Last Sunday, for the first time since 1997, I watched the entire Academy Awards, from the very first minute until “The Artist” was announced as best movie. Back in 1997 what made me stay up until 2 a.m. was my love for “The English Patient” – I’d become obsessed with the film after reading the book and, to me, Anthony Minghella had done such a brilliant job that I really wanted the film to get
Blackberry coconut oat bars
Last Sunday, for the first time since 1997, I watched the entire Academy Awards, from the very first minute until “The Artist” was announced as best movie. Back in 1997 what made me stay up until 2 a.m. was my love for “The English Patient” – I’d become obsessed with the film after reading the book and, to me, Anthony Minghella had done such a brilliant job that I really wanted the film to get
Ladurée: Sucré Winner!
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So these Jellybeans on my nightstand. I guess we're all wondering how many I have, right?
Okay, here is the deal: I like Jelly Belly beans. I really like them. Sometimes I have four pounds of them in a jar on my desk. Okay, so maybe that is a lot of candy to have casually sitting around, but could you really expect anything less with my sweet tooth?
Well, I didn't have four pounds laying around last weekend. No. I had been nibbling on these beans for a couple months now, digging out the choice beans--like black licorice and juicy pear. So when I did the count last Saturday all that remained were 255 beans. Weighing a total of 283 grams.
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| Counting jellybeans, one by one, without eating any? That's is hard! |
I've gone through all the guesses on the blog and in the NSHP email box and calculated who was closest with beans or grams and determined it was M with 292 grams:
Congratulations! I'll be in contact with you via email and I'll have this cookbook to you soon. I hope you enjoy it. Of course, if you end up re-selling it on amazon for a cool two or three hundred dollars, I can't say I wouldn't understand.
As for myself, I'm going to spend the rest of the weekend continuing to pack. No baking for me just yet, all my pans are already boxed up waiting on paperwork and a set of keys to finally change hands.
I deserve a break from all this bubble wrap and packing tape. Maybe even a little indulgence in two guilty pleasures: a little world of warcraft and the rest of those jelly beans. Yum.
Edit: Woo! It appears that as of March 8th, Amazon actually has the book back in stock for list price. I'm not certain if it is back in print, but it is certainly going for less than $999 today. Take that, price gougers!
Tomato, red onion and gorgonzola salad - simple and delicious
Ok, I’ll admit it: this is not a very romantic salad – all that raw garlic and onion (not to mention the gorgonzola!) won’t do your breath any good. But it is so simple – I put it together in a matter of moments – fresh and delicious, and it comes from such an amazing book, that I had to share it with you – even if, in the end, you make it for a solitary lunch/dinner (or some “me time”, as I
Frangipane ripple chocolate pound cake
I love almonds – they’re my favorite nut. But for far too long I avoided recipes that called for almond paste because I’ve never seen the ingredient around here. Then it suddenly hit me: if I made eggnog from scratch for a pound cake recipe, why not almond paste? I do not know why it took my brain so long to come to that conclusion. :)
The homemade almond paste – recipe from this gorgeous book
Spiced brown sugar cookies
As much as I love cooking and baking I understand it’s not everyone’s cup of tea – so you can imagine how happy I felt when I noticed that my sister loved cooking and baking, too – I swear I never pushed her towards it: it all began with her passion for brownies and cookies. :)
After tasting some of these cookies she told me they were delicious and she needed the recipe “asap”; she also told
Macarons Framboise - Ladurée's Recipe
Well I'm back folks!
Not really, but bear with me I'll be back in the groove of things as soon as I'm settled. I really have been busy, juggling some major changes around here. You see, among other things, I'm buying a new house and dealing with all the madness that goes along with that process. It's been a hectic couple of months but hopefully, if everything goes well, I'll be baking future macarons in a brand new oven soon.
No, who am I kidding. The next several weeks will be spent packing and moving an entire household. Maybe replacing a few door knobs too, since our builder decided to go with a design that I can only describe as suitable for your Grandma's cottage--on Mars. Anyway, breaking in my bright and sunny new kitchen with a little baking will happen, I just need to get settled in.
Almond and dulce de leche muffins
Besides being someone who watches the same movies over and over again I also purchase ingredients in excess, though I’ve been dealing with that a lot better lately (since the inventory decision). But when I saw some really good Argentinean dulce de leche for a great price at the supermarket I could not resist: I brought home three (very large) jars. After making the dulce de leche cake several
Peanut butter sandwich cookies with milk chocolate filling + two favorite Tumblrs
I’ve been obsessing with sandwich cookies lately – I want to bake each and every recipe for sandwich cookies I see (and no, I haven’t forgotten about biscotti, believe me). :)
I’d planned making one of Martha’s fabulous cookies but the jam I had around was very chunky – the jam is actually quite good but not thin enough for filling the cookies. I turned to the Karen DeMasco’s wonderful book and
Vanilla-spiked plum galette
Plums are one of my favorite fruits and I usually eat them all in a very short period of time, before I can actually bake something with them. But this time the plums I’d bought were too tart – even for my citrusy taste – and they became this fabulous galette; the super flaky pastry is delicious and holds all the juices without getting soggy, and the plums, soft and perfectly sweet, get a boost
Dried cranberry shortbread + Tilda
There are things one just knows without the need of much explanation – one just feels it. I haven’t, to this day, watched “The King’s Speech” but I know, deep down in my heart, that its winning of the Best Picture Award last year was so, so wrong. And I know that because I’ve seen five of the movies that were nominated with it – if the world were a fair place that would never have happened. And
Escarole and salami tart
Something I’ve been trying to do more often is to bring lunch to work – eating out gets more expensive by the minute while the quality and flavor of the food get worse.
This tart might seem like a lot of work – making your own pastry! – but believe me, it’s not: you just need to plan ahead. Go wild with the filling: the original was a mix of spinach and ham, but I used what I had in my fridge.
Coconut cupcakes with chocolate frosting
I watched "The Tree of Life" last August but to this day I haven’t been able to write anything about the movie; just couldn’t put into words everything the film made me feel – there were so many tears that my eyes were swollen when I left the theater. Jessica Chastain’s character reminded me so much of my mother it felt like I was going back in time – that was the first movie I saw with the
Chewy macaroons + "J. Edgar"
The first time I saw Leonardo DiCaprio was in his – and mine – teenage years: I’d rented "This Boy's Life" expecting to watch another great performance by Robert DeNiro (back in the day when he was a wonderful actor) but what really took me by storm was this boy’s performance, this boy I’d never heard of before, whose face or name I did not recognize (that was way before the whole “Romeo and
Cherry-cornmeal upside down cake
It’s no secret I’m a big Martha Stewart fan – her recipes are delicious and work every time; I sometimes wish I were more skillful so I could make all the other beautiful projects on her website (I would love to learn how to sew and even bought a book on the subject a while ago). Speaking of that, would you please tell me if you know any good blogs on the subject? That would be really helpful!