I just read that Jessica Simpson is going to appear on “Oprah” this Friday to complain about John Mayer calling her “sexual napalm.”
What’s wrong with being sexual napalm?
MUST I BEAR THIS BURDEN ALONE?
I make a mean tiramisu, but this talent is lost on Jeff, who is a shunner of all things coffee, coffee-related, javafied and mocha-esque. When Mommaw gave me a kickass Keurig
So, since eating an entire tiramisu might lead to firefighters sawing the house open to carry me out (next on TLC’s “Half-Ton Blogga!”), I get my fix with this Tiramisu Sundae.
A typical tiramisu has layers of ladyfingers (soaked in espresso) alternating with layers of mascarpone cream. There also can be alcohol and whipped cream involved (just like the night you were conceived! I know!) and chocolate shavings or a dusting of cocoa. For this sundae, you’ll replace the mascarpone layers with scoops of ice cream – vanilla, chocolate, coffee, Ben and Jerry’s Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, Starbucks Java Chip Frappuccino. The Espresso Ice Cream that Michelle from Brown Eyed Baker posted a few days ago? That would do nicely. Read More…
When I was a kid, we were taught that bragging was bad. Because every time a child brags, a baby unicorn gets rabies.
Still, I forgot about the baby unicorns earlier this week when my sister texted me, asking what was new. I mean, she’s my sister and a Harvard graduate and the caregiver of the First Human Children, so I figured I was on safe ground. But every time I tried to type in, “Hey, I made Paste Magazine’s list of 25 Foodies to Follow on Twitter!,” my phone’s spell-check would change “Foodies” to “Doodies.”
So, if you’ve been looking for a doodie, eureka! You’ve found me!
When life hands you lemons, you make lemonade.
But when life hands you a 2-day-old baguette, a freshly opened bottle of Maker’s Mark and five delicious snowbound days, you make Bourbon Bread Pudding. With a warm, buttery bourbon sauce. And bourbon-soaked raisins.
It’s the sort of dessert you want to curl up around and savor while you watch the snow fall. Or read a book. Or watch “The Matrix” trilogy from start to finish in its entirety. Read More…
Here in Nashville, there’s a certain low-frequency buzz. And if you’re quiet and listen very hard, you’ll hear the sounds that make up that buzz – the electronic bleeps of grocery cash registers ringing up hot chocolate and popcorn, the rumble of salt trucks and the fervently whispered prayers of thousands of kids (and their teachers) – because, OMG, SNOW IS IN THE FORECAST.
Four inches. This Friday.
To many of you, that’s nothing. A dusting. A joke. But here? Any accumulation is cause for celebration. And an excellent excuse for making a chocolate chip cookie bigger than your head. Something fun to bake, break and nibble while you watch the big flakes fall.
Back in the days of my Bachelor Girl apartment, I read one of those “step outside your box!” articles and decided to give “sleep naked!” a try. My bedroom was three floors over the parking lot, so there was no reason to break out my giant martini glass and work up a Burlesque routine. Nope. I just shimmied out of my clothes, hopped into bed and waited to greet the morning.
Only the morning greeted me first.
I woke up to a row of construction workers standing on the roof of the building across from mine, looking down through my blinds at my naked-naked self.
However, I still believe that trying new things is always a win-win situation. If all goes well, you’ve added something new to your repertoire. And if something goes awry, you’ve got a great story. Either way, you become an even more fascinating person. So, here’s a new experience for you: making panna cotta. Read More…
Do you remember in “Steel Magnolias” when Shelby (Julia Roberts) says, “I would rather have 30 minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special”?
That’s how I feel about dessert.
After spending this week trying healthier options, I can honestly say I’d rather have a spoonful of Banana Pudding than a metric ton of Quinoa Fruit Pudding.
So, you’ve managed to eat this and not that, your willpower is at its zenith, and you’re starting to think maybe Jillian Michaels should be calling you for tips. THAT’S when it strikes. A chocolate craving so intense you start feeling around in the cabinets for loose chocolate chips. You debate the merits of just making a pan of brownies and snorting them with a straw.
OK, deep cleansing breaths. You are not comic-strip Cathy. (ACK!!) At least, that’s what I told myself last night when I was ready to trade my car for a peanut butter cup. Seriously.
I was flipping through my cookbooks, looking for SOMETHING that might tame the beast without leaving me with an entire batch of cookies, candy or cake lying around. And that’s when I stumbled on this Chocolate Orange Fondue. Read More…
Growing up, I never really understood fruitcake jokes, because Mom’s Chocolate Fruitcake was something you waited for all year. A rich, fudgy bundt cake baked with Jack Daniel’s in the batter and studded with chocolate chips, chopped pecans, raisins, maraschino cherries and candied pineapple pieces.
Oh, you don’t even know.
It’s unconventional and delicious and slightly trashy, and I wish I had a great, epic story about the making of this fruitcake. Something like Truman Capote’s “A Christmas Memory,” with Mom using a dilapidated baby carriage to gather pecans and buying bootleg whiskey down by the river. But actually, she starts with a cake mix (devil’s food with pudding), moistens it with Jack Daniel’s and sour cream (instead of oil and water) and a few eggs, and stirs in all the good stuff. Pair a dark, chocolaty slice with an embarrassingly mountainous dollop of freshly whipped cream, and you’ll understand why I have no idea whether it really can last two weeks in the fridge.
A few months ago, I promised a marshmallow tutorial –WITH PHOTOS! – to Laura and Karen, to prove that, YES!, they can make marshmallows at home. Big, soft, happy, puffy marshmallows that taste much better than any you’ll find at the grocery. Marshmallows that actually MELT in hot chocolate instead of bobbing around looking stupid.
Are you ready for the challenge?
Let’s go! Read More…