Happy Monday, friends, and May the 4th be with you! Today I’m just bursting with bright, springtime bloominess (not a word but should be) because there’s an Edible Flower Potluck petaling up (also not a thing) the interwebs!
This gorgeous, flower-filled potluck started with Renee (as lots of good things do), and I have to say, I’m not sure a more beautiful (if virtual) potluck ever existed. Just look at all of these gems!
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Hello, friends! Tomorrow is May Day! Here are your last April thinking links:
I feel like we need to catch up. Where has time been flying, these days?
Me, I’ve been flying to Philadelphia. There, I ate hoagies and had an IHOP date with my dad.
And I made an appearance on a morning show! (Thanks, Fox 29!) I also bought butter cookies (with extra sprinkles) at the Ardmore Farmer’s market, but didn’t make it to Rita’s for water ice. Next time.
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Apologies for the slow week around these parts! I’ve been busy with traveling and dinner guests and quizzes on macronutrients (yikes), but I promise I’ll have a new recipe for you soon. In the meantime, check out this week’s links!
Happy Thursday, peepsicles! Here, your weekly links:
What do you do on a bumpy plane ride?
I’ll tell you what I don’t do. I definitely don’t freak out. I do NOT insist on staring out the window while counting slowly to one hundred in my head. And by no means do I start listening to Will Smith songs because of the comfort that knowing 100% of the words to “Gettin’ Jiggy With It” brings.
That just doesn’t sound like me.
(But you gotta, Prada, bag with a lotta, stuff in it, give it to your friend let’s spin…)
#whateverittakes
I’m on my way to Philadelphia! To see my parents and do a little book promoting. I’m excited to chat up Sheet Pan Suppers and also tell everyone I come in contact with about the little veggie garden we planted in our backyard last weekend. Look at this!
It’s growing real, actual vegetables! Butter lettuce, spinach, sweet peas, onions and beets! Also some strawberries, raspberries and chives. I’ve never had my own garden before, but last year Ben and I managed to kill every single one of our apartment-sized potted plants, so here’s hoping things are on the up and up for us, green-thumb-wise.
But what am I saying? You guys are here for the cookies, no? Let’s talk about madeleines! I broke in my madeleine pan with these bad boys. (If you don’t have one, not to worry – you can bake these in a muffin tin instead – they won’t have the same shape, obviously, but they’ll be just as delicious.)
I loosely followed Daniel Boulud’s recipe, the one that was published in Bon Appetit a few months ago, and it seems the man knows his madeleines. These are infused with browned butter and orange zest, and they’re soft, cakey and just perfect with a cup of hot coffee or tea. Their one downfall is that they depreciate quickly, losing their light, fluffy texture after just one day at room temperature, but the good news? I found the solution.
…Now excuse me while I eat every single one.
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Happy Thursday, pals! This week has been full of furniture arranging (and rearranging) and sunshine and miniature cadbury eggs. How about you? Here are this week’s thinking links:
I’ve been so preoccupied with dealing with all of the boxes in our house (the boxes, my god, the boxes! Let it be known that moving is just a lesson in setting up/breaking down boxes,) and lamenting the fact that, due to said boxes (and the chaotic state of our new home, in general), it doesn’t seem like I’ll be able to pull off a Seder for Passover this year, I almost forgot that it’s Easter weekend, too!
(#Jew…ish.)
My lovely in-laws are hosting Easter on Sunday and, because they know what’s what, they’ve put me in charge of dessert. I had big plans to make Deb’s raspberry macaroons and maybe even a flourless chocolate cake in a nod to the (begrudgingly neglected, by me) Passover holiday, but then I saw these little munchkins on Martha Stewart’s instagram and that was that.
I mean, HOW CUTE are these guys?
The facts: they only use 4 ingredients (plus a bit of chocolate and mini eggs, for decorating). They take less than 30 minutes to bake. They are a bonafide excuse to buy a big bag of miniature chocolate easter eggs.
So WHAT are you waiting for? Easter weekend baking project — begin!
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It’s the first Thursday in our new house! And it feels amazing. I’ll try and post some pictures soon, if you’re interested. In the meantime, here are your weekly thinking links:
So I know that Stranger Danger is real and the world wide web can be a pretty scary place, but I have to go on record and say it: internet friends are just really great.
Having a blog is a weird thing. You put things out there in a pretty public way, not knowing who (if anyone) is actually reading your junk (besides your Dad… hi, Dad!), and it can feel so daunting when you consider that there are approximately one bajillion other food blogs out there, but it’s all in the way you look at it, isn’t it? Because on the one hand there are a bajillion other bloggers out there making grapefruit cocktails and what makes YOU so special, anyway? But on the other hand, there are a bajillion other bloggers out there doing what you do, and liking what you like, and writing and cooking and CREATING, and how great a community is that to be a part of?
It’s taken me awhile to find my voice and place in the whole bloggy world (and I’m not entirely convinced I’ve got anything at all figured out), but I’ve absolutely loved getting to know other bloggers throughout the process. Food blogger friends are the Bees Knees. For so many reasons, but mostly because they don’t judge you when you do bizarre things like cut little hearts in your banana bread or give cutesy and redundant names to the muffins you just baked. They make Twitter and Instagram infinitely more interesting, and they don’t even mind when you show up to a party (virtual or otherwise) with a cake that’s missing a slice because you had to photograph it (obvs).
I can’t remember where I first met Emily of The Pig & Quill, but damn if I’m not glad that I did. Girl is one of the funniest and most creative blargers out there, the kind of lady who isn’t afraid to make fried hotdog sandwiches or Hawaiian street corn with SPAM or talk about the trials/tribulations of being a stroller-seeking parent blogger AND vegan chili in the same post. Plus she’s the kind of person who totes loves abbrevs, which I can def appreesh.
And she’s having a baby girl! Who is pretty much guaranteed to be adorable and enjoy pork. So, in honor of this soon-to-be little muffin:
HAPPY SURPRISE BABY SHOWER, EM! Wishing you a happy and healthy little piglet. I made you pink grapefruit sparklers because they’re cute and pink and I wanted to drink one. Also they’re available in both champagne-aholic and nonalcoholic versions, so everyone wins! #champagne.
Check out all of the other #EmsPigletParty goodies here:
Here’s to good buddies of the interwebs. Cheers!
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