Ah, so it turns out that I took an unplanned hiatus from blogging. Sorry about that. Dave and I just moved to a much nicer apartment, and we are finally wedding planning in earnest, so things have been pretty overwhelming around here.
As part of my return to food blogging, I have presents for you! (It’s [...]

It’s time for Menu of Hope again! What is Menu of Hope, you ask? Well, here’s a FAQ. In sum, Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising event hosted by Chez Pim. Last year, Menu for Hope raised nearly $100,000 to help the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry.
From December 15-24, food bloggers from [...]

I was completely overwhelmed by all the gorgeous entries to DMBLGIT this month. Choosing the winners was a difficult task! I must congratulate and thank our kind judges, who went through all the wonderful photos we received and somehow managed to score them: Baconbit from Greenmarket Report, Aran from Cannelle et Vanille, Bron [...]

This month, I’m thrilled to be hosting the peer-judged food photography contest Does My Blog Look Good in This? – May 2008 edition. You can find the results from April’s edition on Ms. Adventures in Italy.
The rules are explained in further detail below, but the gist of it is – submit a food [...]

The theme for this month’s Sugar High Friday was Sugar High Friday #41: Sweet Gifts, where I asked you to tell me about a dessert you made (or want to make) for somebody else.
What an amazing group of people you are, to have created such a huge collection of sweet gifts for your friends, family, [...]

First things first: Up there, that’s a photo of my entirely-too-cute goddaughter eating freshly made marshmallow straight from the spatula. We’re pretty brave (some might say stupid), sugaring up a 4-year-old like that. But how can you deny a child such a sweet, sweet gift?
I’m thrilled that I get to host Sugar High Friday again [...]

The Menu for Hope winners have been announced! Go over to Chez Pim to see if your name is on that long, long list.
This year, Menu for Hope raised $91,118, which is a big chunk of change over last year’s total. Thank you to everyone who participated, by offering prizes or by bidding, in pulling [...]

Here are the wonderful recipes that you sent in for my food blogging event, A Recipe From the Crease of my Right Eye, inspired by Catherynne M. Valente’s two-book series, The Orphan’s Tales.
 
 

Ramona from The Houndstooth Gourmet
Golabki – Polish Stuffed Cabbage
Ramona’s stuffed cabbage reflect the nature of the books, where stories are stuffed within stories [...]

It’s time for Menu of Hope again! What is Menu of Hope, you ask? Well, here’s a FAQ. In sum, Menu for Hope is an annual fundraising hosted by Chez Pim. Last year, Menu for Hope raised an incredible $62,925.12 to help the UN World Food Programme feed the hungry.
From December 10-21, food bloggers from [...]

I am announcing a new food blogging event, A Recipe From the Crease of my Right Eye.
This event, like my Apples Doused in Cardamom Wine, is inspired by The Orphan’s Tales: In the Cities of Coin and Spice by Catherynne M. Valente. It is the second book in a now-complete series (the first was The [...]

That fellow up there? That’s my partner, Dave. The one I’m always posting about. You may not have realized it yet, but this food blog is little more than a love poem to him.
He doesn’t really have anything to do with this post, though. This is the roundup of all your fabulous entries to Yes, [...]

This is just a reminder that the deadline for Yes, Of Course You Can Pair Garlic With That! is Monday, October 8th!
To participate in Yes, Of Course You Can Pair Garlic With That!, all you have to do is cook a dish that pairs garlic with something it’s not usually paired with. I have a [...]

I’m announcing a one-time-only food blogging event: Yes, Of Course You Can Pair Garlic With That!
When I posted my recipe for dolmas (stuffed grape leaves), I mused that I should start a food blog event devoted to pairing garlic with hazelnut, a flavor combination that thrills me to no end. Dave and I discovered it [...]

I was blown away to discover that I was nominated and then chosen as one of the top 5 in the Best Food Blog – Post category of the 2006 Food Blog Awards. There are some wonderful posts out there, and I’m flattered that the tale of my granite countertops even made it to the [...]

I want to thank and congratulate all of you. When I set the Sugar High Friday #26: Sugar Art challenge for this month’s Sugar High Friday, I was afraid I would scare people off, intimidate them out of just going ahead and having fun. Instead, you went ahead and made an extraordinary array of gorgeous [...]

This is my entry for Sugar High Friday #26: Sugar Art. Today is the last day to post entries, so please get them up and email me about them soon! I’m really excited about all the entries I’ve seen so far, and would love to see what the rest of you can come up with, [...]

This post isn’t about cooking, or photography (see how I failed to make a still life out of all that stuff?). It’s about the sheer fun of sending presents to strangers, and receiving massive boxes of goodies in return. That’s what Blogging by Mail is all about.
Last time I tried Blogging by Mail, the package [...]

This month, I am hosting Sugar High Friday, a traveling event that was originally created by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess. Last month, Johanna of The Passionate Cook had the wonderful idea of inviting us all to make chocolate truffles, and oh, my, did everyone produce some tasty looking treats.
In fact, they were so beautiful [...]

It was hard, trying to figure out what to do for Sugar High Friday #25: Truffles. After all, we all know how to make truffles – either you throw together a ganache and roll it in something, then keep it in the fridge, or you take out your chocolate molds and create chocolate shells into [...]

The bird in the top photo was found in my parents’ house by the window, terrified, unable to escape. He was so scared that when we lifted him up with the pool net and carried him outside, he didn’t move at all. You can see how close he let me get to him in order [...]

This is my entry for The Spice is Right VIII: Frankenstein’s Monster, where we are creating culinary mash-ups using spices from one cuisine in recipes or with techniques from another. Here, I have used Sichuan peppercorns to add a tingle to a bowl of classically American shrimp chowder.
The deadline to post your entries is [...]

Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice and Orchidea from Viaggi & Sapori are hosting a one-time event called Dishes of Comfort. They ask us to write about something we consider comfort food, one of the special dishes that meant a lot to us when we were young.
My grandmother has a fairly limited culinary repertoire. She [...]

I have put together a NYC Food Bloggers Mailing List. If you are a food blogger who lives in or around NYC, please subscribe to the mailing list here. We can use this to announce further potlucks, parties, classes, sales, tastings, and any other events local food bloggers might enjoy and are invited to attend. [...]

Last Saturday night, I hosted the first-ever (to my knowledge) an entirely fabulous NYC Food Blogger Potluck. It was a smashing success, and I think we are all looking forward to making this a recurring event.
I made my french onion soup dumplings, though I should go back and edit that post now that I have [...]

I am hosting The Spice is Right, a food blog event created by Barbara of Tigers & Strawberries, for just one more month. Barbara is still busy taking care of her gorgeous new baby girl (with the help of her other fabulous daughter), after all.
Since Halloween is coming up…
This month’s challenge is: Frankenstein’s Monster
Ethnic [...]

The top photo is a kitty who utterly charmed me from the other side of the window of an antique/junk store the other day.
This is the round-up for The Spice is Right VII: Seasons of Love, where I asked you to write about recipes including spice mixes commonly used in your families. As the entries [...]

This is my entry The Spice is Right VII: Seasons of Love. If you would like to join in, please do! Today is the last day to post entries for this month’s challenge, which is all about family spice mixes.
One of the flavor bases Dave and I have been using a lot since we moved [...]

I just wanted to remind you that the deadline for posting your entries (and notifying me of them) for The Spice is Right VII: Seasons of Love is October 15, 2006.
The full reminder:
This month’s challenge is: Seasons of Love
Each culture has its own common spice blends, like the Chinese five spice mix or the [...]

While I am still on my Hungarian cooking kick, I offer you two desserts: one traditional, the other, not so much.
This my entry for Sugar High Friday 23: Surprise Inside, which is run this month by Alanna of A Veggie Venture. Finding cabbage inside a dessert strudel is not surprising to Hungarians or their descendants, [...]

Barbara of Tigers & Strawberries created one of my favorite food blog events, The Spice is Right. Every month, she sets a challenge with a spice-related theme. Since she just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl named Kat, she doesn’t have time right now to run the event. I couldn’t bear the thought of [...]

I would like to hold a NYC Food Blogger Potluck on Saturday, September 30th October 21st, at 8pm. If you are interested in joining in, drop me an email and I’ll start organizing. If more people respond than can fit around my table, I will ask someone else to donate the venue instead.
Who would like [...]

I came across this recipe for basil or mint sorbet by Sara Kate over at Apartment Therapy: the kitchen, and of course had to give it a try. I followed Sara Kate’s recipe almost exactly, except that I used apple lambic instead of apple juice, and added it when I added the basil, because I [...]

This is my contribution for The Spice is Right IV: It’s Too Darned Hot!, though, in truth, I am probably the only resident of New York City who is not completely sick of the heat by now. I am cold-blooded and reptilian, and nothing makes me happier than soaking in the warmth. I am trying [...]

Summer is here, and I have been in a frenzy of home canning. I have been making jams, curds, chutneys, and sealing them in jars to lay in for the colder months to come. I know I am not the only one who acts on this urge.
I propose that we add some variety to [...]

As soon as I saw the flowering sage at the farmer’s market, I just knew I had to use it in my entry for The Spice is Right #3: The Perfumed Garden, which called for us to use edible flowers in our cooking. And as I was saying, I have this extreme overabundance of sour [...]

Sugar High Friday #19: Ginger It Up! posed a real challenge for me. You see, I love gingery sweets. I make them all the time. I’ve posted about one here already, my ginger rum churros with milk chocolate dipping sauce. I use ginger in my apple pies, my ice creams, everything. And I hate using [...]

For The Spice is Right #2: Sweet or Savory?, we were supposed to choose a spice used primarily in sweet or in savory applications in our native culture, and then turn it around and use it in the other.
My mother’s side of the family is Hungarian, and so my life has been saturated with [...]

One of the best things about NYC, and Park Slope in particular, is the abundance of streetbooks. Everywhere I go, I find books people have left out on the street for whomever may pass by. A few days after the move, we found an autographed copy of Bobby Flay Cooks American sitting in a box [...]

“I’m not stupid, you know.”
“Quit bragging.”
“Stop being rude.”
“When was the last time you read a book? The truth now. And picture books don’t count – I mean something with print in it.”
Buttercup walked away from him. “There’re other things to read than print,” she said, “and the Princess of Hammersmith is displeased with you and [...]

Weekend Cookbook Challenge #3: Foods in Shades of Orange is my first food blog event (as a participant rather than as an onlooker, that is). In honor of the occasion, I turned immediately to my newest cookbook, Jacques Torres’s Dessert Circus at Home.