Everyone once in a while, it hits me: I need steak-frites. It’s an infrequent indulgence, but when I do have it, I like my steak with a crisp exterior, pan-seared until saignant (medium-rare), with a large pile of real frites. Most my French friends like their beef bleu, which is close to uncooked, and if you order it...

My breakfast on work days is often being skipped or in a rush. When it comes to weekends, however, I try to take my own sweet time and enjoy a good hearty breakfast.  I love cafe-styled breakfasts. Smoked salmon and poached eggs is my usual pick but lately I have been loving the clay-pot eggs with spicy beans served in...

My mom has been obsessed with Springerle cookies lately. She’s planning on making some for my sister’s wedding and Springerle madness has officially set in. She keeps buying and experimenting with all sorts of different wooden molds, the kind that are used to make these lovely German cookies. With all this Springerle talk...

One of the many things I love about being back in central California is that I’m near my family again.  My grandparents are only 30 minutes away and it’s just an hour’s drive to see my Dad, who lives in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada near a tiny little mountain town called North Fork.  I’m...

I wish all Parisian pastries were stunning works of art that operated at the absolute limits of complete tastiness. Sadly, most are just vaguely amusing to regard and pleasant enough to enjoy eating. There are only a dozen shops that truly make a go at developing astoundingly delicious pieces, and among that delicious dozen,...

It may seem like yesterday that I posted about my trip to the Farmers Market in conjunction to F.O.O.D Week and here I am again, with another post about the Orange Farmers Market. This time was a part of the three-day celebration of Orange Apple Festival. Whether it was F.O.O.D Week or the Apple Festival, they were somehow...

There are days I’m productive. Things get crossed off the list, I feel a sense of real accomplishment. I even high-five myself. In my head. Other days, I stare at my cuticles trying to remember when was the last time I had a proper manicure. “The hangnails,” I think, “are preposterous. I mean, just look at them!...

For some reason, people are obsessed with what I eat and weigh and I get a lot of messages that say things like “How do you stay so thin?” or “How can you eat all that amazing food and stay in shape?” It’s not really something that I’m all that concerned about and not something I pay all...

There are rainy, dreary, energy depleted days when the best thing you can do at 3 p.m. is to stop pretending that anything short of chocolate cake is going to improve your outlook. Tuesday was that kind of day and, just my luck, this happened to be a rainy Tuesday kind of chocolate cake. But before that, I really tried to...

Do you feel neglected? I mean I have been spending more time and effort talking about life on my decor/home improvement/DIY/furniture redecorating extravaganza blog the Wits. The vibe is different around here. Purposely so. It’s just that and…I’m about to get very real and serious. I think that if you...

Whenever I host a dinner party or a date night at home, I enjoy preparing my own snack. Due to my love of snacking constantly, homemade snack becomes more important (cost and health wise) to reduce my reliance of the store-bought version. We are no strangers to homemade guacamole. It is an easy dip to whip up and going to...

With only 2 weeks till we pull out of Albuquerque and head out to Colorado to settle in Boulder, I’ve got quite a lot on my plate. Please welcome the lovely Georgia Pellegrini, author of “Girl Hunter“, here for today’s guest post: Lemon Basil Ice Cream. Doesn’t this recipe sound perfect for the...

We visited a couple restaurants in Los Angeles on Sunday to celebrate my birthday. I rarely have particular plans of what I’d like to do to celebrate, but I know specifically where and what I’d like to eat. May will be a month full of events. There will be a number of birthdays, mothers day, wedding season for Hugh,...

The last time I went to the Somerville Winter Market (FYI – there are 2 more Saturdays before it’s over for the year!) I was lucky enough to find Pork Jowl at the Austin Brothers Farm stand. I have a history with Austin Brothers, I actually drove out to their farm in Belchertown, MA to buy pork belly when I made...

While living in Sicily, my diet revolved around a few main staples during the warmer months: tomatoes, basil, mozzarella, olive oil, and bread.  I never grew tired of simple dishes like Insalata Caprese and Bruschetta al Pomodoro and I don’t think I ever will.  Each year, as the weather warms up, I start looking...

This post is sponsored by Häagen-Dazs® ice cream, encouraging life’s little luxuries. We recently rounded up and packed a lot of my overflowing cabinets: extra plates, bowls, serving dishes and platters, props, and baking pans – who has time to bake cupcakes, tarts, or bread 3 weeks before they move anyway?...

Last week I had the opportunity to visit Smucker Farms of Lancaster County on 14th Street. This fabulous little store carries an array of artisan products from Southeast Pennsylvania. They also carry fresh produce. At the end of my visit, I left with a box of goodies which included these beautiful purple asparagus. They are...

This week I got most of the fresh ingredients from the Orange Farmers Market which coincided with the Orange Apple Festivals (more about this later).  As the Orange Farmers Market only happens on every second Saturday of each month, I tried to stockpile my ingredients on each trip. Don’t know about you, but whenever I...

A while back, there was a spate of books about how to ‘sneak’ ingredients that are ‘healthy’ into food for your kids, to trick them into eating better. (Raymond Sokolov wrote an excellent rebuttal to that.) And recently there have been a few books written about how kids in France eat, and behave, better...

The last time I visited new york, I was lucky enough to literally stumble into a blogger event at an Indian restaurant near Madison Square Park called Junoon. Because I know the secret blogger handshake, I was able to sit at the bar tasting many of their creative cocktails and small bite appetizers. My favorite was a fried...

A few months back, I reached out to Café Pouchkine to see if I could arrange a photo shoot of their boutique and, more awesomely, a special session with their chef pâtissier – his majesty Emmanuel Ryon. The Pouchkine team has long been keen on sharing my reviews of their work – both on their Facebook page and “the...

When I think of Mother’s Day, I think of breakfast in bed for mums. I know it may not be the most creative idea in the book but it is my idea of pampering my mum. So if you wish to make something more than just a card (and why not throw in a breakfast in bed?), hopefully this DIY tray will be an inspiration. I love the...

Several years ago, my job required that I occasionally fly here and there for conferences and, oh, they were not fun. I know that many conferences today are wonderful events where wonderful people meet and expand their professional horizons but those for me were all about windowless conference rooms, buzzing fluorescent...

At 15 months we learned that Logan had a severe peanut allergy, and we learned it the hard way: allergic reaction. Almost immediately we saw his predispositions toward being a picky eater turn into something much more. Imagine your child being on guard all the time. And over time that fear of unknown foods turning into a...