use real butter

Recipe: crab mac and cheese

Are you feeling crabby this Valentine’s Day? If so, I’ve got just the dish for you. But I ask you to be patient because I have a winner to announce for the Kyocera ceramic knife drawing (and some other musings)! People like to use the site random.org for their random drawings, but I have something beyond random – we call it mindless and ridiculous.

ready to do her job, naked

In consultation with my resident astrophysicist, someone well-versed in statistics, we agreed to place a treat inside Kaweah’s Kong toy and hide it in the yard. Jeremy would time how long it took for Kaweah to find the Kong in 100ths of a second.

she canvased the yard in no time

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Recipe: fried lemon slices with aioli

I am feeling particularly energized lately! So many things are converging to put me in a great frame of mind these days. My cold is kicked, the longer daylight hours are fantastic, I am making some professional inroads, tons of interactions with friends – old and new, and feeling like I can tackle just about anything. That’s huge. Lots of opportunities in motion and I’m stepping ahead into new territory. Even our unbelievably warm, sunshiny days have put an extra spring in my step as I rush around keeping busy (which I love) and out of trouble.

untouched corduroy

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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.

simple decoration

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