cooking

Frozen Chocolate Cardamom Pudding with Roasted Hazelnuts

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frozen chocolate cardamom pudding with roasted hazelnuts 2

It’s February 24th and officially 116 days ’til summer.

For us in San Diego, that doesn’t mean much of anything since every day here is a bit like Groundhog Day.

IE. One version or another of summer, no matter what San Diegans will tell you to the contrary.

Some days, when the daytime high dips to a blustery (*cough*) 63 Degrees F, it feels for us like fall.  But winter?  We don’t know winter.

But the Northeast?  Those guys know winter.  Especially this year.  Case in point, this picture. Continue reading →

Rosemary Raisin Sour Cream Scones

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rosemary raisin sour cream scones

When I was younger I used to make my home in Providence, Rhode Island.

I lived in a small, two bedroom walk-up apartment with various roomies on a street called Hope.

I used to be an artist model back in those days.  It was one of my most favorite jobs I ever had and though I spent many an hour freezing what-my-momma-made-me off and developing the crackitiest, creakitiest of joints, spending my days as one was great.

I modeled at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and at the Providence Art Club as well.  But my most favorite place to work was with a private painting group of mostly older ladies at Lippitt Farm, a sprawling private estate at the edge of country of Tony J’s, an amazing artist and RISD instructor who hosted them there. Continue reading →

Food Love Fridays: October Edition

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Image from IntentBlog.Com

Image from IntentBlog.Com

It’s October 2014 and there’s a whole lot to love.

For starters, Sean Brock’s new book, Heritage, which just came out this month.  Let’s just say it makes me want nothing more than to grab my husband, hightail it down to Charleston, camp out on Sean’s back steps and hope he feeds us.

(Not before putting his book on my Christmas wish list, of course).

Sean you are my culinary hero. Continue reading →

No-Churn Roasted Peach Ice Cream with Mint and Lime

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no churn roasted peach ice cream with mint and lime

San Diego is where it’s at.

Well, okay, where Christopher and I are at.

Yup, dear friends.  It’s official.

We are now bona fide, without-a-shadow-of-a-doubt San Diegans.

And I am not quite sure how I feel about it yet.

It’s kind of like how that line in that Soundgarden song goes:

I’m looking California and feeling Minnesota.

Now, I don’t quite look California (too pale), and not quite Minnesota because I’m no longer perpetually chilled and just too darn glad to be here. Continue reading →

Best Homemade Strawberry Shortcakes (or What It Really Means)

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best homemade strawberry shortcakes

Birthdays can have their way with you if you let them.

(And not in a good way).

They tend to be viewed by much of Western society as simply markers on the passage of time to a place we’re all headed to known as Older.

And Western society does not like Older.

It’s true, time does speed up the older one gets and with The Big Day (i.e. Moving Day) a mere 15 days away now, I am all the more aware of the passing of time than ever before. Continue reading →

Best-Ever No-Knead Bread (or It Will Change Your Life)

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best-ever no-knead bread

In less than a day from now, this newlywed will be in Cabo San Lucas for a heavenly week with her husband, Christopher.

Sun, sand and more naturally acquired vitamin D than you can shake a sombrero at; if I were any more excited, I probably wouldn’t be allowed into the country.

What makes it all the more special though, is that it’s our honeymoon.  And not just that, but the eve of our one year wedding anniversary. Continue reading →

Food Love Fridays: The America’s Test Kitchen D.I.Y. Cookbook (Review)

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americas test kitchen diy cookbook

Welcome to the very first Food Love Fridays post, everyone!

Let’s kick it off right.  Together now …

Ready?  Get set … go!

I’ve been a fan of America’s Test Kitchen (ATK) for years.

They were people after my own heart: people obsessed with making great (even lackluster) recipes better, toiling away in their test kitchens so we wouldn’t have to.

My kind of people. Continue reading →

Brazilian Shrimp Stew with Coconut Milk

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With Fall just around the corner, Summer becomes much more important.

We in the Pacific Northwest wait for it like some wait for Christmas.

We hold our breath, afraid that if we blink a few too many times — due to the what-the-what-is-that?! blinding orb in the sky — we might miss it.

It arrives crazy-fashionably late, like a flaxen-haired princess on the back of a chariot.  All too soon, her ride turns the corner and we find ourselves holding a half-eaten corn dog and nothing but a faint, Vitamin-D memory of her. Continue reading →

Best-Ever Pecan Waffles with Bacon

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I must admit, Tuesdays are not my favorite thing.

It’s the day of the week when the Lawn People come to tend to my apartment complex’s green stuff.

They descend upon it like a swarm of weed-whacking locusts and hang out from 8:00am – 3:00pm to drive me nuts, and make me want to go jiu jitsu on the next nearest living thing.

They add to the already omnipresent noise of yowling little toddler residents, and the frenzied “Go potty, come on, go potty, go potty…don’t eat that!” of dog-crazy people waiting for their dogs to poop just below my kitchen window.

I know that the Lawn People are here to at least make things pretty for me, but it all just makes me want to go ballistic. Continue reading →

Handy-Dandy Little Baggies

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Sandwich bags.

I know, not terribly exciting, right?

No doubt, chill tenants in one of your kitchen drawers, these little do dads wait patiently for your lunch, or to hold small stuff for you on those occasional trips.

But guess what?  I’ve got something to get you excited about.  Sandwich bags aren’t just for sandwiches and wayward hair clips anymore.

Did you know that these handy-dandy little baggies can actually help you while you cook?  Well, they can. Continue reading →

Spiced Yogurt with Peaches and Candied Ginger

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Fellow food blogger, Amelia Crook of Simple Provisions got me to thinking recently.  Her M.O. is:

Food does not need to be fancy to be celebrated.

To that I say, “Speak the word, sister, speak the word!”

Fussy does not mean good, and yummy does not necessary have to be complicated.  Sometimes the most satisfying eats don’t even involve cranking up the stove or whipping yourself into a cooking frenzy.

Sometimes they involve a simple, perfectly ripe peach. Continue reading →

Top 15 Things Every Small Kitchen Must Have: Part II

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Uh huh, you guessed it!

Today we’re continuing to count down — or in this case, up — to my top 15 things every small kitchen cook must have to have fun and make magic in the beautiful, bitty kitchens they’ve got.

Maestro, drum-roll please!

Our next five!

6.  Fresh herbs.  ‘Cause, simply put, you can’t beat ’em.  And you don’t need a garden, much space, or even a green thumb.  I have a thirty-five square-foot apartment balcony, a thumb that’s light green at best, and it’s a jungle (and my haven) out there.  Make one on yours.

Continue reading →

Top 15 Things Every Small Kitchen Must Have: Part I

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A big part of Small Kitchen Chronicles is for and about the small kitchen cook, as well as cooking and living big in the small spaces we’ve got.

So, it’s always the perfect time to talk about great, small kitchen must-haves.

Though it’s a very personal thing, here is my Top 15 List of things this small kitchen cook can’t live without.

So, without further adieu…

Christina’s first five!

1.  Good, quality ingredients, preferably organic, local and in-season.  If you buy anything, this is what you should spend your hard-earned change on.  A pauper can live (and cook) like a king on quality over quantity.  Even if it’s in an aluminum pan, it’ll make all the difference.

Continue reading →

The Humble, Little Lemon

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Okay, it’s official.  Summer’s here and it’s just about the time when I start thinking about all things refreshing.

Visions of lemonade and dancing lemons fill my head and then inevitably, I get to thinking how much I love the humble, little lemon.

It’s sunny face smiles back at me no matter what time of the year it is, and no matter how dreary it can get here in the Pacific Northwest, I know there’s always a bit of sunshine waiting for me in the fridge. Continue reading →