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, and loved ones all over the world! I’ve enjoyed reading all of your stories and imagining the tastiness of your desserts. Thank you so much for participating and sharing your stories with me here.

Next month’s Sugar High Friday will be hosted by La Petite Boulangette, and the theme is Asian Sweet Invasion.

Big Blondes
Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms
Elle made these cookies from a recipe from Jill O’Connor’s Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey as a gift to her mother, to thank her for the gift of the cookbook. Way to go positive reinforcement!
 
 

Honey Bears for my Honey Bear
Kiriel from The Papillon Pantry
These bears were sent as a care package to a far-off friend, to help him eat properly even without Kiriel there to cook for him each day.
 
 

Rum Baba
Cakelaw from Laws of the Kitchen
Cakelaw made her very first Rum Baba to thank her friend for her generosity in inviting her to stay at her house in a beachside suburb for the Labour Day long weekend. I’m sure her friend loved receiving her favorite dessert as a thank you gift.
 
 

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
Mrs. W from Mrs. W’s Kitchen
Mrs. W’s dear friend is going through a hard time with her granddaughter, and Mrs. W is trying her best to help by being there to listen, to share driving and lunches, and to bake cookies to help her friend through this difficult time.
 
 
Nega Maluca
Sarah from What Smells So Good?
Sarah made this cake for her mother’s surprise birthday party. What a treat!
 
 

Whole Grain Biscotti
Smita from Smita Serves You Right
Smita gives these biscotti out for all sorts of occasions – Bon Voyage! Good luck before an exam! Welcome back (to work!)! Happy Friday! And they’ve always gone over well.
 
 

Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffle Cupcakes
Holly from PheMOMenon
Holly made these cupcakes for her four-year-old, Aidan, as a special treat that won’t trigger his allergic reaction to too much dairy. What a lucky kid, to have such a sweet Mom!
 
 

Chilled Pandan Soufflé
Rachel from R khooks
A sweet gift for Mr Soul & City and Mr Bump.
 
 

Espresso Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Amy from Eggs on Sunday
Amy made these cookies for her family, who all love chocolate and coffee combined as much as she does.
 
 

Nutella Crêpes w/Strawberry & Banana
Mike from Mike’s Table
When Mike was younger, he and his brother tried to make crepes for their mother on Mother’s Day, and, well, I’m sure she appreciated the gesture, at least. But now that he is older and more skilled in the kitchen, he was able to get over the anxiety of that memory to make these beautiful crepes for his wife.
 
 

Marzipan Mushrooms
Zlamushka from Zlamushka’s Spicy Kitchen
Every year, Zlamushka’s mother grumbles, revolts, and eventually whips up a beautiful batch of these candies for her devoted husband.
 
 

White Chocolate Irish Cream Marbled Loaf
Ngoc from Professional Bakist
This was a belated birthday cake for Ngoc’s father, who usually gets his own birthday cake but somehow failed to do so this year.
 
 

Vanilla Panna Cotta
My kitchen treats
This was made from V, who got a sore mouth from spicy food and deserved something sweet afterwards.
 
 

Bring Back the McDonald’s Shamrock Shake
Susan from Food Blogga
When Susan had her wisdom teeth removed and couldn’t eat solid food, her father waited on line to bring her a McDonald’s Shamrock Shake after work every day for a week. 15 years later, she recreated the shake as a thank you for her father.
 
 

Mint Oreo Truffles
Steph from Cooking In An Apron
Steph made these truffles as a St. Patrick’s Day present for her Irish boss and the rest of the work clan.
 
 

Time for Key Lime
Saralynn from Happy Baker
Key lime pie is Saralynn’s husband’s favorite, and his eyes light up when she makes it for him. It’s her way of thanking him for being a wonderful helpmeet to her.
 
 

Orange Date Cake
Miri from Peppermill
Miri used orange extract she received as a gift from another food blogger to create this cake for her orange blossom, her almost-three-year-old daughter.
 
 

Milk Chocolate Cookies and Cream Bark and a White Chocolate Fruit and Nut Bark
Nicole from Sweet Tooth
I’m not sure who Nicole gave these candies to, but whoever the lucky recipient was, I’m sure they enjoyed them very much.
 
 

Chocolate Pound Cake
Sihan from Walking in the Rain
Sihan’s babe never had much of a sweet tooth, but he sure loved this cake!
 
 

Matcha White Chocolate Pralines with Pistachios
Meeta from What’s For Lunch, Honey?
Meeta made these treats for her lucky local friends right before she left to visit her family for Easter, so they wouldn’t forget her while she was gone. I wish I lived in her neighborhood!
 
 

Pralines
Ann from Redacted Recipes
Ann’s grandmother used to make pralines each Christmas for her father, who liked to greedily hoard them for himself. The last time Ann made some for him, she had to make an extra batch for her children, because he still wouldn’t share. The man likes his pralines. And I’m sure he loves his daughter, who just made yet another batch to put in the mail for him.
 
 

Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Alanna from A Veggie Venture
While working on this post, Alanna discovered the unthinkable – she’s lost her carrot cake recipe. The one her grandmother made for her 17th birthday, which she made for her grandmother’s 80th birthday, and which she made year after year to celebrate her grandmother’s birthday after her death. She’s searched and searched, but she just can’t find. And while I’m sure the carrot cake recipe she’s shared with us is wonderful too, I’m so sorry to hear that her grandmother’s recipe is lost, and so grateful to hear the tale of the love and cake they shared together.
 
 

Lemon Sandwich Cookies
Katie from Salt and Chocolate
Katie made these cookies for her father’s birthday.
 
 

Chai Latte Cupcakes
Joanna Mong from Salute to Sanity
These cupcakes were a gift for a worthy cause, baked for a bake sale that was being held to raise money for the university’s library.
 
 

Swirly Macarons With Bittersweet Chocolate Ganache
Helen from Tartelette
This is my favorite entry, because not only did Helen make these gorgeous macarons for her friend’s wedding, she even agreed to mail me some to eat! Thank you, Helen!
 
 

Eggless Cranberry-Walnut Scones
Mansi Desai from Fun and Food
Mansi makes these for her husband’s breakfast, and she likes knowing that she’s serving him something that is not only delicious, but also healthy and nutritious.
 
 

Almond Butter Cake with Lemon Thyme Cream
Brittany from The Pie Lady
Brittany made this cake for her sister, who sounds like an awesome person and a life-long friend (and who declared this cake a mouth-gasm).
 
 

Vermicelli Kesari ~ Semiya Kesari!
Srivalli from Cooking 4 all Seasons
Srivalli made this thinking of Amma, who used to make it specially for her.
 
 

Orange Truffles
Linda from make life sweeter!
Linda made these truffles for two lucky girlfriends of hers.
 
 

Colomba Pasquale with Candied Peel
Louise from Knit1Bake2
Louise shares this recipe with a wonderful story about a girl who saved herself from the king by baking this cake for him.
 
 

Dark Chocolate Toffee Cookies
Mary Lynn Allen from Sweet Mary
Mary Lynn made these cookies for another worthy cause, a bake sale to raise money for the March of Dimes (a/k/a the March for Babies).
 
 

Coconut Toffee Almond Crunch Cookies and Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Brilynn from Jumbo Empanadas
Bri, this is only the easiest thing ever because you’re all such loving, giving people to begin with! And I love the cookie system idea: “Everything seems so much better when you’re handing someone an amazing cookie. Arrive late to work? One cookie. Need to take the weekend off? Two cookies. Want your co-workers to be nice to your? Three cookies. Handing in a resignation letter when three other people have just quit and the store is uber-busy? Tin of cookies. See, if everyone worked on the cookie system, life would be so much easier.”
 
 

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Zarah Maria Food & Thoughts
Zarah made these cookies for the amazing woman and new mother who has been her best friend since they were 12 years old.
 
 

White Russian Cake
Chriesi from Almond Corner
When Chriesi surprised her mother with this cake, her mother said it was even better than her own. Now, that’s a compliment!
 
 

Milk Chocolate and Passion Fruit Truffles
Aran from Cannelle Et Vanille
Aran made these beautiful truffles to welcome her friend Deena’s new baby into the world. Congratulations, Deena! And with such a sweet welcome, I’m sure that child will have the sweetest of lives. Welcome to the world, welcome to chocolate, welcome to life!
 
 

Vegan Caramel Candy
Maggie from Dog Hill Kitchen
These vegan caramel’s were Maggie’s son’s first taste of caramel candy!
 
 

Chocolate & Cornflakes nests with Mini Eggs, Chocolate Eggs, Milky Truffles, and Easter Egg Cookies
Isabel Cholaky from Isa’s Cooking
Isa made overflowing easter baskets for her cousins this year.
 
 

Lavender Shortbread and Nutella Cupcakes
Yoko from Virtual Frolic
Yoko made these when she visited her friend Sarah, and lucky her, Sarah made her dinner that evening as well.
 
 

Quadruple Chocolate Cookies
ashleystravel from Introducing Ashley
This was a gift for her husband right before he left for a month-long work trip to the Netherlands.
 
 

Chocolate Walnut Brownies
Deeba from Passionate About Baking…& beyond
Deeba made these for a dear old lady who lives near her, who is 78 years old and still makes sure to greet her at the children’s bus stop each morning.
 
 

Carrot Muffins
Nora from Pipe Dream Pastries
Nora’s family is obsessed with carrot cake, so she made these somewhat healthier than usual carrot muffins for them.
 
 

Peach Kuchen
Kate from A Way To Eat
Kate delivers extra kuchens to her lucky friends around Easter.
 
 

Peanut Manjar Balls
Gretchen Noelle Jones from Canela & Comino
Gretchen loves hospitality, and she brought these treats to the new wife a pastor she’s worked with for several months when she was invited over for lunch.
 
 

Irish Cream Truffles and Grand Marnier Truffles
Mandy from Fresh From The Oven
Monica made these for OTC’s colleagues, in thanks for the wonderful farewell party they threw for them.
 
 

Coconut Cupcakes
Mimi from Mimi on the Move
Mimi made these cupcakes for her friend SV, who declared that they were as good as the cupcakes from Magnolia bakery! (What, not better?)
 
 

Vegan Animal Crackers
Maybelle’s Mom from Feeding Maybelle
Maybelle’s Mom made these cookies for her as a low-sugar Easter treat.
 
 

Caramel Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
Ashley from eat me, delicious
Ashley made this cake for her sister-in-law’s birthday.
 
 

Banana Jam
Joy from Joy Of Desserts
Joy has wonderful childhood memories of receiving homemade jams from her aunt, and now she shares with us one of the jams she makes herself.
 
 

A Rainbow of Fortune Cookies
Michelle Safirstein from Big Black Dogs
Michelle even typed up her own personalized messages to put into these fortune cookies for her nieces. Too cute!
 
 

Move Over Bugs Bunny, This Carrot Is For Cake!
Danielle Deskins from Colin’s Mom
Danielle made this cake for two co-workers of hers who share the same birthday, but have very different tastes in sweets.
 
 

Grandpa BB’s Red Hot Baked Apples
Lisa from Confessions of an Apron Queen
Lisa’s theory is that her Grandpa baked these red hot apples for her Grandma, and that’s why she fell in love with him and they had 50 wonderful years together.
 
 

Yes, February is a bit late for me to be posting Christmas photos. But I have a pile of links to share with you that I’ve been collecting since last October or so, and I never did share any Christmas photos with you at all.

I’m a typical agnostic cultural Jew in Brooklyn, raised by a conservative Jewish family. Pesach is my favorite holiday of the year, because I love the seders. But now that I’m with Dave, I’ve had to broaden my horizons a bit. Now, when winter comes, we have Channukah with my family, another Channukah with his mother, and Christmas with his father.

This winter, we invited my 4 year old goddaughter and her mother to join us for Christmas, which I must say is the best idea we’ve had in ages. I spent a lot of time taking photos of her, which made it extra funny when it turned out that her mama Santa had left a Fisher Price digital camera under the tree for her.

That’s her in the photo, of course. Isn’t she beautiful? I don’t see her nearly often enough, but I look forward to it and love her to bits whenever I can. I should be able to see her this month, and I can’t wait! And I think Dave enjoys having her around even more than I do. They play games like Duck Tag (which is what you call it when you play tag on the way to the duck pond) and he teaches her how to type. It is cute beyond words.

Anyways, enough about my favorite small girl in all the world. Onto the links to tasty food blog posts!

Dorie Greenspan’s Slippery-Slidey Cinnamon-Espresso Cup Custard sounds like a mouthful in the best possible way.

Helen from Tartelette made a few marvelous sounding treats: Meyer Lemon Cake Roll and
Pumpkin Praline Tartelettes with Butter Pecan Ice Cream.

Banana Bread Ice Cream from katesmash is high on my to-try list.

Deb from Smitten Kitchen always has a few interesting ideas up her sleeves. Most recently, I’ve bookmarked her Butternut Squash and Caramelized Onion Galette, Chocolate Chip Sour Cream Cake (cubes of colossal cheer!), and Black Bean Pumpkin Soup.

Aki and Alex rarely post recipes, but when they do I am always interested. Here is their White Chocolate and Yogurt Ice Cream.

Who could say no to Chai Oatmeal Cookies?

Pim made gorgeous jars of Tomato Confit: oven-dried tomato in olive oil. Not to mention her quince caramels!

My quince-obsessed partner would probably also love Mercedes’s Quince Ice Cream with Almond Praline.

I am completely inspired by Khymos’s edible cocktails with gelatin – they are gorgeous!

Have you ever wondered how to make those little chocolate bottles filled with liquor? Chadzilla explains how yo make vodka pills, the basic building block for creating liquor-filled chocolates of your own.

For a tasty snack, I’d like to try the Carrot and Rosemary Miniature Scones from Chocolate & Zucchini.

These simple Whole Wheat Squash Ravioli With Sage Butter from Cookthink just fill me with quiet glee, as do their radishes with prosciutto.

From Obachan’s Kitchen, I found Ichigo Daifuku – Japanese sweets made of strawberry and sweet bean paste in rice cake. They remind me of the sakura mochi I eat at the Cherry Blossom Festival every year.

Bea can make even a simple egg look luscious and refined, in her Eggs en cocotte with salmon, leek and its mouillettes. And for a sweeter of eggs, she also made these wintry gorgeous Vanilla Cardamom Snow Eggs, which are her favorite treat.

I only discovered walnut liquor very recently, at a tasting near Union Square. Right afterwards, of course, I stumbled across this Vin de Noix recipe at Lucy’s Kitchen Notebook. I am awfully tempted to gather unripe black walnuts in Prospect Park next summer to create a batch of this!

Evil Jungle Prince made Chinese shrimp dumplings even more delicious by browning them in a pan, making pan fried har gow.

From Elise at Simply Recipes, I’d love to try her Kiwi Salsa and her Brandied Cranberry, White Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Here’s a wonderfully creative (and garlicky) idea – Roasted Beets with Celery Root Skordalia!

I am in love with Kuidaore’s Vacherin Mont Blanc – a sublime tower of delicate meringue layered with vanilla and rum flavored chestnut puree, it looks like something that should be served in one of the grand old dessert cafes in Hungary.

Speaking of desserts that would make my mother’s palate rejoice, Fanny from Foodbeam made a to-die-for Mousse aux châtaignes (chestnut mousse).

I am completely intrigued by Kitchen Wench’s Ho-dduk (Korean yeast-risen pancakes with sweet nut filling). They look like a great winter snack, and mostly I want to eat them while walking to the train in the morning on my way into the office.

David Lebovitz’s ice cream needs no introduction. How about his Chocolate and Banana Ice Cream, which he says is the easiest recipe of them all?

Lucullian Delights always has the freshest, prettiest photos. In particular, the Braised Leeks with Hazelnuts and Balsamic Vinegar caught my eye as something I’d love to make.

As I was saying, I grew up in a typically Ashkenazi Brooklyn Jewish family, but I’d love to make Barbara’s Sephardic Matzo Ball Soup for my parents and brothers to see how it holds up. Nothing beats Mom’s chicken soup, of course, but there’s no harm in adding to our repertoire. I also am dying to try her highly caffeinated BuzzBarz!

From the Passionate Cook, another recipe to tantalize my leek obsession, Leek, Gruyère & Hazelnut Quiche.

I bought My Bombay Kitchen after seeing this recipe for One Hundred Almond Curry up at the Traveler’s Lunchbox, and I love it dearly after trying out a few more of the Parsi recipes contained therein.

And from Milk and Cookies, the most beautiful grapefruit creation of the year for me, Grapefruit Soufflé.

This Apricot Chestnut Tarte Tatin from Figs, Bay, & Wine combines some of my absolute favorite flavors in a way that never occurred to me – I can’t wait for apricots to come back into season so I can make it myself!

Vanessa made Winter Sage Pesto with sage and spinach, which I really enjoyed when I played around with her recipe at home.

I always get excited when I come across Hungarian recipes, like this Raspberry Hungarian Pastry I found on The Kitchn.

I’m not sure I can think of anything more delicious sounding than these Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies with Maple Cinnamon Glaze.

And speaking of Hungarians, I am so pleased to have found Toadberry, a blog full of Hungarian treats, among other things. It caught my eye first with the recipe for Gerbeaud Slice, a signature pastry from Gerbeaud Cafe in Budapest. I remember sitting in Gerbeaud Cafe late one night with Dave a few summers ago, drinking hot chocolate and ice wine and eating wonderful desserts. Seeing this recipe brings back that memory for me, and I look forward to trying it out.

Around this time last year, we were making: Sweet and Sour Lotus Root; Monkey Bread

I got a copy of Larousse Gastronomique for the holidays this year. What an amazing resource! That’s Dave looking through it up above.

Here is another resource that I hope you will enjoy: my favorite recipes and most exciting news from 2007, rounded up below!
 
 

January: I started the year with a brand-new digital SLR camera, and have had tons of fun with it since. This month, I made some of my favorite dishes ever: Stewed Garlicky Black Bean Spare Ribs, Stir-Fried String Beans with Pork and Pork, and Malaysian Beef Curry with Thick Onion Sauce (Daging Nasi Kandar) (which I’m making again for New Year’s Eve tonight). I also created Balsamic Fudge Drops, which is probably one of the most often recreated and adapted recipes on this site. I’ve seen variations of it show up all around the internets this past year, and loved coming across each and every one.
 
 

February: This month, I discovered the sheer fun of homemade Monkey Bread, and figured out a recipe for one of my favorite side dishes ever, Sweet and Sour Lotus Root.
 
 

March: This month, Dave meditated on the essential nature of cookies and invented Chewy Maple Cookies, which continue to blow everyone away. I also loved our Leek and Oyster Chowder and Raspberry Pomegranate Urfa-Biber Brownies. But the real winner of the month was my recipe for Pomegranate Ginger Saffron Braised Lamb Neck, which we’ve made again and again, usually using brisket instead of lamb neck. We even served the brisket version at the Passover seder we hosted this year.

And in inedible news, March was the month I left my job for the last time and set out on my own with my own solo law firm. It has brought me greater fear and joy than I ever thought possible, and now, 9 months later, I can look back and say that I haven’t once regretted taking the leap.
 
 

April: Dave proposed to me early in the morning on April Fool’s Day, and it wasn’t a joke at all. This was the month we got engaged. No food news can match that for April 2007.
 
 

May: My favorite dish from May has got to be our Amaretto Brownies with Saffron Creme Anglaise and Bee Pollen Spice Mix. They have a few components you have to make separately, but together they were absolutely heavenly. We also made a Chocolate Birthday Cake for a little boy, using the best plain chocolate layer cake recipe I’ve ever found.
 
 

June: This was the month of Cucumber Salad in Two Grandmotherly Styles, both of which make my favorites list for the year. And for a moist, rich cake that will last forever, we made Rum-Drenched Cocoa-Nana Bread.
 
 

July: My favorite July recipe is actually one of my favorite recipes of all time, a dessert I take great pride in, and one of the most delicious things to ever come out of this kitchen: Hazelnut Cookie Sherry Vinegar Swirl Ice Cream.
 
 

August: This month, we took advantage of beautiful fresh figs to create what may have been my first and best stuffing, Fig, Sweet Potato, and Wild Rice Stuffing.
 
 

September: After discovering Burmese food, this month’s best creation was a Not-So-Green Mango Salad.
 
 

October: This month, Dave and I learned how to make Horchata from scratch, the perfect creamy non-dairy beverage to soothe your palate between bites of a spicyhot meal. Dave created a brilliant composed dessert, Almond Buttermilk Biscuits with Sour Cherry Compote, Butterscotch, and Candied Pickled Ginger, where we learned how wonderfully sour cherries pair with pickled ginger. And on Halloween, we made the simplest, tastiest candy to come out of our kitchen this year, Pumpkin Seed Cocoa Nib Brittle.
 
 

November: I think that everything we made this month was a favorite of mine. We started the month with Smoke Date Beef Ribs, which we’ve probably made three times since (and that was only last month!). Next, I Magyar-ized a versatile sausage soup to make a warm and satisfying Hungarian Sausage, Baby Bok Choy, and Sweet Potato Soup. Through Dave’s 2007 quince obsession, we learned that Cranberry Quince Sorbet is just amazingly creamy, because of all the pectin in the fruit. And, of course, November was the month I made bacon!
 
 

December: This month, I created my new favorite snack, Nibby Strawberry Chestnut Cookies. And for a lovely dinner, we made Miso Butterscotch Spare Ribs.
 
 
Have a happy new year, everyone!

To see other food bloggers’ Best of 2007 posts, check out the Best of 2007 Roundup at One Hot Stove.

Dave and I are still into glassblowing, all right! That’s a photo of us in the studio, working a piece. I’m the gaffer in the photo, making what turned out to be a pretty glorious red mug, and Dave is blowing air into the piece as I shape it with wet newspaper.

Those silly purple glasses are actually didymium, meant to protect our eyes and allow us to see what we’re doing through the glare of the heat and flame.

The photography is by my dear friend, the brilliant and talented artist Scott Lefton.

To bring things back to food, here are a few food blog posts that I loved and highly recommend to you.

Mercedes from Desert Candy made a few ice creams that I can’t get out of my head: Olive Oil Ice Cream with Balsamic Chocolate Sauce and Sour Cream Brown Sugar Ice Cream.

And speaking of ice cream, Bruno made Vietnamese Coffee Gelato w/ Toblerone Chunks and Sesame Seed Tuile Mini Cones. I love the presentation and the flavor combination! The little cones look so very gobblable here.

Now, we all know how amazing David Lebovitz is. But right now, I’m particularly craving his Apricot Soufflés.

Our Tartelette has tempted me with her Ricotta Cake With Meyer Lemon Curd, a delicately beautiful concoction that looks like it packs a fully whammy of flavor. And given that Dave’s on a bit of a quince kick, I’m just dying to make her gorgeous Quince Tartlets With Olive Oil and Cardamom Crust, too.

What better way to celebrate New Year’s Eve than to follow up your late latkes with some homemade Babka, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen? And when you’re sick of holiday foods, switch things up a bit with her Arroz con Pollo.

Now, there are just cool. Over at VeganYumYum, I came across the most astounding Knit Night Cupcakes, decorated with perfect balls of yarn, needles, scarves, and knitting projects in progress, all made of sugar. Seriously, you have got to go over there and admire those sugar art skills. They are beyond belief.

Next, stop by Cook and Eat to try out the Baked Plum Pudding – something like a tart, something like a cake, but delicious and lovely no matter what you choose to call it.

I still have some chestnut flour in my fridge, and I have my eye on the Castagnaccio over at Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once as a wonderful way to use it up.

From one of my new favorite blogs, Never Bashful with Butter, come these Apricot Cream Cheese Butter Cookies, which look tiny, tasty, and altogether scrumptious.

Kate from Aapplemint had a brilliant idea for how to make madeleines if you don’t have a madeleine pan – you can make Chocolate Almond Madeleines in spoons instead!

This post on making ikura from Blue Lotus is basically completely useless to those of us in the States, where it is basically impossible to find raw salmon roe sacs. Still, I found it completely fascinating to read, and hope to someday have the opportunity to put it to use.

The delicate, translucent, beautiful panes of herbs and phyllo I found over at Lucy’s Kitchen Notebook, which she calls Herb Bouquet Breadsticks, completely capture and enrapture my imagination.

A favorite food blog post round-up just wouldn’t be complete without a few recipes from Rasa Malaysia. This time, I’d like to draw your attention to her Ma Po Tofu, a rendition of that numbingly spicy classic, and her Szechuan Wok-fried Chicken, which looks like a perfect dead simple yet intensely flavorful weekday dinner.

Heidi from 101 Cookbooks intrigued me with her description of her moist, quiche-like Sun-dried Tomato Cottage Cheese Muffin Recipe, which she suggests thinking of as “a souffle’s heartier, denser, more portable cousin”.

Who could resist this Fresh Fig Frangipane Tart I found over at Apple & Spice? Not me!

Over at Tigers & Strawberries, Barbara offers a Meditation on Heads-On Shrimp, wherein she describes how to make a complex and satisfying shrimp stock (and enjoys sucking out shrimp heads on the side). She also made a fantastic Kimchi Noodle Soup, which I think saved me from my last cold earlier this fall. After trying it, I am immensely grateful to her for sharing the idea, and it has joined my small but mighty permanent Sick Food roster, along with Mom’s chicken soup.

Did you know that pumpkin and chocolate work well together? I sure didn’t, until I found these Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes at Pinch My Salt.

Angela at A Spoonful of Sugar tells us that Swedish Saffron Bread is a traditional celebratory bread for Swedish Christmas, or rather, St. Lucia’s Day. I’m not familiar with the religious aspects of the holiday, but I still want to tear into that bread!

Oh what a decadent treat it must be, the French Toast Bread Pudding from Matt Bites.

I am always inspired by Alanna at A Veggie Venture, and in particular I can’t seem to get the thought of her Acorn Squash with Mustard & Honey out of my mind.

Aren’t you completely intoxicated by the thought of these Artichoke Crowns Stuffed with Saffron-Scented Crab I found over at Leite’s Culinaria? I know I am.

Brilynn posted a recipe for Pomegranate Rice that seriously inspired me to go out and buy a copy of Marcus Samuelsson’s The Soul of a New Cuisine, it looked so good. I’ve made a few of his other recipes so far, and I have enjoyed them all.

Gattina’s Green Ravioli with Purple Cabbage & Sage are so vivid, they are an absolute treat just to look at in her splendid photos. If they taste only half so good as they look, I would be satisfied.

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, Of Course You Can Pair Garlic With That! – an exaltation of unusual garlic pairings.

The entries are posted in approximately the order in which they came in. If I missed anyone, it was unintentional and I apologize, and will remedy the problem as soon as I am alerted to it.

Onto the garlic!

Knoblauch-Walnuss-Brownies (Garlic Walnut Brownies)
Hedonistin from Low Budget Cooking
Braving a dislike of nuts to create these brownies, Hedonistin determined in the end that they were pretty good, even despite the nuts. I really enjoyed the description of the progress of flavors and impressions that developed with each bite.
 
 

Roasted Garlic and Goat Stuffed Apples with Raisins, Honey and Cashews
Lyra Spang from Rice and Beans in DC
I can’t even begin to count the pairings Lyra put together here – garlic and honey, garlic and cashews, garlic and baked apples, and more!
 
 

Spaghetti with Maple-Glazed Carrots, Garlic & Raisins
Graeme Keeton from Blood Sugar
Garlic and… maple!
 
 

Clementine’s Garlic-Bean Pasta
Sarah from What Smells So Good?
Garlic and clementines is definitely a new pairing for me. Sarah describes the multiple uses she had for garlic in this dish best herself: “This is a satisfying vegan main course that takes full advantage of the flavour possibilities of garlic, here cooked until soft for sweetness and body along with sweet oranges, sautéed until golden for depth, and added raw with crushed red pepper flakes for brightness.”
 
 

Crockpot Garlic Brown Sugar Chicken
Lisa from La Mia Cucina
Garlic is so lusciously sweet, that even though I’ve never tried the combination myself, I’m not surprised it paired so well with brown sugar. Gorgeous work!
 
 

Ajo Blanco (Spanish Garlic Soup)
Ramona from The Houndstooth Gourmet
Ramona points out that “the Spanish have been pairing almonds (which have the same saturated fat amount as hazelnuts) with garlic since the days of the Moors, and the pairing dates back as far as Roman Hispania. [Ajo Blanco] is the original gazpacho and it’s primary ingredients are almonds and garlic.”
 
 

Pork Chop, Peaches and Garlic on a Bed of Couscous
Elizabeth from blog from OUR kitchen
Elizabeth wrote that the only change she would make next time would be to add more garlic!
 
 

Garlic BBQ Sauce
Mrs. W from Mrs. W’s Kitchen
This is the most astounding pairing I have ever encountered – garlic and Dr. Pepper. Mrs. W, my hat’s off to you.
 
 

Chocolate-Dipped Candied Garlic
Linda from make life sweeter!
This one I definitely have to try!
 
 

Chicken Legs with Hazelnut Garlic Paprika Crust
Lizet Kruyff from Mededelingen van land en tuinbouw
As a good Hungarian, I appreciate the addition of paprika to this mouthwatering chicken.
 
 

Chocolate-Covered Garlic and Caramel Surprise Chocolate Chip Cookies
Jessica from Su Good Sweets
Jessica, you’re local, won’t you spare some chocolate garlic fishes for me?
 
 

Apple and Plum Tarts Glazed with Garlic Jelly and Tuna, Hazelnut and Garlic Pasta
Julia from starkeymonster
The garlic jelly fruit tart looks amazing! This is another one that I will certainly have to try myself.
 
 


Chicken Hazelnut Lasagna with Roasted Garlic Bechamel
Gabi from The Feast Within
This is the sort of recipe I was dreaming of when I started this event. Thank you, Gabi, for making my dreams come true.

I’ve been building up this batch of links a while now. These are food blog posts I’ve come across and considered gorgeous, interesting, inspiring, and overall well worth saving and sharing with the rest of you. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I do.

The photo above, well, that’s me. (Dave took the photo.) I started boxing about 6 weeks ago, and after a month they finally made me buy my own gloves. Boxing has been wonderful fun – it’s a great workout, and an interesting skill to learn. Not to mention a good way to work out aggression.

I was actually at a deposition earlier this week where my opposing counsel turned out to be another female attorney who loves to box. We resisted the urge to gamble the outcome of the case on a boxing match between the two of us, though.

Anyway, onto the food!

Deinin at Cloudberry Quark describes her Cabbage & Onion Stew as “a brown, sweetish mush that looks terrible.” Now, maybe that’s true, but it sounds like the sort of food my Hungarian grandmother would have served to me as a child, if only adding in cauliflower had occurred to her at the time. When winter comes, I’ll make this to help get me through.

It’s no secret that Tigers & Strawberries is one of my absolute favorite blogs of all time. So it should come as no surprise that I want you to check out a lot of Barbara’s entries. She invented spicy, floral, tingly, sugary cookies called Frostflowers. I can think of so many saucy dishes that would be wonderful served atop her Two-Sides-Brown: Pan-Fried Noodle Pancake. Although the recipe did not actually originate from Singapore, I keep meaning to try her Singapore Rice Noodles. And who can say no to a tasty plate of Beef Chow Fun?

Cenk from Cafe Fernando served his Gianduja Stracciatella Gelato between wafer halvas, making for a lovely hazelnut chocolate ice cream cake.

Diner Girl at French Laundry at Home made Cream of Walnut Soup. Now, I don’t really eat nuts (it’s a texture thing) or cream-of-anything soups (ditto), but this still made my jaw drop. I want to serve it with chocolate cake. Now.

Brilynn from Jumbo Empanadas, your hero and mine, has once again proven that she is the most daring baker of them all. When life serves her lemons, she makes Strawberry Mirror Cake… Ice Cream.

Bee from Rasa Malaysia is another favorite food blogger of mine. Her dramatic photos of her Sichuan-style Crawfish/Crayfish/Crawdad (麻辣小龙虾) caught my eye, and the recipe itself continued to keep my attention. And for a sweet follow-up, I’d love to try her Souffle Egg White Balls with Red Bean Paste (高力豆沙).

Bea from La Tartine Gourmande is a brave woman, and she proved it yet again by cooking her first lobster. Her tale of courage, not to mention Asian-Style Lobster Soup, is not to be missed. Nor would you want to miss her Peach (or Apricots) Tart, Sweet Almond Oil Crust.

If you are at all interested in molecular gastronomy, you can’t afford to miss Martin’s post at Khymos, where he shares his huge Hydrocolloid recipe collection.

Nicole at Baking Bites has finally given me a good reason to buy that guava paste which always taunts me at the store, by sharing her recipe for Cuban Shortbread Cookies.

I’m still putting off eating winter squash until it’s absolutely necessary, since I’m just not ready to admit that summer is over yet. Still, Michelle at Oswego Tea‘s Quinoa Stuffed Acorn Squash is an awfully good argument for starting winter squash season up again.

And if we’re heading into winter, I also want to try out Cara from Cara’s Cravings‘s Pumpkin Gnocchi with Sage and Toasted Pecan Cream.

Anh from Food Lover’s Journey generously shared the recipe for one of my favorite dishes, Fried Rice Noodles with Ginger Beef and Chinese Broccoli. Chinese broccoli can do no wrong in my eyes. Or rather, in my mouth.

Katie from Thyme for Cooking created a Warm Cabbage Pasta Salad that reminds me a bit of my grandmother’s cabbage noodles. One of these days, I’m going to make them both side by side, just to compare.

Haalo from Cook (almost) Anything at Least Once made the most beautiful Jewelled Amaranth you can possibly imagine. It looks like it should be served at a royal feast to a court of people draped in silk robes, seated on pillows.

Meena from Hooked on Heat made a scrumptious looking veggie dish, Bok Choy in Coconut Milk.

Keiko from Nordljus intrigued me with her White Sesame Ice Cream with Molasses Swirl, with White Sesame Tuile Biscuits. Would it taste like halvah ice cream, I wonder?

I was completely blown away by the thought of Pork Belly in Almond Milk, which I discovered over at Chubby Hubby. The post also features one of the sexiest photos involving pork that I have ever seen. Go take a look for yourself.

When Dave started obsessing over horchata, I had to google around to find a recipe for him. We ended up using a Horchata recipe from Josh at The Food Section, and it turned out great!

Along the way as I searched for horchata recipes, I stumbled across Chockylit from Cupcake Bakeshop‘s recipe for Horchata Cupcakes. These look incredible!

And speaking of tasty cupcakes, take a look at the Apple Cardamom Cupcakes with Salted Caramel posted by Garrett at Vanilla Garlic.

The photos in this post are of a failed cake. I won’t even bother posting the recipe, it was so unfortunately dry. But I still maintain that nutella and carmelized bananas are a fabulous topping for any cake.

In the meantime, these are links to food blog posts I thought were wonderful and well worth your while.

This Chickpea & Roasted Red Pepper Penne from Not Eating Out in New York (a practice I engage in quite often myself) looks dead simple and absolutely delicious, a perfect weekday dinner.

Matt made a tasty looking Plum Barbecue Sauce that will certainly be on my barbecue accompaniment roster this summer.

Johanna‘s Deconstructed Passionfruit Curd Pie both excites and depresses me. It excites me, because passionfruit is tasty, the recipe looks great, and I have a bit of passionfruit pulp in my freezer right now. It depresses me because I have so little passionfruit pulp, because passionfruit is so expensive around here and so little pulp can be salvaged from each.

These instructions on how to pack a bento box from Lunch in a Box got me so excited about making my packed lunches cuter, more efficient, and healthier, that I ran out to Chinatown to buy better containers of appropriate sizes immediately after reading it. I sincerely believe that what I learned from this post really will change my life for the better.

Vanessa made Wasabi Noodles with Grapefruit! That hits two of my favorite food groups at once – spicy, and grapefruit. Looks like another dead simple and utterly perfect weekday dinner to me.

From JenJen, a batch of gorgeous Lemon and Craisin Cookies. In her lovely photos, these cookies look light and refreshing and perfect for the warmer months we’re in now.

Speaking of my love of grapefruit, I just came across this recipe for Grapefruit-Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream. I would like to meet the person who thought that up and thank them personally, because it looks like the apotheosis of desserts to me.

And on an ice cream note, check out the Lemon & Chili Ice Cream that Deinin made. If only I could figure out how to clear enough space in my freezer to get my ice cream machine ready for work again!

Helen made the loveliest little Hazelnut Quince Tartlets you could ever imagine, putting her one good quince to exquisite use.

Barbara generously shared her secret recipe for the first Chinese recipe she ever learned, Sichuan Shredded Chicken With Garlic Sauce. After reading the tale of how difficult it was for her to recreate this chef’s secret sauce, I truly do appreciate it that she finally decided to post it publicly, now that the chef who created it has retired and closed his restaurant.

That photo up there? That’s the older of my two little brothers. (He physically towers over me now, but still.) He just graduated from Bard College with a B.A. in Anthropology. I’m damn proud of him.

For the sake of pretending this post is about food, though, here are a few links to food blog posts I recommend.

David Lebovitz shared his recipe for Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream. I made it the other day, so I can personally vouch for it being out of this world. The crunch! The smoothness! The perfect texture! The salt and sweet and cold and oh, I can never eat another caramel ice cream again. I know, because I tried.

While we’re on the subject of ice cream, check out the Cardamom-Vanilla Ice Cream and Cardamom Biscuits made by Rob from Hungry in Hogtown. I have a busy summer ahead of me, I can tell. Rob also made Nutella Powder, using some interesting techniques that I look forward to experimenting with myself.

I am fascinated by the recipe for Pancake Soup I found over at Delicious Days. It looks like so much fun to eat. I should make it next time the younger of my little brothers comes over for dinner, because he and I share a lot of joy in kid stuff.

Barbara from Tigers & Strawberries made made Kho: Quick-Braised Spicy Caramel Pork. In the spirit of bacon toffee, I am convinced that pork and caramel must go together perfectly, and this is high up on my list of recipes to try.

If you like cake decorating, you cannot miss this cake of ultimate cuteness made by A Muffin Story. Threadless held a contest, Threadcakes, asking people to decorate cakes based on Threadless t-shirts. The winning cake was based on a shirt called Insomnia.

A Muffin Story also created a gorgeous Filbert and Raspberry Cake. You can read the story behind the cake here, and find the recipe here at her recipe blog, Never Bashful With Butter.

Aki and Alex shared their recipe for bacon broth, a clear consomme of porky goodness.

Lis from La Mia Cucina proved her worth as a browniebabe by making these scrumptious looking Lemon Mousse Brownies.

I want to like rhubarb, I really do. But somehow whenever I try to make it, it comes out bland and dull. Maybe I would have better luck if I tried Bea’s Rhubarb Tart instead.

Jaden from Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen (can you imagine a more sultry name for our favorite room in every home?) made Garlic Brandy Prawns that cry out for my attention. Soon, lovely tasty prawns. I will make you soon.

I am always on the look-out for new and interesting ways to cook with fermented black beans. So, I was delighted when Bee shared her recipe for Steamed Scallops with Fermented Black Beans. She even included enoki mushrooms, the only kind of mushroom I have ever been able to enjoy eating. Thanks, Bee!

Brilynn, who plays hard and has more energy and creativity than I would know what to do with, adapted my recipe for Raspberry Pomegranate Urfa-Biber Brownies into her intriguing Rhubarb Urfa-Biber Brownies. A little while back, I mailed out urfa-biber to anyone who felt like sending me something fun in exchange. Bri was up for it, and she sent me some honey, carefully wrapped in a really sweet little handmade bag. I loved the package, but seeing her put the spice I’d sent her to good use was even more of a treat for me.

I couldn’t help but laugh when I came across these Black-Bottom Cupcakes at Smitten Kitchen, especially after reading about how Deb wished she could have made the cupcakes prettier. See, when I was a kid, the deli near my school sold these under the name Ugly Muffins. I loved the name, I loved their craggly good looks, and I loved those cupcakes. Deb’s post brings back a lot of memories (and hunger) for me.

S’mores Cupcakes! This is one of the most brilliant baking ideas I’ve ever seen. Graham cracker cupcakes, filled with marshmallow fluff (homemade, of course), covered in chocolate ganache, with a toasted homemade marshmallow on top. Thank you, Cupcake Bakeshop! You have truly made my day.

My partner (well, fiance) Dave and I have recently taken up glassblowing at our local glass studio, Urban Glass. The studio is spacious, well-equipped, and very safety conscious. They offer a ton of interesting classes. We are working our way through their glassblowing classes, and renting studio time to practice on our own as often as we can. It’s a thrilling art, and I am immensely enjoying learning how to blow and craft hot glass.

The photo above is of my favorite piece so far, a small pitcher I made right after learning how to add handles to my blown pieces. I love everything about this piece. I also love the following food blog posts, so after you are done letting me show off my handiwork, please explore the following links to find more beautiful food photography, interesting recipes, and some thoughts on the politics of food.

One of my absolute favorite food bloggers around, Rob of Hungry in Hogtown, made el Bulli’s deep fried rabbit ears with aromatic herbs. He really did convince his butcher to find him some bunny ears, then he flavored them, fried them, and ate the cuddly crunchy treats. Now, when I first saw his post, I wasn’t put off by the fluffy photo up top. My partner, my brother, and I immediately agreed that we wanted to make this dish as soon as we get a chance. It turns out that not everyone is as relaxed about bunnies as I am, though, and the comments left were both passionate and extensive. Rob addressed some of the political issues that were raised in his next post, I crumb in peace: deep fried rabbit ears and the politics of food. Whether your interest lies primarily in the deliciousness of food or the politics of food, checking out these posts would be well worth your time.

Abbacat, who occasionally blogs about food, put up an explanation for how to convince a small child to eat fish and cabbage. I may have to try this technique on some seafood-hating adults I know.

I am a bit peeved at the fellow behind Off the Bone, because up until about a week ago, he lived just a few blocks away from me, and now he does not. I had to go help kick him out of Brooklyn last Saturday so he could move back to Boston to rejoin his wife, who spent the past year in Siberia. I can’t fault his priorities, but I do miss him a lot. After all, who else would invite me over to eat spare homemade Bacon Toffee? Who else would give me the cookie dough from out his freezer when he realized it would never survive the long trip to Boston? I think the moral of this story is that I need more friends who live within a 10 block radius of my apartment. That, and bacon toffee is really remarkably delicious. It has salt, it has sugar, it has umami – what’s not to like?

Another friend of mine recently created a new food blog, Raspberry Debacle. We have a lot in common, not least of which is an absurd love of bees. And so I was utterly delighted when one of her first posts told the tale (and recipe) of Honey Bee Biscuits and Flying Monks. For some really spectacularly charming food photography, and a cookie recipe that sure looks good to me, go take a look at this wonderful new food blog.

While I’m on the subject of new food blogs, I must mention that I have been entirely entranced by the photography on another new-to-me food blog, Cloudberry Quark. Deinin’s Carroty Karelian Pasties, for example, look so good that I have been considering making a carrot casserole just so that I can have leftovers with which to make those pasties.

You probably already have Delicious Days bookmarked, but if not, now is the time to fix that. The beautifully illustrated step-by-step instructions for how to make Grandma Salazar’s Tamales are simply not to be missed.

Barbara of Tigers & Strawberries, another perennial favorite of mine, has done it once again by posting her recipe for a Vietnamese sauce known as Nuoc Cham. A sizzlingly fresh sauce that Barbara describes as having that wonderful Vietnamese balance of hot, sour, salty, sweet, and savory flavors, I think it may become another key kitchen staple around my apartment.

Meena of Hooked on Heat says that making this Hot and Sour Fish Curry is so quick and easy, she was able to do it while watching an engrossing Bollywood flick. I’m not sure I could throw the curry together nearly as fast as she did, but for food like that, I would be willing to spend the time to make it.

Bee of Rasa Malaysia always inspires me to brave Malaysian cuisine outside the restaurant, and in my home. I mostly just read food blogs and admire the photography, but Bee’s recipes I actually tend to try – and make again and again. I don’t think I know how to compliment her any more highly than that. And so you know that I will eventually get around to trying the dish featured in one of her more recent posts, Penang Hokkien Mee (Prawn Mee / Har Meen / Mee Yoke / 福建虾面). It is a soup based on a pork and shrimp stock, filled with pork, shrimp shallots, noodles, chili paste, and all sorts of good stuff. As usual, there is more going on in that one bowl than I think I could keep track of, but I have to try, and I’m sure that I will end up with a great meal in the attempt.

I’ve been posting recipes here for almost a year now – it will be a year come February 26, 2007, in fact. In all that time, I’ve never put together a good index of the recipes I’ve posted here. In honor of my upcoming bloggiversary, here it is at last – my recipe index. I’ll come back and edit it as I post more recipes in the future.

Thank you, all of you, for reading, commenting, recipe testing, and absolutely inspiring me over the past year. I have made friends and found a wonderful community through writing this blog, and I appreciate it so much. Here’s to many more years of sharing our kitchens and our lives.

Note: The contents of this post have been removed, because this post has been superseded by my Recipe Index page. Please refer to the actual Recipe Index to locate any recipe you may be looking for. Thank you.