Birthdays are made for chocolate cake...

This is where my food styling/photography skills need improvement.  I've been meaning to buy/looking for the perfect vintage glass domed cake stand for some time (and have several in "my ebay") and the ice cream could have used a drizzle of something or other so it didn't look so... white... in the flash.

But the cake?  Spectacular.  It didn't need any of my prettifying.  The cake itself was moist and cocoa-y chocolate.  The frosting was pure chocolate ganache (it was a birthday after all!).  You might think the ice cream was over the top, but it was the perfect foil to the richness of the cake.  

And Jeremy made it himself.  Bliss.

So if you love chocolate as much as I do, this amazing recipe is for you.

xo

#4 - The CIA's Gourmet Meals in Minutes

The Culinary Institute of America, not the Central Intelligence Agency (though that would make for an interesting cookbook).

It was a Sunday night, I think, and we needed/wanted something simple, delicious, and homey.  But mostly, quick.  Often on Sundays we're more ambitious with our meals, trying something that needs to be braised or stewed or raised.  I can't remember why, but this particular Sunday our laziness kicked in so when hunger called I flipped through this cookbook, which was next on the shelf, to see what I could find.

Lo and behold a pasta dish.  Perfect.

I'll admit, the Italian girl in me was suspicious of a pasta dish with a decidedly Southwest bent (whoever heard of cilantro in pasta?!?!), but it was delicious - just what a lazy wintery night in Alaska called for.

Fettuccine with Corn, Squash, Chiles, Creme Fraiche and Cilantro
adapted from the CIA's Gourmet Meals in Minutes


1 pound fettuccine noodles (though I might use pappardelle next time)
2 tbsp good olive oil
2 onions, diced (too much, I halved this)
2 zucchini, diced (try to get young ones)
4 cups corn kernels, frozen or fresh
2 jalapenos
2 tsp garlic, minced (I probably doubled this!)
2 cups vegetable broth
salt & pepper
1/2 cup creme fraiche (or sour cream, come on..)
1/4 cup cilantro

Cook the pasta until al dente in very salty water.  In the meantime, saute the onions and zucchini until the onions are translucent and the zucchini is tender.  Add the corn, jalapenos and garlic and cook another 5 minutes or so.  Add the broth and season with salt and pepper.

Drain the pasta but don't rinse!  You need the starch from the pasta to thicken the sauce.   Add the drained pasta to the sauce until it's coated and a bit creamy.  Serve in the prettiest pasta bowls you have with a dollop of cream and cilantro.

Full Disclosure...

We (and by we, I mean I) should have started this blog with a couple of caveats.

1.   I have never been good at keeping a journal, writing papers throughout the course of a semester, or "cleaning as I go."  This blog, apparently, is no different.  My posts have been to few and far between and I wonder if it's been too restricting to simply post when we try a recipe out of a cookbook and ignore the many recipes we make out of cooking magazines, other blogs, or just from our own imaginations (like last night's street tacos, a.m.a.z.i.n.g.).  Patience, friends.

2.  Food porn is harder than it looks.  A couple of the dishes I'm about to blog about have pictures of the recipe, rather than the food.  Any hints on great resources to improve my food photography/styling skills would be warmly welcomed.

3.  Finally, and this is the BIG one, there really are very few new, original ideas.  Take the premise behind this blog.

Now I will say that there are a few food blogs I look at regularly.  Just a few, because I'd rather be cooking or hanging out with friends and family or drinking coffee or online shopping or any number of other things than looking at hundreds of food blogs every day (though I'm glad you're looking at mine!). Needless to say, I named the blog and came up with the concept without giving much thought to who else might have had a similar idea...

I can tell you this - someone much cooler, and probably much taller, had the idea and her blog is a.m.a.z.i.n.g.  It's called 100 Cookbooks and you should definitely check it out.  The author's name is Heidi (of course).  She is tall and blonde and lives in San Francisco (of course).  She focuses on whole, healthy foods and takes the most beautiful pictures that have been published in all the coolest magazines (of course).  And I'm pretty sure her skin is always clear, her clothes are impeccable styled, and her apartment rivals an issue of Architectural Digest.  

So, begging her forgiveness (and yours) I'll keep on with our goal of cooking through the cookbooks on the shelf and throwing in something random from time to time, especially if it's too yummy to pass up.

xo