When I was in cooking school I have the most vivid memory of my chef instructor telling me how when she was 8 she learned how to make choux pastry and would often make herself, as an eight year old!!, a plate of cream puffs. I love that image.
Read MoreThe rain has finally stopped and the sun is shining. It had been raining for days and days on end. So much rain it is hard to remember when it started. It just always seemed like it is going to rain. I am not complaining because goodness, the whole state of California was about to shrivel up before it started but I am excited that it is over... for now at least. With all this rain comes the good stuff like all of the flowers in boom and everywhere you look seems to blanketed in bright flourescent green. It is a sign of spring and what's to come. This time of year is always so special in Oakland because I am reminded of everything that grows in this area - there are citrus trees, jasmine, magnolias, roses - the list could go on. I have become a horticulture dork in my old age and love walking the streets staring at everyone else's front yards, especially since ours is pretty busted.
Read MoreWe have landed in LA. It has been a rough and crazy couple weeks but we are officially LA residents. I don't think it has hit me yet because I am just so busy. Between my 36 hour trip last week to speak at the Samsung event space and a top secret baking cookbook I am helping to write, I don't know up from down. Which is good and bad. On the one hand it is good because there hasn't been time to really process that we are in a new city trying to make new friends and find new places to eat, things to do. But bad because one day in a couple months I am going to wake up and realize I no longer live in the Bay Area. But I guess denial is good right?
Read MoreThis week I was fortunate enough to be interviewed by Leslie of SpottedSF for the site SFGirlbyBay. I am super excited - it is one of my all time favorite blogs and I am thrilled to be sharing some details on what it is like to work in the Williams-Sonoma Test Kitchen, why this blog came about, as well as where to eat on Oakland.
Read MoreMy co-worker recently called me the key lime whisperer. I think it was a term of endearment (right?) because of my love of anything and everything key lime. It stems from growing up in Florida and being surrounded by citrus fruits. Key limes were front and center (that and grapefruits and honeybell oranges). It is pure nostalgia I think. We had a key lime tree in our backyard so key limes were used in everything. They were just as common place as regular limes, maybe even more so. I even remember ordering a key lime pie martini when I was barely old enough to drink- the rim was lined with crushed graham crackers-amazing. But my love of key limes in its purest form is found in a big slice of delicious key lime pie.
Read MoreSo I am going to get this recipe in right before the New Year. Right before New Year's resolutions take all of the fun out of eating. Which is exactly what they are going to do to me. (I have been ordered by a medical professional to remove gluten, dairy and eggs for the first 3 months of the year. Ugg! More on that later) I am giving myself until the New Year to listen to that so I am currently eating gluten, eggs and dairy with wild abandon. Bourbon coffee milkshakes is definitely on that list of things to eat before the New Year.
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