Dessert First

Here's a little irony for you: when I went to the midwest for Thanksgiving a couple weeks back, I was told there might be a chance of snow, that I might get to experience the joy of the first snowfall....

Happy Thanksgiving to all! This is just a short update since I'm in Kansas about to celebrate the holiday with the family of the boyfriend. I just wanted to share a little concoction I whipped up before I left, while...

Does anyone else have a noticeable uptick in friends' birthdays around this time of the year? November to me is not just the month that marks the beginning of the holidays, but also the beginning of the birthday onslaught. I...

Some of my earliest memories of baking at home involved my mom, a box of cake mix, and a bundt pan. Now, to be completely fair to my mom and cake mixes, she came over to America at the age...

A dear friend of mine just returned from Africa and brought me a wonderful gift: a literal bag of whole vanilla beans! Apparently vanilla beans are much less expensive in Africa (no doubt due to the vanilla bean powerhouse Madagascar)...

Hi all! In honor of Halloween, I thought I'd share this candy corn recipe from my cookbook. I also got to speak with the Saucy Sisters from Nashville about this Halloween staple; here's the podcast if you want to take...

Thanks to all of you who made it out to my book party last weekend! We had a brisk fall afternoon, a lovely crowd, and chocolates for all! I was flattered that so many guests commented on the Vanilla Bean...

Edited 10/25/09: In response to e-mails asking about the seeding method, I've expanded my post to include a more in-depth explanation of tempering chocolate. See below for the bolded questions "What is tempering chocolate?" and "What is the seeding method?"...

Two years ago, one of my long-cherished goals suddenly blossomed into reality: I was offered the chance to write a cookbook. A great deal of testing, retesting, writing, and rewriting later Field Guide to Cookies emerged. One year ago, just...

I am so glad that I was able to make it to BlogHer Food! The prospect of meeting friends I'd made through the food blogosphere, virtually in my backyard, was too compelling to ignore. Combine that with some extraordinarily educational...

Hello dear readers, I'm back from Hong Kong! I apologize that this won't be as comprehensive a travelogue as some of my other reports: a host of family obligations kept me from playing tourist as much as I wanted to....

Thanks to all my readers for your well-wishes - it's been a hectic, topsy-turvy couple of weeks but we are starting to get settled into our new home and we love it! It's no surprise, is it, that the first...

Want to know what the highlight of my last week was? Here's a clue: Yes, that's me standing next to my brand-new stove in my brand-new place. Excuse the ridiculous glare from the flash of the little handheld camera we...