use real butter

The lunar new year is almost here (15 minutes!). Our friends left a little while ago, full on food, dessert, conversation, laughs, friendship. No recipe tonight, but I’ll include links to recipes for the dishes I served. Then you can sit back and scroll through the day in pictures. Gong xi fa tsai! Jing nian quai le. Wung shir ru i.

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: chinese stir-fried rice cakes

Congratulations to Jenny Williams! She won the raffle prize I offered for the Menu for Hope fundraiser. Jenny, I’ll be emailing you shortly to find out which photo you’d like. The entire effort raised over $62,000. A big thanks to all who participated.

This week, I baked a birthday cake for someone’s surprise 50th birthday party. The original plan was to bring a bunch of macarons, but the day before the party, I thought I should ask her husband if he had arranged for a cake. I normally wouldn’t volunteer during such a busy time, but I have a soft spot for guys who are so sweet on their partners. He was cooking dinner for 30 people, so I said I could handle the cake. I doubled this chocolate espresso fudge cake with beautiful results. Probably the most nerve-wracking part was driving it down Boulder Canyon, but the structural integrity of this cake is rock solid. Love that Marcel Desaulniers.

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: spring rolls

out with the old, in with the new
What? You thought I was talking about politics? *snicker* My friends know where to find what I really think :) No, I am talking about our new car, which replaces the 14-year old loyal car which served us well but can’t make it up our driveway in 4 inches of snow without chains. The old car is going into a milder climate retirement in New Mexico under the loving care of Jeremy’s brother. Now that we have two Subarus, we can’t refer to them both as Subie (what every Subaru owner calls their car). So the Outback XT will remain Subie.