• Curried squash and red lentil soup

    You should know that I generally dislike soup. Of course I eat chicken noodle when I’m sick (Chick-fil-A’s is great) and recently had some amazing roasted tomato in Michigan. But I don’t like things that are watery/brothy. So the first time I attempted to make this recipe, I was concerned about the amount of water […]

  • How to chop a butternut squash

    I have recently discovered that I really like butternut squash. But since I had never cooked with it before, I wasn’t sure how to chop it up. Luckily, the “Gourmet Quick Kitchen” special edition had instructions. First, try to find a butternut squash with a long neck that seems heavy for its size. Cut the […]

  • Top 10 ESS recipes of 2010

    This morning I got an e-mail from WordPress with my blog stats for the year: How many posts I published, how many photos and some of the most popular posts. Then Toby suggested I do a post about the top 10 recipes of 2010. According to my site statistics, bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin was by far […]

  • Eating, swimming and shopping

    Happy 2011! Sorry I haven’t posted since Christmas – I have been at my parents’ house in Michigan doing a lot of eating, a lot of shopping and even a little swimming. One of my new year’s resolutions is to lose 25 pounds so I have been getting a jump-start on exercise this week. My […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 12: Chocolate-dipped peppermint meringues

    Merry Christmas! I hope Santa brought you everything you asked for… but since he may have eaten all your cookies, I’ve got your back. And these are so good that they will make you smile even if you only got coal in your stocking. The key to the amazingness of these meringue cookies is crushed […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 11: Mexican wedding cookies

    These cookies could really be made at any time of year, but they definitely say Christmas to me — whether you call them Mexican wedding cookies, Russian tea cakes or something else. I have never had any trouble with these before, but the first recipe I tried this year was a little problematic. So as […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 10: Spritz

    It’s almost Christmas! Today I was going to give you cookies AND photos of 10 lords-(aka hot guys)-a-leaping, but it is surprisingly difficult to find photos of hot guys jumping. Instead, here is Knowshon Moreno leaping over a dude, and nine good-looking-guys-not-leaping: Matt Damon, Tom Brady (pre-Bieber hair) and Mark Sanchez, James Blake, Cristian de […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 9: Peppermint patties

    Peppermint patties may be my favorite chocolate candy. So I had been wanting to make these homemade ones since I saw them in Gourmet magazine in 2007. And I finally had the chance! These are definitely not the quickest things to make. But they’re pretty fun and not terribly difficult, provided you have the right […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 8: Gingerbread men

    I make gingerbread every year, partly because the little gingerbread men are so cute and partly because they are so delicious with pumpkin dip (recipe at the bottom). Yet every year I manage to lose the gingerbread recipe or forget which recipe I used before. I do remember that last year I used a mix […]

  • Christmas cookies, Day 7: Angel wings

    As you may know, I love vintage clothes. Especially my mother’s coats from the 70’s. So I thought I’d try a vintage recipe — from my grandmother’s 1964 edition of the Joy of Cooking. Apparently this recipe has sold “many a copy” of Joy of Cooking. Or at least it had in 1964. They are […]