Meeting Take Home Chef Curtis Stone

Yesterday Sur La Table at Santana Row hosted a book signing for Curtis Stone's new cookbook "Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone"



Curtis walking to the stage for a cooking demo


Curtis during cooking demo


My cookbook autograph


Me with the adorable Curtis Stone

Cookbook Review - Gale Gand's Brunch!

I was recently asked if I would review a new cookbook from Gale Gand. The book arrived from the publisher on Wednesday. I poured over it that very night. Everything looked delicious. I was drawn to the photo on the cover for the baked eggs in ham cups, but felt sure that someone else would select that recipe to try.

Then a few pages later I looked at the glossy photo of asparagus with poached eggs and parmesan.
(click to embiggen photos)

I invited a few friends over for a sunday brunch. The recipe is very easy to follow, calling for ingredients that I readily had on hand. While I made a few modifications for my own cooking style (such as using an asparagus pot to cook the asparagus rather than the sauce pan) the food turned out delicious. I presented the dish on a platter and everyone served themselves.

All of my guests proclaimed the meal to be fantastic, including my best friends nine year old son. I served it with the bacon scallion scones from another recipe in the book.

I can't say enough good things about this book. I am anxious to try all of the other recipes and would like to thank Stephanie at Dispensing Happiness for asking me to be a part of this!

if i ever utter the word fondant again...

please feel free to beat the snot out of me.

my dearest friend, notsoccer mom is having a birthday tomorrow. usually i buy her a cake from one of our local bakeries that we both like. this year i got the bright idea to try out my mad baking skillz. hahahahahahahaha... she asked for a cake that looks like a present.


honestly, i had NO FREAKIN IDEA how hard it is to work with fondant. duff goldman and his team at charm city cakes make it look so damn easy. well, i am here to tell you that they lie. it was back breaking work kneading and rolling out this stuff. thank god, it came already colored because if i had had to knead in the coloring too, notsoccer mom would be enjoying cupcakes from safeway for her birthday.

Nutty Brittle

Nutty Brittle
Adapted from Sandra Lee's Semi-Homemade Gift Goodies Show
Aluminum foil
Non-stick cooking spray
24 soft caramel candies, unwrapped
3/4 cup toffee peanuts
Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.
Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. Spray foil with cooking spray and place pan in warm oven. Spray a heavy small saucepan with cooking spray. Add caramels and stir over low heat until melted. Stir in toffee peanuts and continue stirring for a couple minutes. Spray a dull knife or metal off-set spatula with cooking spray. Remove pan from oven and then quickly spread caramel-peanut mixture over prepared pan. Cool completely; cover pan with plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Break into bite-size pieces. Store in refrigerator.

celebrity chef news...

Giada's pregnant!

because this is hysterical...

h/t to Mrs. L

who's got napastyle?

the city of Los Gatos does now...

Mrs. L says over here that the adorable michael chiarello was going to be in Los Gatos at the opening of his new store Napa Style. Mrs. L was not able to go because it was her mother's birthday so i went instead. :)

michael was charismatic and charming. and oh so cute!