I have had a fascination for anything sweet, and especially cakes right from when I was a kid! And I had this extra-special affection for swiss rolls, those colorful, spiral cakes that tasted like heaven, and even with the minimal frosting and decoration, they always attracted the attention of dessert-lovers, including me!!  read more »

I have had a fascination for anything sweet, and especially cakes right from when I was a kid! And I had this extra-special affection for swiss rolls, those colorful, spiral cakes that tasted like heaven, and even with the minimal frosting and decoration, they always attracted the attention of dessert-lovers, including me!!  read more »

For Today
Outside my Window
The sun is just starting to peek above the horizon. All the earth is bathed in early morning dew, which sparkles like little jewels upon the grass and flowers in my garden. It reminds me of when I was a child and my mother would send me out to the garage to bring out our bicycles and my brothers toy wagon in the mornings. I would be wearing canvas sneakers and the toes would get all wet from the dew . . . it felt nice. There's a special smell in the air in the early morning . . . the smell of dew and the earth waking up.  read more »

When I was a kid, I was not exactly enamored with lamb. It wasn't common fare around my place and, when it was served, it was one of the few meats that got the utterly unimaginative preparation of salt/pepper/garlic, grilled and with mint jelly on the side. It wasn't bad, but it certainly was not the usual, creative dinner I was spoiled enough to expect. Fast forward a few years, errr, decades and lamb is rapidly becoming one of my favorite meat choices. I am lucky enough to have friends, like Farmgirl , who have sheep and they have introduced me to many ways to prepare lamb - with nary a hint of mint jelly in sight. The only downside to this is that Susan lives halfway across the country and, try as we may, we have not yet figured out how to shove a rack of lamb through the tubes of the internets . Must be coming in the next version of Windows...  read more »

I am a baking and cooking machine lately. After several weeks (okay, maybe months) of neglect, my beautiful and revitalized kitchen is finally serving its true purpose...lots of counterspace for lots of dirty dishes...er...lots of cooking for lots of hungry people.

Yup, that's TOTALLY what I meant to say.

You'll have to forgive me if this is a little disjointed - it's already after midnight, I should *technically* be in bed and the babe is kicking up a storm and addling my brains. I must say, it makes the formulation of a complete sentence a bit of a challenge.

We had some friends over for dinner this weekend, and, as per usual, I had lots of fun putting together the menu. Making it didn't go so smoothly, but at least picking out the recipes was fun. :)  read more »

Have you ever heard about konyaku, shirataki or iles-iles before?  read more »

If you are interested in starting to bake sweat treats, there are several kitchen products to look into. Often you can utilize the same equipment, no matter whether you’re looking to bake cakes, cookies, muffins or tarts. In order to decorate cakes and pastries, you don’t need too many different tools – once you have a basic set of products, you’re all set to go. So which products do you need in order to produce superior cakes?

Measurement Sets
You certainly need a set of measurement cups as well as measurement spoons. We like clean stainless steel models that work well, cleans easily and lasts for a long time.  read more »

Ingredients:

Amaretto Jelly:
3/4 l milk
4 ml amaretto
1 cup cold water
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 can condensed milk
45 g unflavored gelatine

Coffee Jelly:
1/2 l water
100 ml coffee liquor
1/4 cup cold water  read more »

The full-blossomed trees filled all the air with fragrance and with joy." Stephanie @ The Adventures of Pie Queen has this neat Devil's Food Cupcakes recipe that I tripped upon one day. It's been on my mind ever since & I set to work making cupcakes that I wanted to make for Easter. My sis sent bags of Easter eggs & jelly beans for the kids from the US last week, & I had to make full use of them before the kids did! Of course the devil was dancing in the mind with a festive theme at MASTER BAKERS' for March being announced...Easter candy. !  read more »