And another one...

sub Coconut oil (melted) for the vegetable oil in your waffles. And then use it to coat the pan. It even "fries" the waffles crispier on the outside than veggie oil does.

YUM

I recently acquired a gallon of coconut oil after trying it out at my sister Annalaura's house. She taught me a few uses and I've discovered a few more:

Mix it into peanut butter and eat it on apples or anything.
Mix a teaspoon into your cup of hot chocolate
Use it to cook your popcorn in
Fry shrimp with fresh peppermint in it

The popcorn, I must say, is spectacular. Especially with the pink Himalayan salt I got from my other sister, Gypsy.

Oh, and it's good as moisturizer for you, too.

TWO people (who are not family) told me this week that they still check my blog. Aack! How boring since I never ever update it. So, I'm updating. But the only thing I've been doing is cooking. And unfortunately, I haven't been taking any lessons in food photography, so my pictures are, well, not as good looking as the real-life food. But, here you have it:

Candied lemon slices

addendum: I was just asked where I bought the candied lemon. They are just in an anchovie jar because I didn't use them all on the cake. They're boiled in simple syrup and then dipped in the same syrup once it has boiled down and reached firm ball stage.

Lemon curd butter cake for Patrick's birthday (no I did not serve it in this, but I forgot to take a picture after it was on the cakestand)

Duck legs for New Year's Eve (in Orin's pot from Ross)

Dinner at the Duddridges (sorry, Linz and Joey...shoulda been there)

Close up of the Duddridge dinner, short ribs and some sort of salad, I guess.

Orange, date, and pistachio salad