Hello! As many of you know, today everyone casts their vote for Bake My Cake 2013. I’m looking forward to it; even when I don’t win, I love watching the results throughout the day. I think I have a decent shot at the gold this time, though, so if you feel so inclined to help a girl out, head over to Movita Beaucoup and throw a vote in the general direction of this crazy cake (and read all about it here and here): Continue reading →
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(Setting: early Summer in the American Middle West. Shannon has been up for hours planning the day, doing some grocery shopping, and has just returned from the gym. A thought occurred to her while on the treadmill – a rare happening – and she can’t wait to tell the one person she knows will be excited about it.)
Shannon: (slams outside door and sets her things on the counter) Lottie? Lottie!
(silence)
Shannon: Lottie? Hello?
(more silence)
(A slight fear creeps in to Shannon’s heart as she wonders where her sheep is. She goes quickly to Lottie’s new home and rings the bell.) Continue reading →
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There’s something very special about picking your own berries in the summer. It’s almost a sacred event to me, and I really geek out on it. You gain an entirely new respect for the thing you are harvesting, I think; I imagine this must be similar to what hunters feel (or at least I hope they feel this way) when killing animals for food. Even though berries don’t have feelings, I do feel like it gives you a new perspective on how amazing nature is and how much goes into putting those little plastic boxes of fruit on your grocery store shelves. Continue reading →
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Pre-bathing suit dieters: avert your eyes and avert them now. Go quickly to a health food blog, do an emergency keyword search for things like “quinoa” and “fennel,” and do your best to completely avoid what I have going on here. This is not the post for you. I’m swimming in the sea of early summer fruits as much as the rest of you, but I couldn’t get this out of my head, so here it is. Page one of the newest Baked offering, Baked Elements: The Good Morning Sunshine Bars, finagled by yours truly. And I did do a good amount of finagling here. Continue reading →
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It occurred to me the other day that it is, once again, summer. It’s hot and humid here, my Arizona friends and relatives are posting about near-Hades-like temperatures in the Southwest (but it’s a dry heat!), and the rabbits in my yard have eaten through chicken wire approximately 39 times already trying to lay waste to my garden. Also, Mr. Table gave up trying to fix the old barbecue grill (it was time) and bought a shiny new charcoal one. All of this means one thing.
Barbecue sauce. Continue reading →
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Some of you may remember this from Facebook, but I made this pavlova a few months ago. And then I never wrote about it on the blog. Like, ever. Some of you may have wondered, “Where did that wee pavlova go? Did it not work out? Why is Shannon holding out on us like this?” Friends, I would never hold out on you unless it was for good reason. Truth: those tiny individual pavlovas were not meant for this blog; they were meant for my first-ever semi-regular freelance food writing job. What? We have several great food magazines in St. Louis, and one of them was just insane enough (in a good way) to ask me to write for them. Continue reading →
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Bonus track! Bonnie, this one’s for you.
We talked about this on Facebook a few weeks back, when I asked if you knew about Momofuku Milk Bar’s new mini-line of healthy cookies. Dubbed “Karlie’s Kookies” (after supermodel Karlie Kloss, who is, incidentally, from right here in St. Louis), they are a gluten-free cookie line containing healthy, wholesome little ingredients, and are perfect for snacking on and still feeling good about yourself. I know most of us snack on cookies and still manage to feel pretty okay about ourselves on a semi-regular basis, but this cookie will truly do your body good. Continue reading →
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It’s time for the individual galettes recipe! Big things going on around here, and sometimes when I’m in the midst of getting my near-future life organized, my present-day life takes a hit. I should (but I won’t) hesitate to call these “individual” desserts; they are, in truth, made out of a regular-sized galette dough cut into fourths. A normal galette allegedly yields you eight servings, so technically my individual galettes would serve two; anyone who eats these would argue, while holding their plate as far away from interlopers as possible, that they only serve one.
And so they shall be called individual galettes. Which are the size of salad plates. Continue reading →
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As promised, here are some of the recipes from Memorial Day, all of which we thoroughly enjoyed. None of them requires much in the way of ingredient-purchasing or time committment, which is great when you’re putting things together on a lazy weekend. There’s a few strategies I employ for weekends like this past one, where I want to relax and not spend my entire day in the kitchen; I know some of us really enjoy hunkering down into a flurry of cooking and baking, but during the warmer months, I find myself wanting to do other things as well. It’s important to never feel trapped in the kitchen while everyone else is kicking back outside, and these tips will help you do just that. Continue reading →
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It’s a good thing I consider Memorial Day to be a weekend event and not a one-day-only event, or we’d be in trouble. At this moment, it’s pouring down rain, with thunder and lightning so loud it woke me the Wee One up from her nap, so at least for right now, there will be no outside cooking. Thankfully on summer holidays at my house, we start picnic-fooding on Saturday, so we’ve had two days of pretty excellent weather with food to go alongside. Continue reading →
Monica: I absolutely get what you're saying. Completely.
And I really comm...
movita beaucoup: (Sorry, I was speaking Canadian there. Let me rephrase: you're my yard...
movita beaucoup: You do everything with grace - from mini donuts to losing competitions...
shannon: that's the cereal devotion talking. it's like you're possessed. :)...
shannon: So cute: like i wish i could convey how adorable they are in real life...
seems like lately my kitchen smells like…
stalking = so much fun.