Category Archives: food

13 years ago today…

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my mom died (wasn’t she so a babe?). I realize that’s kind of a depressing way to start a blog post, and truthfully, it is depressing, but this post is not.

Today was different than the last twelve 25ths of January have been because I did something fantastic. I threw a huge dinner party (with the help of two lovely friends). I had dinner for a little over 25 people. It was probably the biggest dinner party I’ve thrown that wasn’t a potluck. Julie and I made four big pasta dishes, Rebecca helped with appetizers (yes…appetizers), and a few others brought salads, bread, drinks, and desserts. I joined my two worlds (school and church) and was able to introduce the masses. It was a smashing success! Absolutely brilliant!

And do you know what? My mom would have loved to have been there. I was raised by a mother who was raised to entertain…and she taught us how to do it. In fact, I called my grandma yesterday for a recipe and I could hear the pride in her voice. I still took a moment to be a little depressed about not having a mom (at least that’s here with me physically…I know I still have a mom and I’m positive that sometimes she’s hanging out with me)…but then it was time to be the hostess…so the depression wasn’t allowed to stick around for very long. It was a fabulous way to spend the anniversary of my mom’s death.

And in case you want the recipe to the delicious lasagna I made (sure to please almost anyone), you can find it here. Yes, I should have taken a picture, but it completely slipped my mind.

I’ll post the appetizer recipes, too…but now I have to finish writing a paper. All play and no work makes Chloe the girl who her team hates and who gets bad grades.

roma

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So, these pictures are not necessarily in order (and actually mainly in reverse order). But this is a brief photo-log of our adventures in Rome. There are a few stories to go along with pictures, so scroll down for those.



First, I love this picture with the mask. But the best part was when the little, Asian store clerk started yelling at us, “No picture! No picture!” It was seriously amusing.


So, when we arrived in Rome, we were staying at a hotel in a neighborhood that Erika wanted to stay in. It was kind of ghetto (which, interestingly enough, I am normally fine with in Europe, but something about spending Christmas there and traveling with money this time made it so I was a spoiled brat…and I wasn’t the only one).

When the taxi driver pulled to a stop in front of a nondescript building, none of us noticed the building because we were all looking at the car accident and the dead body (graphic, but true…under a sheet thank goodness) on the road. Romans driving abilities are…interesting.

Upon entering the hotel, things didn’t get worse…but they didn’t get better. First, we could barely get into it because the door was working, and while the “hotel” was clean, it felt a bit like an orphanage…a smoky orphanage. The thought of spending Christmas there started to break my heart. That night, after eating a delicious meal at midnight, we decided we couldn’t stay in the hotel and for the next several hours (we finally went to bed around 4 am) we figured out where we could stay and what we would say to get out of our current situation.

We ended up at the Central Park Marriott. It was incredible. Our room was a) not in the orphanage style and b) had an amazing balcony with a perfect view of St. Peter’s and Vatican City. The photo above is the view from our patio. Christmas was absolutely perfect!

Christmas Eve and an American gospel choir was singing on the Spanish Steps. It was one of those perfectly serendipitous moments…it felt like Christmas.

We were in Vatican City on Christmas Eve and the paparazzi were setting there cameras up…anxiously anticipating a view of the Pope. We, however, did not stick around long enough to have that experience ourselves.

My darling cousin with the cutest little restaurant manager ever. Ever. He joked with us about Governor Schwarzenegger (my cousin, like me originally, is from California). It was pretty much hilarious. It was not the pizzeria I was hoping to find (my friend, Kyle, recommended Buffeto’s off of the Piazza Navona…but I couldn’t remember the name), but it was pretty dang good, nonetheless.



The delicious gelato (the best in Rome according to my friend, Brian) that I happily ate even though it was pretty freaking cold outside. And I have to say, it’s the best gelato I can remember ever having.
These last three pictures are of our delicious Christmas dinner experience. Again, a restaurant manager/owner enamored by my lovely cousin. It was hilarious. First of all, he lured us into the restaurant with his fabulous Italian charm, then he made recommendations, with stories about how his wife makes the pasta fresh, and at the end of the meal we had racked up a bill worthy of dinner and a show.

The good news is, we got the show. Mr. Owner was absolutely hilarious. (And yes, Tanya and I are have a sword fight with bread sticks…because we’re mature.)

While I can’t say that Rome is my favorite city in the world, it is definitely worth visiting. And considering that I didn’t get to do the shopping I was hoping to do (Christmas Eve and Christmas can really cramp a shopaholic’s style), I will be going back someday…hopefully when it’s just a little warmer.

Yes, this post is mainly about food…but I’m me and it was Italy, so it all makes perfect sense.

family reunion in photo form

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Are you wondering what this picture is? If you look closely, you will see nail marks (as in “fingernail”) in both of our arms. This is what happens when sisters fight…they revert back to the most childish versions of themselves and dig nails into arms. And just to be clear…I was the mature one who started it.






A few pics are missing because I can’t get one of my disks to upload and I didn’t take any race pictures, so I have to wait for my sis-in-law to send them my way…sad!

cooking class

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For years I have thought it would be fun to take a cooking class. I’ve taken cake decorating, but never cooking. I don’t know why, but they really intimidate me. Actually, any class where I don’t know anyone intimidates me, but I just power through it, I guess.

Well, yesterday I’m in Whole Foods (I love this store and am so happy that for the three weeks I’m in California, it’s just across the street…but that’s another post for another day) picking up some things for lunch and happen to see the class schedule. And, to my delighted surprise, the class yesterday was a souffle class; something I have never attempted before because they scare the crap out of me.

Before I could even think about it (because I wouldn’t have done it if I had), I signed up and paid for the class. The rest of the day gave me time to get both excited and nervous. By about 6:45 (15 minutes before the class started) I was ready to just forfeit the money, but then I got over that and headed over to Whole Foods (a couple of minutes late…didn’t want to be the first person there).

It was absolutely lovely. There were only for of us; a mom, her son, an attorney, and me (oh, and the instructor). It took a second before we all warmed up to one another, but warm up we did, and soon we were all moving, stirring, whipping, chopping, etc., etc. And I learned a great, new folding technique that ensures much less flattening of the egg whites (the key to souffles is air…thus the name “souffle” which means “breath” in English).

With a little over two weeks here, mainly on my own (I’m house-sitting for my sister), I have every intention of taking a few more classes. If I get really daring, I may even take one that doesn’t involve baking (regular cooking, where you have to season things and can improvise, is not my strength).

Of course, me being me, I didn’t hesitate to ask if I could take pictures, so here they are. All of the recipes are on Epicurious.com. If I have a little more time, I will link them in later.

Gruyere and Parmesean

Orange (absolutely divine)
Strawberry with a strawberry and rhubarb garnish (totally fat-free)

Bittersweet Chocolate (a fabulous death by chocolate – obviously, as a total chocolate addict, this was my favorite…although I really enjoyed all of them)

put the lime in the coconut cupcakes

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So, once again I’ve stolen a recipe (and post) from Mel, but I did modify it a bit. I have now made this twice (both times in Las Vegas because Justin and Cherity like coconut as much as I do); once as a regular cake (in a 9×13 inch pan with no layering or anything) and once as cupcakes. Both were delicious. The pics, obviously, are the cupcakes and should explain what I did. The only modification that won’t be shown in the pictures is the bake time…which I just got from looking at a box mix. This recipe makes 24 cupcakes…except you can half the glaze.

Cake: (don’t you dare use a coconut flavored box mix. The cake is A-MAZING and not too time consuming to make from scratch.)

  • 1 cup butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 teaspoon coconut extract
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour 2 (9-inch) cake pans.

In an electric mixer or using a hand beater, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add coconut extract and eggs 1 at a time. In a mixing bowl or on a sheet of parchment paper, combine flour, salt, baking soda and powder. To mixer add coconut milk and flour to creamed mixture alternately, beginning and ending with flour. Pour batter into prepared pans and bake for 25 to 28 minutes. Allow to cool 10 minutes then turn out of pans onto rack(s) over a sheet pan and allow to cool completely.My little scraper cleaner!

Lime Glaze

  • 1 cup sour cream or yogurt
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 limes, zested and juiced
  • 1/4 cup coconut milk
  • 1 cup shredded coconut

In a medium bowl combine sour cream or yogurt, sugar, lime zest and juice, coconut milk, shredded coconut. With a bamboo skewer, poke holes in cake and spread glaze on both sides of both cakes. Cover with plastic wrap, chill until ready to frost cake.


Icing: (if you’re making an actual layer cake, you may need all of the icing this recipe calls for. If you’re just going to frost the top of the cake, 1/2 or even 1/4 of this amount will be enough.)

  • 1 cup butter
  • 4 ounces cream cheese
  • 1 pound box plus 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup coconut milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups shredded coconut

In an electric mixer or using a hand mixer beat together the butter and cream cheese until well blended and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar gradually at low speed. Beat in coconut milk and vanilla. Frost cake. Coat top and sides with shredded coconut.