use real butter

Recipe: chocolate valentino cake

The Daring Bakers, founded by our super sexy ladies Lis and Ivonne, are here to make sure that you got enough chocolate in February. And if you di-int, then check it:

daring bakers: we knead to bake, yo

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

chocolate and butter

stirring in the egg yolks

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: chocolate hazelnut torte

Oh my! I had no idea that my knife skills instructor could evoke such… interest from my readers! Honestly, weren’t you all impressed with the chiffonade? Well, here is one last shot from class – something I finally learned to do correctly:

knife honing

Speaking of knives, Adrienne, the winner of the Kyocera ceramic knife giveaway, finally received hers and sent me a picture of her happy new knife. I thought the dreamy look on her face was too adorable not to post. She looks like a pro! (courtesy Adrienne):

blissful

How often do you start out in the kitchen with the intention of making one thing, only to wind up with an end-product that is not what you had in mind? It tends to happen more often with pastries and desserts for me. Is that because I occasionally screw things up when making pastries, but rarely have moments like that when cooking anything savory? I think I am a more confident savory cook. Even so, I really enjoy futzing about with the sweets.

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: chocolate mousse bombes

FYI: For those of you asking about the scarf in the last post – it is the My So Called Scarf pattern and it’s easy to knit and simply gorgeous.

V-day is coming. I am admittedly not a romantic, as most of my friends know. In my mind, romantics are always setting themselves up for disappointment. I’m a pragmatist. I get shit done (or I try to anyway). It works for us. Just last night I tried to schedule a party with several of my tele betties and Jeremy casually reminded me that one of the dates I suggested was our anniversary. Oops!

Winter is back, as are her winds. We have a movie of non-stop horizontal snow speeding past our picture windows, stripping away any heat in the house. Kaweah is cuddled up in the office on the luxurious faux fur/fleece blanket I made for her in December (and now wish I had bought enough of that awesome faux fur to make one for us because there isn’t any more!)

snuggled up and happy

**Jump for more butter**