RWood

Hugo Spritz after coming in from the pool. Pretty tasty. Prosecco, lime, mint, St. Germain and sparkling water.

Lots of cakes this past couple of weeks. Baby shower cake for a friends niece (white almond with raspberry compote. And a small anniversary cake for my mom’s friends that came by for pizza. Also made my dad’s birthday cake (chocolate peanut butter, no photo), and one for my cousins friend (looks just like the anniversary cake). Both of those were strawberry layers with strawberry cream cheese filling. I’m worn out 😮‍💨.

John used to buy the big bags of spinach at Costco (in California) that weighed 2 1/2 lbs. He found that it would make two pans perfectly, so I halved the recipe when I wrote it up for the cookbook. As I said, I just kinda wing it now. The pan in the photo is smaller than the recipe. I used a 10 oz container for it.

Sure. I wrote this up for a family cookbook that I'm working on just to have it written down. We usually just wing it now. Some things I'll mention we found helped over the years of making it: Keep it thin, it helps with browning on the bottom and having less moisture. Use lots of feta. Most I've had are very sparse, probably just being cheap. Not sure what your oven is like, but I hate the one we have. It's a Kitchenaid and bottom browning is bad. So, I start it on the bottom, then move it up so the top browns. Don't put too much parsley, can be overpowering, lots of dill is good though.

Spanakopita. I always follow my mom’s husband’s version. Still the best I’ve had.

Tomato pesto galette with burrata and arugula.

Happy 86th for my moms cousin Peggy! White almond cake with raspberry filling. My first attempt at palette knife flowers. Supposed to be rustic, so that helped 😋.

Mostly pesto I freeze. And for caprese salad, pizza, etc. I dry my oregano because it is so much better than store bought. I have dried the basil too, but I don’t use it as much as fresh.

Just doing container gardening this time. This is from one pot that I separated from Trader Joe’s. Plus, my oregano from last year. This may seem like a weird spot for garden pots, but everything is happy in the driveway 🤷‍♀️. I put stuff there last year, and they loved it. Must be the right amount of sun.

Yes, it has pistachio frangipane with orange zest.

Plum Pistachio Galette for dinner at my cousins house tonight. Plums could have been more ripe, but it’s a tasty combo.

Check Home Goods & TJ Max. I’ve found them on clearance for under $10 ea. Regular price is $12-16 depending on which pan. I have several of them.

I suppose this is Happy Mother’s Day brunch 🤷‍♀️. ”John’s” Special, roasted breakfast potatoes, sourdough toast, Prosecco and berries. John’s special is my mom’s husband’s take on Joe’s Special in SF. He used Italian sausage instead of hamburger. And it’s more frittata like instead of a scramble.

Fish tacos for Cinco de Mayo. Crispy cod, cabbage & pickled onions.

Maybe 1/2 hour this morning for the piping. Just a single layer, smooth iced it last night.

Happy Birthday to my Aunt Sibbie. White almond cake and vanilla buttercream.

I kinda followed @Rajala’s crunchy bottom he had with it. I used Callebaut gold chocolate, brown butter, spices and the nuts and coconut.

Thanks! I like cardamom too, but yeah, people are iffy here with that. I didn’t like the carrot bits in the bottom layer, seemed tough when you would find one. But the coconut and walnut comes through enough in it. I think the caramel has plenty of flavor, so didn’t need to add to it.

I layered mine with cream cheese ganache, and I tried a similar bottom, using dried multicolored carrots (which I think I’ll omit next time), but added coconut and toasted walnuts since that’s what I use in my cake. I changed up the spices a little and it really tasted like carrot cake. I still need to tweak the spices, but I really liked it.

Yeah I’m a caramel person, that’s my picks. Props to @Rajala for the carrot caramel inspiration. I tweaked to make it more like my carrot cake, but it’s tasty!

Finished Easter chocolates. Strawberry Rhubarb, leftover chocolate nougat (purple bunny egg), Pineapple Coconut Cashew, Milky Way-ish, Turtle, Carrot Cake, Strawberry, Peanut Caramel, leftover caramel (transfer sheet)

I make a buttercream that has the same texture as Swiss buttercream, but doesn’t use eggs. You could give it a try. I haven’t added a lot of liquid to it though. You could try reducing the juice some before maybe. AMERICAN BUTTERCREAM INGREDIENTS X1 X2 X3 UNSALTED BUTTER, ROOM TEMP 904 G WHOLE MILK 250 ML VANILLA BEAN PASTE 4 TSP SALT 1/2 TSP ICING SUGAR, SIFTED 660 G MERINGUE POWDER (OPTIONAL) 2 TBS BEAT BUTTER WITH PADDLE ON MED-HI SPEED FOR 5 MINS TILL LIGHT AND FLUFFY, SCRAPING BOWL. COMBINE MILK, VBP AND SALT IN A MEASURING CUP. MICROWAVE UNTIL HOT. SIFT ICING SUGAR INTO A BOWL. POUR HOT MILK OVER SUGAR AND MIX UNTIL SUGAR IS DISSOLVED. LET COOL TO ROOM TEMP. ONCE COOLED, ADD SLOWLY TO BUTTER WHILE MIXING ON MED SPEED. ONCE ADDED, SCRAPE BOWL, THEN BEAT ON MED FOR ABOUT 10 MINS. PADDLE ON LOWEST SPEED ABOUT 5 MINS TO REMOVE AIR BUBBLES.

Seared scallops with capers, lemon and browned butter, pilaf and roasted asparagus and more focaccia. And one of my favorite Chardonnay’s.

Homemade focaccia, mortadella, burrata, pesto and arugula.

Very simple, but so tasty. Made Chris Bianco’s Rosa pizza. We all loved it.