perfect cherry pie

jon's sister & cousin made this pie with williams-sonoma pie cutters-- i couldn't get over how perfect it looked! oh and it tasted ok too :)

margarita cupcakes - cinco de mayo

cinco de mayo!

easter cupcakes

easter cupcakes call for LOTS of color. - ha and they are kind of ugly.

apple tart

thanks to my bf for watching gordon ramsay and getting inspired by this delicious apple tart! man, puff pastry rules.

birthday cupcakes for a man

you know you're cool when you brand your boyfriend's birthday.

happy bday best friend!

his favorite is carrot cake, so i made some from scratch. filled & iced them with cream cheese icing (that he actually made), garnished them with a couple julienned carrots & cinnamon. fancy.

bread - slow dough

dominating this resolution: bake our own bread.

lemon souflee

lemon souflee & new kitchen tools tea towel. happpy new year!

carrot bread

made this carrot bread over the weekend - a no-knead recipe that anyone can do.

• 3 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting

• 1 1/4 teaspoons table salt

• 1/4 teaspoon instant or other active dry yeast

• 1 1/2 cups freshly squeezed carrot juice

• 3/4 cup currants

• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

• 1 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 
  

1. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt, and yeast; add carrot juice. Using a wooden spoon or your hands, mix until a wet, sticky dough is formed, about 30 seconds. If it's not really sticky to the touch, add another tablespoon or two of water. Add currants and walnuts and mix until incorporated. Cover bowl and let stand until surface is dotted with bubbles and dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours.
2. Generously dust work surface with flour. Using a bowl scraper or rubber spatula, scrape dough out of bowl in one piece. Using floured hands or a bowl scraper, lift edges of dough in toward center. Tuck in edges of dough to make a round.
3. Place a clean kitchen towel on work surface. Generously dust towel with flour and sprinkle with cumin seeds. Gently place dough on towel, seam side-down. If dough is tacky, dust top lightly with flour. Fold the ends of the towel loosely over dough to cover and place in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours. Dough is ready when it is almost doubled in size and holds an impression when gently poked with a finger. If it springs back, let rise 15 minutes more.
4. Meanwhile, one half hour before the end of the second rise, preheat oven to 450 degrees with a rack set in bottom third of oven. Place a covered 4 1/2-to-5 1/2-quart cast-iron, high-quality all-ceramic, or enameled cast-iron (with plastic handle removed and screw hole plugged with aluminum foil) in the center of rack.
5. Using pot holders, very carefully remove preheated pot from oven and uncover. Unfold towel and quickly but gently invert dough into pot, seam side-up. Cover pot, return to oven, and bake for 25 minutes.
6. Uncover and continue baking until bread is a deep chestnut color, 15 to 20 minutes more. Using a heatproof spatula or pot holders, carefully lift bread out of pot and place it on a rack; let cool completely.

carrot juice, flour, salt, yeast, currants & walnuts. 20-hour no knead bread.

goat cheese tarts

tomato, basil, goat cheese, garlic, salt & pepper... my favorites.

food from aspen

from top to bottom:

1. pumpkin muffins with cream whipped cream cheese icing, sprinkled with cinnamon

2. crepes stuffed with aspen peaches, topped with greek yogurt, honey & powdered sugar

3. the most delicious tuna tacos from bad billy's

halloween cupcakes

i hope my co-workers like sprinkles!

peaches

peach, sliced peaches and peach tart.

fourth of july fireworks - fav pic of the night

fourth of july at buffalo bayou park. houston, texas