Blondies Have More Fun

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Blondies Have More Fun

Vanilla or chocolate? If I have to choose--most recently at the ice cream trucks tinkling through my ‘hood—I’m vanilla all the way. My affection for the bean began with Carvel soft-serve (shout out to my East Coasters!), grew with Nilla wafers, and was affirmed with Jell-o instant vanilla pudding after childhood meals. My teenage job torching crème brulées, and eating the rejects, at Chez Pierre sealed the deal.  

I’m so vanilla I used to wear it as perfume.

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Cookie Monster

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Cookie Monster

"Cookies are a sometimes food."

That doesn't sound like the Cookie Monster I know.  My fuzzy, blue fanatic screamed "Me want cookie," often with a mouth crammed full of said treats.  Yet, due to the national obesity epidemic, Sesame Street was pressured to change this Muppet's tune.  Like Stephen Colbert, who called Cookie Monster out for "abandoning his pro-cookie agenda" (see video below), I'm equally baffled by this turn of events. There must be a better way. 

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Let Us Eat Cake

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Let Us Eat Cake

Growing up, Ms. Crocker and Mr. Hines were VIP's - Very Important Packages - at our house.  Before Justin & Andy's schlong song, this is what you wanted in a box. These easy-bake cakes ensured every occasion had frosted treats.  No event was too small. Dance recital? Funfetti.  An A essay from D-minus Decker? German Chocolate.  My sister discovered that adding more oil than directed created exceptionally moist cakes; now a bake-from-scratch maven, it was her first glimmer of pastry prowess.

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Move Over Meatless Monday...

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Move Over Meatless Monday...

...here comes Pancake Tuesday!

A long long time ago, as good Christians prepared for Lent by ridding their cupboards of richness, eggs, milk, butter and sugar were whipped into decadent treats: raised doughnuts (malasadas) in Portugal, cream-filled buns (fastelavnsboller) in Norway, and pancakes throughout the anglophone world.   A tradition was born and Shrove Tuesday was appropriately dubbed "Fat Tuesday".  For us Anglos, we celebrate Pancake Day, a bacchanalia of griddled goodness. Around the U.K., locals keep the kilos off with pancake races, where apron-clad contestants flip flapjacks while running.  Like models balancing books on their heads, this is an exercise in co-ordination, in a decidedly more carb-heavy fashion.

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Claudia's Cucina

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Claudia's Cucina

"Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom"

Marcel Proust's words ring close to home, having been raised by a gardening mother who nurtured me and my siblings from seedlings to full-grown adults. My most tangible, childhood memories are set outdoors, ranging from the tedious (weeding) to the delicious (homegrown produce) When not pillaged by wily woodchucks, Farmer Mom's garden enriched our meals with tart raspberries, crunchy peas, and, most bountifully, basil.

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