Posted in Brazil, Brazilian, British, cake, Christmas, cream, custard, delicacy, dessert, Italian, tradition on Jan 5th, 2013
Like the ghost of Christmas past, leftovers from rich holiday meals have a habit of malingering in the fridge awaiting an inspiration that is progressively less likely to arrive as the holiday season fades into memory, especially in the broadening context of one’s waistline, try as one might to conceal it beneath this year’s hideous […]
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Posted in alcohol, baking, British, butter, Christmas, culture, custard, Delia Smith, dessert, easy, England, festival, festivals, fruit, history, holiday, holidays, nuts, spices, tradition, winter on Jan 2nd, 2012
Most Brits associate mincemeat with Christmas – its intoxicating mix of fruit, spices, booze, nuts and mixed peel provide Pavlovian stimuli, stirring memories of cherubic choirs a-caroling, roasted poultry, and the Queen’s speech – whereas I associate it with Easter, because it was always around then that we finally ran out of mince pies. I […]
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A quick, sweet post to kick-start your weekend about a ridiculously simple, ridiculously delicious Argentinian dessert – Chocotorta. This very popular dulce de leche-spiked, layered dessert reminds me a bit of tiramisu with an Argentine twist. What could be more Argentinian than dulce de leche? When Joan of Foodalogue revisited her Culinary Tour food event […]
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Posted in British, coffee, dentist, dessert, easy, eating, healthy, kumquat, pannacotta, Recipe, teeth on Mar 7th, 2009
The 20th anniversary of The Simpsons is being celebrated soon, and our recent long-overdue trip to the dentist reminded me of one particular episode in which Lisa is persuaded to give in and get braces on her teeth just like all the other Springfield kids when she is shown the “Big Book of British Smiles.” […]
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“If I should wish a fruit brought to Paradise it would certainly be the fig.” – Prophet Mohammed We don’t really “do” dessert. We really don’t. If we did we’d probably get a lot more hits from Tastespotting and Foodgawker, since they only seem to post chocolate flavored desserts topped liberally with powdered sugar and […]
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Posted in culture, dessert, easy, lemon, Philadelphia, Recipe, Recipes, tradition, vegetarian, water on Jul 12th, 2008
Another post that brings me back to my childhood while growing up in the outskirts of Philadelphia and its plethora of suburbs. One of my favorite summertime treats (I was too young to know the beauty that is a soft-shell crab, mind you) was a local treat called Water Ice (pronounced “wooder ice” when speaking […]
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It’s always fun to be with my British husband and celebrate the 4th of July. Some of his favorite questions he been asked many times since moving to America to be with moi is, “So, Jonny, what’s Thanksgiving like in England!?” or “How do you guys celebrate the 4th of July in England!?”. Such silly […]
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Posted in alcohol, alcoholic drink, beverage, biscotti, delicacy, dessert, drink, Food Commentary, grapes, Italian, Italy, madeira, malvasia, sweet, tourism, tradition, travel, trebbiano, Tuscan, tuscany, Vin Santo, wine on May 29th, 2008
Regular readers must find us horrible bores as we bang on about our wedding and honeymoon in Italy last year almost constantly. On our penultimate day of our three week trip, we raided an enormous supermarket in the suburbs of Montevarchi for the Tuscan products we cannot find or cannot afford here in NYC, and […]
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Posted in baking, blood orange, cake, dessert, embarrassment, flour, frosting, icing, important details, juice, martini, orange juice, oranges, Recipe, Recipes, strawberries, strawberry, sweet, sweets on Apr 1st, 2008
I tried… after my first failed attempt at baking a strawberry cake in order to use up some nasty-looking, dying strawberries (that I bought hungry and on sale… natch) in my fridge, my ego was so bruised I didn’t think I was up for it again. You see, stupid me kind of forgot one ingredient […]
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Posted in asparagus, batter, British, crepes, dessert, easy, egg, England, Europe, flour, French, Garlic, juice, lemon, milk, mushrooms, orange juice, pancakes, salmon, sauce, tarragon, tomato, tradition on Feb 9th, 2008
In the British calendar the final Tuesday before Lent is known as “Shrove Tuesday”, though it’s more often referred to as “pancake day” in modern times. The derivation of the word “shrove” is unclear but it is thought to be derived from “shriving” or asking forgiveness for sins, a typical Christian activity on this day. […]
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Posted in baking, chestnuts, Christmas, cognac, cream, custard, dessert, easy, French, holiday, nuts, pastry, pie, Recipe, Recipes, sugar, vanilla on Jan 15th, 2008
During the cook-a-thon that was the weekend before Christmas, in which my wife and I got our first real glimpse of just how hard professional chefs have to work, I turned out something of a rarity for me, and thus far, unique to this blog – a dessert. Touring the food blogosphere (hmm, starting to […]
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