda Bread. These loaves are easy to make, since they’re leavened with baking soda and not with yeast. there are many variations on the traditional loaf, and I like mine slathered with Irish Butter. Soda Bread Farls are another great variation on this type of bread, baked directly in a skillet instead of in an oven.

Irish cream makes an appearance in many of my desserts for St Patrick’s Day. Irish Cream Brownies and Bailey’s Cheesecake Bars aren’t exactly traditional desserts, but they’re delicious none the less. Irish Coffee is a good pairing with an dessert.

I would do more green desserts, but green is one of those colors that doesn’t always flatter foods that aren’t naturally green. That said, there are some green dessert ideas out there. Homemade by Holman made some absolutely amazing Shamrock Sandwich Cookies. These dark green cookies are soft and cake-like, so these sandwiches are really a variation on whoopie pies. The secret to making them is piping out the cake batter into clean shamrock shapes before baking them. Nutmeg Nanny whipped up some Green Velvet Cupcakes for the holiday, too. Like the whoopie pies, these also use green food coloring with great effect. Keep in mind that it is a good idea to go with a lot of food coloring; the brighter the color the better your green sweets will look.

Most measuring spoon sets have just four spoons: 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 1 tsp and 1 tbsp. With these four spoons, you can get done all the measuring you need to do for most recipes. That said, there are plenty of times when you might end up with a measurement that doesn’t fit neatly into one of these sizes. For instance, an old recipe might call for “a pinch” of something, while a big recipe that you’ve cut down for a smaller batch might end up needing 2/3 of a teaspoon. I will divide or estimate as needed to make these sizes work with my existing spoons, but it is much more convenient to have measuring spoons that encompass these unusual sizes. This set of Odd Size Measuring Spoons covers just about all the measuring spoon bases you might need. The set includes a “pinch”, 1/8 tsp, 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp, 2/3 tsp, 1 tsp, 1 1/2 tsp, 2 tsp and 1 tbsp measures, all clipped together for easy storage. I’ve seen several other off-size spoon sets that don’t include the standard measures along with the unusual ones, so it’s nice that this set will do it all. Each spoon is also marked with milliliter equivalents, which is handy if you use European/international recipes that don’t rely on teaspoons for measurements.

Pomegranates are packed with antioxidants, which means that there are a lot of potential health benefits packed into each fruit. Pomegranates are a bit difficult to eat, since each little seed - although tasty - doesn’t have a lot of juice or flesh surrounding it, so it takes quite a while to consume one. This is where pomegranate juice comes in, making it easy to enjoy the flavor of pomegranate without the work involved in eating a whole fruit. The juice can be used in many different types of dishes, and while I often see it reduced in a sauce, I used some to sweeten up a chocolate bundt cake.

This cake is moist, chocolaty and has a tender, but slightly dense, texture. It’s a great bundt cake because it’s easy to make and each slice is satisfying to eat. I used pomegranate juice as the primary liquid in this cake, where I might use milk, buttermilk or coffee in another chocolate cake. There is a lot of cocoa powder in here, so you can’t directly taste the pomegranate flavor in the cake. You can definitely tell the juice is there, however, because there is a lovely fruity sweetness to the cake that adds some complexity to the flavor. Not wanting to skimp on the chocolate, I incorporated some chocolate chips into this cake, too.

I used POM Wonderful pomegranate juice in this cake, because it is pure pomegranate juice and not simply flavored white grape juice. Definitely take the time to look for pure juice when you make this cake, both for that fruity flavor and for the antioxidants (don’t forget that there are also plenty in the cocoa powder in this cake!). It’s pretty easy to justify having a second piece when you can say you’re doing it for health reasons!
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Some women, it is said, like to cook.
This book is not for them.

This is how The I Hate To Cook Book starts out. The cookbook, first published in 1960 (a 50th anniversary edition of the cookbook is being released in just a few months), has been a hit with home cooks ever since. The cookbook does contain more than 180 recipes, but its biggest selling point is that it is witty and fun to read, with a fantastic tone that will make you want to read every recipe just to hear what author Peg Bracken has to say. It reminds you that it is ok to have realistic goals in the kitchen - such as getting through dinner with a minimum amount of work, or finding to easiest possible dish to bring to a potluck - rather than needing to aspire to be the next Martha Stewart with every dish that you make.

The book has 13 chapters, with the last two covering household and kitchen tips rather than adding too many more recipes. The chapters have titles like “Company’s Coming, or Your Back’s to the Wall” and “Desserts, or People Are Too Fat Anyway.” The recipes are very detailed with the sort of instructions that will make sense to even a non cook, such as “cook until it’s the color of a nice camel’s hair coat” can easily follow. Don’t be fooled by all the joking in the book, however: Peg Bracken was a good cook (whether she wanted to be or not!) and these are good recipes.

Since this is an older cookbook, some of the recipes are a bit outdated, but most are just as current as those you’ll find in any other all purpose cookbook. There are no full-color pictures (at least not in my 1960 edition) to show you want the recipes should look like. It has plenty of lovely pen and ink illustrations by Hillary Knight that will make you smile as you go through the chapters.

Pink’s Hot Dogs is a Los Angeles institution. It has been here in the City of Angeles for more than 70 years - and in the exact same location all that time. It started out as a simple hot dog cart and gradually built up into its current counter-service design.  The place is open late and it is almost always packed, with a line running down the sidewalk of hungry fans looking for a hot dog fix. They have all kinds of toppings for their hot dogs, from simple chili dogs to double dogs (two in a bun) piled with a ridiculous amount of toppings and named after celebrities who are loyal fans. The thing that makes their hot dogs special is not the long line or the toppings, but the dogs themselves. They are custom made for Pink’s, so you won’t find them anywhere else, and are exceptionally tasty as-is.

I stopped in the other night when the line was not too long for a hot dog fix and snapped a few shots of the delicious dogs I tried.  There are a couple of sizes of dogs available at Pink’s, but all are pretty large. These four hot dogs filled up an entire standard lunch tray!

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