For a while I had a spin teacher who ended every class imploring his students to spend a second being grateful that they were healthy enough to exercise. That seems right to me. I love to jog. I like the feel of the sun on my shoulders and the wind in my hair. Once I’ve gotten oven my initial laziness, I feel glad and grateful whenever I hit the pavement. That said, I also harbor no illusions about being an athlete. I’m clumsy and not light on my feet. But that’s why jogging is so great. You can just do it your way. Any way that happens to be.
Read moreSummer Berry Buttermilk Muffins
Every day I confront a pressing moral dilemma. The good and evil parts of my personality are fighting it out, and I’m really not sure which side is going to win. My predicament involves fresh strawberries, a friendly church, and potential jail time.
Read moreGluten Free Boston Cream Pie
I know what you’re thinking. You probably read the title of this post and shook your head. Maybe you scrolled through the pictures disapprovingly. “My land,” you thought, “this woman is obsessed with custard.” And you know what? You’re absolutely right. It’s shameful. I am. But this week I have an excuse. This week I’m passing the buck. This week I’m blaming three other people. Custard haters, please send your complaints to John Cheever, my husband Gus, and John McPhee.
Read moreChocolate Coffee Cream Pie
Let me tell you how I’ve been spending my evenings up here in Maine. We wrap up dinner around 6:30, nice and early. It’s wonderful to sit on the screened-in porch and watch the light change and feel the air cool down. At the end of the meal, we sit around and chat. Then my father-in-law John gets up and clears the plates and starts the dishes. And it’s usually about that time that I’m struck by a genius idea. Every night it’s the same idea, but somehow it always seems fresh. And then I ask:
Anyone want ice cream?
Read moreStrawberry Roulade with Lavender Cream
Joyce Carol Oates said that “getting a first draft finished is like pushing a peanut with your nose across a very dirty floor.” What a great analogy. My first cookbook draft and whatever masterpiece Joyce Carol Oates was referring to may not have much in common, but I can relate to her sentiment. Lately I’ve been getting a mouth full of dust bunnies on my quest to push the peanut. I write every day. I cook almost every day. But every day I wonder if the things I’m creating are good enough. I guess that’s all a part of the process.
Read moreSpring Herb Focaccia
Sometimes delicious food and love can just bowl you over, knock you down.
Once, back when we went on what I would call “dates,” Gus took me to Lupa, one of Mario Batali's restaurants. He knew the pasta would win me over. Really he could have taken me to IHOP and I would have been happy.
Read moreVegan Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies
I was just thinking about middle school. The oversized LL Bean backpack that I insisted on wearing on one shoulder despite the threat of scoliosis. Braces that made me look so unattractive (the perm didn’t help) that one popular boy, who barely spoke to me otherwise, was moved enough to tell me how much better I looked the day they were removed. He seemed utterly relieved on my behalf. Keds. Dirty white Keds.
Read moreChocolate Glazed Doughnuts
Some people celebrate with champagne. I go for doughnuts. I need a special occasion for deep fat frying. This week I have one. Love, Cake is one year old! So what’s going to happen on this blogiversary? I’m going to express my heartfelt gratitude. Get out the deep fryer. There will be plenty of fat but I'll try not to get too schmaltzy.
Read morePistachio Cake with Chocolate
Someone was on our roof at 5:38am on Tuesday morning. Only about 2 inches of ceiling separates our apartment and the sky. I know because we can see the bottom half of all the nails that hold our roof together. Any movement above us basically sounds like Bigfoot doing a lively jig. At first I was mad. Then I decided to get up, make coffee, and get an unpleasant gym visit out of the way. Beauty rest be damned.
Read moreBlackberry Tres Leches
You know that thing where as soon as you schedule a haircut, your hair starts to look extra luxurious? It’s just one good hair day after another, right up until your appointment, and you start to question the impulse that brought you to the salon in the first place. I’m having that problem with New York City.
Read moreMaple Rhubarb Slab Pie
Did you know that rhubarb grows in Sri Lanka? Neither did I. I don’t know why that's surprising to me. According to the Internet, rhubarb is probably native to Mongolia or Siberia. So if it travelled all the way to the US, why couldn’t it travel to Sri Lanka, which is pretty close, relatively speaking. But it’s kind of fascinating. Imagine the diverse landscapes of Siberia, Sri Lanka, and Maine, for example. Rhubarb can make it’s home in all of those places. She's just that adaptable.
Read moreCherry Almond Brownies
Last week: pudding. This week: brownies. Are you getting the theme here? Yes. Chocolate. But that’s not what I’m referring to. I’m making things simple. Making it cozy. Baking it easy. Brownies. That’s about the speed I’m at right about now. I don’t know about you, but my mind is cluttered. I’ve got a lot weighing on my brain these days. Brownies take the edge off. Lots of brownies. (Thank goodness I’ve also picked up my running shoes after a much-too-long-post-ankle-surgery hiatus.)
So brownies. Everyone has a different opinion on what makes the perfect pan. Chewy. Cakey. Fudgy. What have you. I like mine from a box. Always have. Always will. But I wonder if that makes the best sense.
Read moreBittersweet Chocolate Pudding
This week I asked Gus what he thought I should make for the blog. “Chocolate pudding!” Well, I aim to please! Here you go.
Just kidding. It wasn't that easy. I was annoyed at his lack of creativity. The truth is, right when I asked him, we were both coming off a high from this dairy-free quinoa pudding I had just made. I know quinoa pudding may not necessarily get you salivating, but trust me, quinoa pudding is much more delicious than it sounds. Anyway, after that successful pudding, Gus wanted more pudding. (It makes so much sense that we’re married.) And this time he wanted a really good chocolate pudding.
Read moreGrapefruit Poppy Seed Cakes
My former colleague/current friend Merritt emailed me with a snippet from her dream life the other day. Not her dreamy and beautiful existence in San Francisco but an actual dream. Apparently, in her dreams, my current morning routine involves at least ten minutes of combing my eyebrows with a rusty old dime. Yes. That sounds about right.
Read moreBlack and Tan Cookies
We live in a studio in a small building. It’s cozy and lovely. The building was built in the late 1800’s and a lot of the original, pretty wrought-iron stairway railing remains alongside the six flights we walk up to our home. There are still mysterious doors in the hallway that hide the space where communal toilets were years ago. I think the super uses them as broom closets now. (I did spy a reeeeaaally old commode when one door happened to be open. Neat and gross!) We have pretty exposed beams across the ceiling, really beat up wood floors, and a kind of ugly but warming brick wall. All in all, I feel extremely lucky to live here.
Read moreRose Water Angel Food Cake with Lime
I always feel sort of bad for an angel food cake. Somewhere in the past twenty years food writers pushed it into the fat-free food world and it got stuck there, only celebrated for what it wasn’t rather than what it was. Then once that whole fad became a joke, and we all decided to put down the Snackwells and eat more vegetables, angel food cake never seemed to recover from the stigma.
Read moreVegan Graham Crackers with Coconut and Cardamom
My friend Cate and I used to have a standing movie date every Sunday night. Ten years ago we lived in the same Brooklyn neighborhood, only a few blocks from each other, and the date was easy to keep. We didn’t call to confirm. We just called if we needed to cancel. Not much further planning was needed.
Read moreChocolate Orange Biscotti with Pine Nuts
Do you remember the first time you tasted biscotti? Do you remember what ran through your mind? Perhaps it was something along the lines of, “This stupid cookie stick is stale. Rude.” That was my first reaction. But then again, I was just a kid. I didn’t know that biscotti are supposed to be hard. I didn’t know anything about drinking coffee. And I didn’t know that the singular of biscotti is biscotto. I’ve come a long way.
Read moreGluten Free Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
My friends and I rented a run-down, drafty house during our last two years of college. The kitchen was far from perfect. It had dingy linoleum floors covered with a film of salt and mud from our snowy boots and mysterious sticky patches from the last party. Fat carpenter ant carcasses dotted the faded countertops because B, one of my more courageous roommates, was in the habit of smooshing them with her thumb but not in the habit of disposing of the bodies. Thinking about whatever might have lurked in the dank darkness of the cupboards gives me the shivers even now. But, despite all of that, the four of us roommates were into good food and we were always excited to take up a cooking project together.
Read moreSemlor (Swedish Cream Buns)
I think I’ve found my dessert mecca: Sweden. That may come as a surprise. Not many people think of Sweden as dessert destination. I’m not sure Swedes even think of Sweden that way.
I have a Swedish friend named Erik. Fifteen years ago he was studying in England. One night, he had an important rendezvous to meet this fly American girl for the very first time. Sweet twenty-something-year-old Erik knew enough to bring a gift. Sweet Erik wanted to bring a sweet gift. Of course he wanted to make a good impression. But instead of bringing something tasty to show off the pastry talents of his own nation, he presented her with...
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