• Chocolate-bourbon souffle cupcakes with bourbon whipped cream

    While we were in Kentucky for Toby’s grandmother’s 80th birthday, we went to Virgil’s Cafe in Bellevue. The last time we ate there, I had a really fantastic cheeseburger. This time, the most memorable thing was a chocolate-bourbon torte. After about two bites, I started thinking about how I could make something similar. So when […]

  • Bourbon-marinated pork tenderloin

    September is National Bourbon Heritage Month. But I didn’t realize it when I made this pork tenderloin. What I did realize is that Toby’s best friend, Joey, was coming for dinner, and I needed something manly and bourbon-y. After all, they’re from Kentucky. The first time I met Joey, he (accidentally) spilled beer all over […]

  • Baltimore Cupcake Camp

    As I mentioned the other day, Toby and I went to cupcake camp on Saturday. I had never heard of cupcake camp, but apparently it’s a thing. The idea is a free place where people can share and eat cupcakes. Attendees had to sign up ahead of time for a free ticket, but not everyone […]

  • Sweet potato-pecan cupcakes with marshmallow meringue

    On Monday, I happened to see a post on Baltimore Diner about Baltimore’s first-ever Cupcake Camp. I had never heard of cupcake camp, but it sounded right up my alley. The idea is just a place to go and share/eat cupcakes. And there was a contest. One of the contest categories was “best use of […]

  • Bobby Flay visits Annapolis

    I was in the presence of an Iron Chef yesterday. A ginger Iron Chef in Chuck Taylors. But I didn’t challenge him to a throwdown. I just asked him to sign my book. Of course, first I had to wait in line. Actually, it was more like six lines. I got there at 1:30 and […]

  • Tomato and cheese frittata

    I’m not a big breakfast person. A bowl of cereal, a smoothie or a piece of leftover pizza works for me. If I do make or order something bigger for myself, it’s usually something sweet and carbtastic — pancakes, waffles, scones or biscuits. But I live with a square-headed, rugby-playing Marine. And he likes eggs. […]

  • Sweet potato biscuits

    The Saturday after the hurricane, we got double our normal amount of vegetables from our CSA. That’s a LOT of vegetables. And we were leaving town Thursday. So I needed to try to use it all ASAP. I thought sweet potato biscuits would be a good use of our sweet potatoes and a good vehicle […]

  • Bourbon-glazed grilled chicken

    If you haven’t noticed, we kinda like bourbon around here. So I decided to go out on a limb and try this bourbon-glazed chicken from Cooking Light when two friends/former co-workers came over for dinner recently. Sometimes recipes from Cooking Light taste a little… like someone took all the fun out of them. But we […]

  • Peach butter

    You may have thought I’d had enough of peaches. But then I saw this post about peach butter on Smitten Kitchen. And these nice farmers had boxes of lovely peaches at the Farmer’s Market. So I figured, why not? I mean, come on. How adorable is that peach with the leaf still attached? It’s like […]

  • Sweet tea mint julep sorbet

    On a particularly hot day this summer, a girl I know from college posted a Facebook status about her wish for bourbon popsicles. That sounded like a fantastic plan to me. But alcohol has a much lower freezing temperature than water so it won’t freeze in the freezer. And since a mint julep is just […]