use real butter

Recipe: cheesecake

We prepped a late dinner Sunday evening. As Jeremy opened the door to the deck to get the grill going, we noticed a nice little layer of snow everywhere. [I realize I talk about the weather a lot. It’s not because I’m trying to be polite, it’s because I am a bit of a weather dork.] Just a few hours earlier we were in Boulder, enjoying these:

tulips on pearl street

April is like that around here. Can’t make up its mind about the seasons. That’s sort of how I felt about this month’s Daring Bakers challenge… I couldn’t make up my mind about the flavor – so I did both.

daring bakers, baybeee – we knead to bake!

The official line: The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. The unofficial line is that Jenny rocks it along with our Superstahhh founders, Lis of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice. I heart them all.

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: chocolate chunk bundt cake

yup, this one

Talk about superconnected. That would be Andrew. I feel like a mountain hermit as it is, but hanging out with Andrew makes me feel like I’m visiting Boulder… from Mars. We met for lunch at The Kitchen yesterday and indulged in some good conversation over awesome salads. It’s always a struggle for me to figure out whether to go with what I love or try something new. You ever have that problem at a restaurant? I went with what I knew – the poached salmon salad – since I felt risk-averse (read: tired).

andrew’s chopped chicken salad

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: lemon mousse bombes

It’s the last day of March, kids! Where did all of that time go? Our local farmer’s market is opening this weekend and I’m both excited and a little leery. Excited, because I love farmer’s markets in general and Boulder has a nice one. Leery, because if I recall correctly, early season doesn’t have a lot of fresh produce to offer (particularly the fruit). See how living in Southern California can spoil the heck out of you (me)? I especially miss harassing the asparagus dude at the Pasadena Farmer’s Market (and then the Alhambra Farmer’s Market the next day).

My enthusiasm for cooking and baking and blogging waxes and wanes. There are times when I just don’t want to bake or cook (or at least blog about it) for several days. Knowing this, knowing myself, I have a stash of recipes in queue for just those times. I think I got into the habit when I kept having to dash to the ER last year or when I knew I’d be out after a chemo infusion. But when my enthusiasm is on the upswing, like it is now, I just write a list about a mile long with ideas and recipes I want to make and shoot and I wonder if the old recipes will just languish in the archives for months on end (some are already 6 months old).

start with white chocolate

… and you guessed it, temper the chocolate!

**Jump for more butter**