Everywhere teeth and smiles and serious eyes.
Laughing cup holder. Corn in a bag.
Sunday, perfect Sunday.

Butterscotch Pudding

2 ounces unsalted butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups milk
1 T cream
1/8 t. salt
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons corn starch
splash or more scotch

Melt the butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan. Cool slightly.

Whisk together the cream, cornstarch, salt and yolks. Heat the milk, add the sugar mixture, then temper into the yolk mixture.

Return mixture to the pot and simmer, stirring constantly, until the pudding mixture begins to boil. Stir in the scotch. Divide among ramekins. Refrigerate 6 hours.

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

Ryah

I got to visit Janina and Peter's baby today for the first time. This is 3-week old Ryah.

Ideas from the market, for Cherry. And anyone.

Today Cherry and I were discussing easy dishes to make from the things we get at the market. She inspired me with pickled beets, and I told her about the $1/pound tomatoes I've been throwing whole into a pot of olive oil and cooking for 3 hours. They can be used for sauce (blend and add grated Parmesan and egg yolks), as a side dish, on crostini, mixed with greens.... This evening I got to thinking of a few more simple things I've made recently:

Beluga lentils -- cook them in water or stock. Cool to room temp. Add chopped chervil and mint and drizzle with olive oil.

Roasted things: cut up apples, celery root, butternut squash, and shallots. Toss them with olive oil and stick them in the oven at 400 until they're all nice and brown.

This is one mom and I tried after hearing a bit of Carol's lecture at the New School of Cooking: Greens with dates (sliced lengthwise into matchsticks, if possible), pistachios, oranges, and goat cheese. We dressed it with white wine vinegar and olive oil.

Guess I'll add more as I think of them. Happy marketing.