Alinka

Tonight it was steak with mashed potatoes and green beans. Looked (and tasted) so good I couldn't help photographing it.

Cinnamon rolls this morning.

percyn I glazed the tart with heated and strained apricot jam. monavano Somebody's eating that bar ! Looks very creamy.

judiu Hee hee, thanks! Normally I'd be the first one to admit that bacon cannot possibly be out of place anywhere, but in this particular case the overall flavor was light and tart (with lemon zest and vinaigrette) so I am not sure it would have worked . fmed Sounds good! We are having some friends over for smoked ribs, so while the rest of the food is still cooking, I snapped a couple of photos of the dessert. Because the main dish is heavy, I figured people will want something light for dessert. A fruit tart seems to fit the bill. Then, as I baked the tart, I started freaking out that the kids (of which there will be 5) will be disappointed... So here's my little army of vanilla cupcakes for them - Now, of course, I am worried that they will not like the buttercream which I used instead of the standard icing .

David A. Goldfarb Thanks! It's summer, so it's still light when we eat dinner. percyn Sorry to hear about you wife's allergy. I actually had time to make something A LITTLE more complicated than throwing a piece of meat on the skillet... Crabmeat stuffed avocado. Not very attractive, but tasted good.

percyn Those burgers look good! Me, on the other hand... I only have time to cook something super quick, having two little children and a job. So usually it's a protein + starch + veggie. Boring, but at least healthy for a weeknight dinner . So tonight it was salmon with broccoli (seasoned with very flavorful blood orange oil and lemon zest) and millet.

Oh, and another dinner: roasted beef and potatoes (some rosemary on the potatoes). The beef is cooked more than I like because it was also eaten by two toddlers.

One of our recent lunches, salad: lettuce, avocado, chicken breast, tomatoes, yellow bell peppers, fresh herbs and some marinated beans from the supermarket's deli section. Dressed with olive oil + lemon juice. I got a little greedy and piled the bowl high . And the cake, of course!

percyn Ooh yeah, that money shot! Per-fect! Pille Hi Pille! Congratulations on your baby. The tart looks nice, no cushion, just sweet crust and the BERRIES. Shelby Just look at these tomatoes. How nice it is to eat tomatoes from your own garden. It's so hard to buy a good tomato without paying through the nose. And when they are good, they barely need anything to go with them: a little oil, salt, good bread - and you're in heaven . Prawncrackers Very, very nice, tasty looking. Especially that chicken!

Thanks! Yes, it's the 50 mm lens that I originally bought to photograph the kids, but it seems to work for food very well, too.

Today's breakfast was omelet with the grilled steak and vegetables left over from last night. Plus some Provolone thrown in for good measure. Tasty.

Friday night, so it's grilling steaks and vegetables in the backyard, then lingering over the meal outside.. Yeah, and let's not go overboard with those vegetables and focus on the steak .

percyn Thank you Percy! menuinprogress Yes, it was pork tenderloin. The buckwheat is cooked very simply: 2.5 - 3 parts water to 1 part grain plus salt. Then cook as you would rice. I grew up with this stuff, so it is comfort food, but I understand that the flavor might not be easy to get used to. When it's done, I add some butter. Kids usually eat it with milk and sugar, like oatmeal. Dr. J Thank you! Kim Shook You will not regret buying the book, I can guarantee you that! The cake does have this nice crumb, I've noticed when eating. We just moved, and I found this stencil among my numerous forgotten treasures; it came in handy .

Tonight it was pork, buckwheat and peas: And a simple yellow cake from The Cake Bible. I layered it with a little buttercream (butter+condensed milk): No special occasion, just craved some cake for some reason.

6ppc That roast looks so tasty! With those bits of fat and the red meat - I can practically feel the juiciness in my mouth.

Kim Shook C. sapidus Thanks! I think I overdid it with the tartness slightly, squeezing a whole lemon into the pot instead of half, but once you add the sour cream into the bowl it mellows.

Hi everyone! I cooked borsch today, a dinner staple in my home country - And my American Man spent almost the whole day smoking ribs... The result was worth all that smoke floating around. He also made this tasty, tart, sweet, and slightly bitter lemonade. And... As I type this, I'm drinking tea with this brown sugar coffee cake; a friend from Israel shared the recipe with me a few years ago, and since then it's a reliable favorite.

Chufi Hi Klary! I missed you all too... Talking about food, looking at the photos of food, reading descriptions of food .

Steak. And cooookies (oatmeal raisin).

As a late night snack there were freshly baked buns (rolls?) with cold milk. My favorite ones are with poppy seed, but I also filled some with nuts or raisins, and had a few simply with brown sugar and cinnamon -

Looking forward to your blog, Klary! What a neatly stocked refrigerator...

prasantrin, thanks! I'll translate the recipe for the cake. Burgers for breakfast - why not? Sounds good! This morning my sister (who is our live-in nanny) and I woke up to a nice surprise: a table set for breakfast and hot pancakes from Cook's Illustrated made by my husband. This is his plate - My sister's first pancake was with black currant jam (made and sent to us by our mom) and maple syrup -

C. sapidus, thanks! Breakfast this morning was... strawberry shortcakes! Because it is the beginning of the strawberry season, and because I took a day off after working a lot, and because last night I introduced my sister to this simple, lovely American dessert and she wanted more. A bit of a Russian twist to it though: it is not pound cake but coffee cake made with tvorog (ricotta-like cheese) which renders the cake slightly tangy.

It's the weekend already over here, and you all's eggs (especially Ann_T's, just look at them!) made me crave fried eggs. So a fried egg I had! On the plate there is also some bread from the Baltic Bread Bakery - a nice rustic loaf, with butter.

Thanks for responding! Moscow's climate is fairly dry (especially compared to Houston). But there are plenty of dry climate places in the States, too, but recipes seem to work nevertheless. U.S. coffee cake recipes seem to work ok but I always have problems with cookies. They come out strange, kind of sticky or something so I suspect the sugar is the problem, and also maybe flour... Butter looks and tastes the same here; I usually buy the 82% kind.