a homemade valentine: cheesecake for two!

Unfortunately, I recently discovered that cheesecake is delicious. For ages I thought I didn’t like it, at least not enough to seek it out, and this helped me avoid the cheesecake-lust that I now imagine must torment cheesecake enthusiasts on a regular basis. But then I tasted an amazing one with a crumby crust and creamy, dreamy center topped with lemon curd, and I realized that me and cheesecake could be friends.

kitchen firsts: berry tart with lemon-vanilla pastry cream

This week was one of those weeks where you don’t notice it’s Friday until several hours into Friday, and I realized it was practically the end of the week and I still had no plan or idea for my kitchen first of the week. I have a running list of things I’ve never cooked, eaten or done in the kitchen to choose from, but it is not exhaustive and I was not inspired by anything on it. Then, I went to the store and found gazillions of berries (organic, no less) on sale for ridiculously good prices, and some echoes of blog posts I’d scanned but not read started to coalesce into an idea. This week, I must try something very new, and make my first tart.

the six month check-up, and toblerone cookies

For my preschoolers, half birthdays are like a serious deal, so I figured why not for grownups too? Today marks the half-birthday of this blog, and I can’t believe it’s been six months since things got underway! It feels like longer, but somehow has also gone by quickly. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how things are going in the kitchen, and this here half birthday seems a perfect time to do a bit of reflecting, evaluating and, if necessary, redirecting.

Also…toblerone cookies. Need I say more?

kitchen firsts: the silpat + ode to chocolate chip cookies

Every night after dinner, around 10 o’clock, Stephen suddenly announces that he wants some dessert. I’m not really in the habit of making desserts regularly on weeknights, so at that point I usually say tough cookies and make him fend for himself. But once in awhile, if the mood strikes, I’ll agree to make something sweet, and Stephen’s late-night dessert of choice is usually cookies.

The problem is, Stephen is somewhat of a cookie aficionado. Anyone who knows him knows that more often than not, a cookie can be found in his pocket no matter how absurd it might seem that one would be there (at least if we ever get lost in the woods, I can pretty much count on a cookie being there to sustain us). Having eaten so many cookies in his life, he really knows what he likes and doesn’t like, and so the process of agreeing on a cookie recipe can be arduous. Unless it’s one of those “I definitely need a snickerdoodle” moments, we usually have the same conversation:

Me: What kind of cookies do you want?
Stephen: Well, you know what I like…chocolate chip!
Me: Yeah, I guess…is there anything different you want? Like, what if we tried mint chocolate chip cookies?
Stephen: (frowny face) Why would you do that?
Me: Ok, what about chocolate chip cookies with oatmeal?
Stephen: Ew, no…
Me: Well could I just add pecans or something?
Stephen: I don’t know…I guess if you have to…
Me:  What, even that is too much?
Stephen:  Well, it’s just that as far as I’m concerned, the perfect cookie has already been made. Any alterations or additions to the concept of the chocolate chip cookie merely detract from its simple, zen-like perfection (this is a direct quote).

And thus the battle ends, either with me making chocolate chip cookies à la Stephen, or us not even making cookies at all. Stephen says that me suggesting all these interesting cookie combinations makes him feel “provincial” and unadventurous (if the shoe fits…), so I guess I had better learn that it needs to either just be chocolate chip cookies or something completely out of that realm.