We diligently tried all the best french macarons in Paris, but nothing compared to Laduree! Maybe it was the pastel colors, or the uber cute shop, or the matching ribbons and tissue paper with the Laduree insignia, but nobody does it like Laduree! (A list of our favorite tips for traveling with a camera is included at the end of this blog)
Beautiful Cupcakes …all dressed up for the tea party. My Cupcake Corner makes delicious cupcakes decorated for all sorts of occasions and events. They all have fillings that make them extra special (the Bonny Dune blackberries are fantastic!) Kelly, the owner, told me they are very popular for weddings because everyone gets their own little cake, and the couple saves the cost of cake cutting. She has a line of booze cakes just for such an occasion. They are local, vegan, organic, and she sells through the internet and at a pop-up stand – doesn’t get much more Santa Cruz than that!
You know you’re in Heineken land when even the bottle opener in your hotel room says Heineken on it.
It’s not hard to make your own cookie mix, and you can use any of your favorite recipes.
I am always on the quest for the perfect pie – the holy grail of baking.
We started several projects this week. And with each project the answer seemed to be … A glass jar.
We set about to make the best Thai basil fried rice. Knowing that a dish is only as good as the individual ingredients, we wanted to used the best Asian sauces and the freshest ingredients.
Beet salad with rose petals and cilantro flowers
Crostini with fresh pea puree then topped with pea tendrils and flowers from the garden.
For Thanksgiving I made a pecan tart with a foolproof crust recipe from America’s Test Kitchen. It seriously is foolproof and the best crust ever. The secret is that it uses vodka. We had some Seagram’s Sweet Tea vodka left from a summer backyard party, and that was the perfect thing for a pecan tart.
