I don’t care for beer. Really, I never have. This is not so much a problem now, but imagine being in college, and refusing that red Dixie cup full of suds at a backyard party. It just never seemed right to say, “I would really prefer a glass of wine.” So I took the cup […]

Last Friday I went on local television to bake a pie– a Chocolate Raisin Pie. I think chocolate and raisins are sort of the perfect combination. I always eat the raisins with the chocolate chips out of the “bad-for-you” trail mix. (Which is really the only type of trail mix I like.) I love a […]

I am American. As if you didn’t know that from the title of my latest book, or the subheading of this site. But another way to tell my nationality is my undying love for all things peanut butter. THIS is the true way to tell when you are dealing with an American. I ‘ve found […]

This is a picture of the two pies I brought down to Washington, DC with me last week– in that horrible heat wave that struck the East Coast. These pies were cooling on my kitchen counter in Connecticut ready to make their debut at the NPR studios in DC. They were covered in pure white, […]

I was at the heath food store recently, perusing through the many bags of Bob’s Red Mill products when I spotted a bag of graham flour. Graham flour? Graham crackers, I thought. So, I grabbed a bag and went home. Some may think of graham crackers as a childish food. And I suppose they are. […]

“Yum. These are amazing. Really good. Scrumptious even,” Brian exclaimed over dessert last week. When we met (way too long ago), my husband didn’t have much of a sweet tooth. In fact, I don’t even remember there being a box of cookies, or the lone candy wrapper blowing around like a tumbleweed in his apartment […]

I’ve been thinking a lot about dough lately–kneading it, pressing it, watching it grow, baking it, and of course, frying it. Maybe I should actually amend the previous sentence to read: I’ve been thinking a lot about fried dough lately. There is nothing like a good doughnut, or a fritter, or a beignet. If my […]

We all know that Dr. Pavlov, with his multitudes of salivating mutts, has very little to do with a sweet Pavlova dessert, besides a similarity in surnames…but this dessert was so scrumptios it had me salivating, bells or not! The Pavlova is one of those desserts that is only read about in novels set in […]

Psst, come in close; I’ve got a secret for you. Yes, it’s true I’m a California girl, a place where fresh produce abounds, and Alice Waters is the gastronomical mother of us all. And if you’ve been reading this blog for awhile, you know that now I have moved to New York City, great big […]

Never have I been so emphatic about a dessert, and you have to understand that I am a pretty emphatic person, especially about desserts. But these bars, are so stupendous, that I implore you, “Make them please, pretty please, with some shaved coconut on top!” Last weekend I was out with Brian, and we stopped […]