• Tropical scones

    What are you doing for your mom for Mother’s Day? Sending flowers? Taking her out to tea? Serving her breakfast in bed? Our mothers have already received the flowers we sent, and we’re getting them some presents. But we can’t exactly take them breakfast in bed, since they both live hundreds of miles away. Of […]

  • Vegan vanilla chai latte

    My big sister from my sorority was really big on studying at coffee shops and diners. One of our main sisterly activities was going to Waffle House to spend a few hours studying art history (her) and Russian grammar (me). But I really, really hate Waffle House. (Sorry, everyone in the South, but it’s just […]

  • Bourbon balls

    A few years ago, I decided it would be a great idea to make bourbon balls for tailgating at the Georgia-Kentucky football game. Toby wasn’t home, so I found a recipe online — epicurious.com or foodnetwork.com, can’t remember which — and followed it. The resulting bourbon balls tasted gross and looked completely disgusting. It was […]

  • Blue crab cookies

    Did you know the blue crab population in the Chesapeake Bay is at its highest level since 1993? Did you know blue crabs are blue when they’re alive but turn reddish when you cook them? Did you know that even though my astrological sign is Cancer and I live in Maryland, I will die if […]

  • Brussels sprouts with orange butter sauce

    Here’s the thing: If you had asked me a year or two ago to make a list of the things I could never, ever see myself cooking and blogging about, that list would look something like this. 1. Fish/shellfish 2. Mushrooms 3. Brussels sprouts And yet, here I am. With a bag of Brussels sprouts […]

  • Restaurant-style salsa

    Let’s be honest: I will eat just about any salsa that’s put in front of me. Yeah, I prefer freshly made and non-chunky kinds, and I generally don’t like fruit salsas (though Flaming Amy’s pineapple salsa is a notable exception), but I will eat it regardless. Restaurant salsa — at least the kind that doesn’t […]

  • Southwestern muffin-cup eggs

    As I was looking through my mother’s stacks of Junior League cookbooks from across the Southwest, I came across this intriguing egg recipe. The eggs are cooked in muffin cups and then topped with a fresh salsa. Yum, right? It’s super easy. I went a little overboard with the olive oil, but it’s not too […]

  • Peep cupcakes

    The weather has been really weird. One day it feels like February, the next like June. It’s foggy in the morning and sweltering in the afternoon. The cherry blossoms bloomed early, and now it’s raining pink petals all over the DC area. So, basically, it’s spring. And that means… time for Peeps! You probably recall […]

  • Irish coffee sundaes

    If you don’t have any Irish whiskey in your house, you may need to go get some RIGHT NOW. Because you’re going to need to make this Irish whiskey caramel sauce. Don’t worry if you’ve never made caramel before — it’s not that hard and it only takes about 15 minutes. You do need to […]

  • Beef and Guinness pies

    Y’all, I really want to tell you stories about St. Patrick’s Day and wax poetic about this stew. But my brain stopped working a few hours ago. Plus, the best St. Patrick’s Day celebrations are the ones you can’t remember (though the days after are generally ones you want to forget). So, you should make […]