one girl love

AH! So apparently this weekend is all about sharing the love. Today on my google reader a post popped up from thekitchn.com showing an all-too-familiar face: one Dawn Casale, owner of One Girl Cookies in Brooklyn, NY: my former boss, and all-around fabulous lady!

After almost a year and a half of working for the dynamic duo behind One Girl, I moved back to St. Louis. And not a day has gone by that I haven't missed my One Girl family!

So check out this interview with Dawn and a recipe for rhubarb crostata, which, knowing Dawn, I'm sure is heavenly. And check out the picture of her and her little cutie!

butter sugar flour eggs...pavlova!

This Memorial Day weekend was an extra-special celebration: my dear friend kater and her new fiance k came to town for the long weekend, bringing with them their adorable and spunky dog, Gus. Not wanting to waste a minute of time apart, we packed the weekend full of activities like wandering the Tower Grove market, stopping off at the Pulitzer Foundation for a viewing of the Gordon Matta-Clark exhibit, copious pool time, and brunch at everyone's favorite, Mississippi Mud House. We spent the weekend eating, drinking, laughing, and dancing, and wrapped up with a successful dinner party. For dessert, I wanted to contribute something a little extra-ordinary to accompany an extra special toast for the newly engaged couple.

memorial day kickoff

In honor of the freakin' gorgeous day we are having, I couldn't help but reminisce about my favorite summer treat--the Coney Island icee. Though they're not really indigenous to Coney Island, I will always equate these refreshing treats with off days spent riding the N train down to Bay 8 to laze about in the sun. In fact, I'd dare to say that I may have even taken the trek out to the beach just for a taste of these icees!

Available in 5 or 6 flavors, I die for the highlighter yellow and kelly green combination of pineapple and lime. So bright and crisp, this combo was the perfect pick-me-up after the sun drained me of energy and human functioning abilities. The second I heard the little "ding, ding" of the push cart's bell, I was up and racing over for my dixie cup of goodness. And happily, there were many days when I was back in line two minutes later for a second helping.

Because when it comes to pineapple, one is just never enough!

retro "cookies"

The other day my aunt sent me this link for a taste of retro: Bon-Bon Cookies from the Betty Crocker Cookbook, circa 1950s. How adorable are these? Apparently these petite treats went out of fashion before I was born; so considering the fact that I am a child of the 80s, it's no wonder that I had never seen these before now.

These miniature bon-bons are brightly colored, almost jewel-like. I love how Ms. Cakespy tinted them Tiffany Blue in a nod to the classic Capote novella from the era, Breakfast at Tiffany's--yes, that Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Imagine a table sprawling with sparkly little gem-like cookies, begging to be popped in your mouth! What a sight. Stuff the scooped dough with the surprise candy of your choice and color them to your liking.

I can't wait to try these for my next party. Love, Love, Love.

Has anyone ever had these before? Did they really exist? Let me know!

cherry, cherry.

Today was a phenomenal day at the market! The last few weeks I've been waiting desperately for cherry season to commence. Every Saturday morning I wander the halls of Soulard hoping to see those shiny red balls piled up in mounds from stall to stall. Yet, no luck. Until today!

This morning I almost jumped for joy when I came across a stand hawking the season's first sweet cherries! Of course I picked up a pound of cherries (of which half I've eaten since returning home).

After I snatched up my cherries, I noticed another wonderful market find: strawberries. Little cardboard cartons all in a row, filled with summer's plump lil' buggers. Picked fresh last night just over the river, these mini berries are delicately sweet and smell divine. Yum.

Also, check out these pretty pink/purple roses. I just couldn't resist. Gorgeous.

hey there kitty.

Last week marked my friend Lucia's birthday. And as she's very into celebrations, she needed a special cake to top off her birthday extravaganza this weekend. So naturally, she decided on a Hello, Kitty! design.

Once the cake was baked, I used some geometry and knife skills to carve up the perfect cat head shape, ears and all. I used black licorice for the whiskers and eyes, red licorice and pink buttercream for the bow, and a jelly bean for the nose.

Now let me just say, I was skeptical about this cake at the onset. But when I covered the cake with the second layer of buttercream, it really started looking great. And not to toot my own horn too much, but the cake turned out pretty freakin' adorable.

Check it out!

Hey Ya! Charlie Brown Style

I know this isn't food related, but this video was just brought to my attention by Lucia and AnnaD and I had to share it.
Pay close attention to each characters's dance move--I'm pretty sure one of them is doing the "pony."
Adorable!
YouTube - Hey Ya! Charlie Brown Style

mom's day

Today is Mother's Day, so I'd like to take a second to honor my mommala--the strongest, most driven, most caring woman a girl could ever have for a role model.


After deciding on greek food, my mom set about planning the menu for her Mother's Day brunch. All I had left to do for my lemon meringue tart was make the meringue, top and torch it. When I got downstairs this morning, I came upon my mom trying to cover up a botched batch of potatoes. Hoping no one would say anything, she had mashed the overboiled potatoes into little round patties, hoping to grill them up as hashbrowns. Needless to say, it did not work. But mom, the self-proclaimed queen of making it all work out, pulled out another fix by placing the mashed latke-like rounds into a baking dish, sprinkling them with cheese, and creating a yummy potato casserole.

new bbq chips

Ok. So normally I'm all about healthy, natural, fresh food. But sometimes we all just need a nice big handful of crunchy chips. Which is why it's pretty fantastic to have a sister who works for Frito-Lay. This weekend I was in Chicago helping the big sis move, and low-and-behold, she had the latest flavor of Lays for me to try! Now, I'm normally not the biggest BBQ flavor fan--with the exception of pork steaks and dry rub ribs--but when I tried the Tangy Carolina BBQ Lays, I couldn't stop shoving them in my face. Super tangy (go figure) and vinegary, these chips aren't grossly sweet, and aren't super smoky like the mesquite bbq flavored chips that make me nauseous.

Unfortunately for me, they haven't released them here in STL yet; but if they have them in your area, you should definitely pick up a bag...or 3.