FoodFixe

Baking with Julia: Pumpkin Roll Cake

I’m not referring to the Julia. No, this Julia is a young aspiring baker with whom I had the pleasure of baking with this past Saturday morning. Julia is a high school freshman who’s been participating in her school’s baking club. A mutual friend thought she might enjoy baking with and learning from someone who had once been a professional baker. Rest assured, I learned more from my time with Julia than she learned from me—but she walked away with the cake!

Bourbon Ice Cream

A couple months ago, I had the pleasure of discovering a wonderful local distillery—St. George Spirits. You might not be familiar with the distillery by name but you may be familiar with its vodka, Hangar One, so named because the distillery is located in one of the old hangars at the now defunct naval base on Alameda. (OK, so they’re really in hangar 21, but you can’t fault them for taking some liberties with paint.)

Oh, but St. George makes so much more than that vodka. There are incredible infused (not flavored) vodkas, including mandarin and Buddha’s hand (a citrus fruit similar to lemon that looks like, you guessed it, a hand); exceptional eaux-de-vie (the Thai basil is delish), stellar gins, and the most incredible coffee liqueur I’ve ever tasted, currently made with coffee from Verve in Capitola. St. George even makes absinthe and, to my surprise, I loved it.

The best birthday recipe: food and friends

A couple weeks ago I threw myself a small birthday party. Because food and friends are my two favorite things (not necessarily in that order), any chance to bring them together is always a special gift.

I wanted to keep things simple. After all, the birthday girl wants to have fun, too, and not spend the entire day and night in the kitchen. I pulled out some of my favorite recipes and created a menu for the party that included a couple heartier dishes that I then supplemented with nibbles and noshes. I chose sangria as the signature drink for the evening.  

Birthday Baked Goodies

I made these Coconut Shortbread Cookies as favors for my niece Katherine’s 40th birthday party last Saturday. They were a HUGE hit. The birthday girl’s husband, Justin, even said they were probably the best cookie he’d ever had. Honestly, I’d have to agree.

These cookies are buttery as all get out, as any good shortbread cookie should be. What makes them super yummy, though, is the combination of slightly sweet and salty in addition to the coconut. And dipping the cookies in chocolate just enhanced the entire taste experience. It’s a good thing I had only one cookie, because I would have plowed through several, given the opportunity.