2nd Blogoversary—Celebrate with Something Sweet

Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta Macerated Strawberries

Another year and lots of food. The past year of blogging has been very different from the year before, mostly in quantity. As most of you have probably noticed, frequency has tapered off a bit. For a while I was doing a lot of writing that was not here on Brooklyn Locavore. Some for Restaurant Girl and a bit of editing and writing for Just Food. Then I started a new full-time position in December. Work life has been crazy, good crazy, but forced me to scale back a little. I’ve continued with Just Food, took a break from Restaurant Girl but ideally would love to be posting here twice a week. I still cook almost as much and am at the point that I probably have more  recipes and ideas to share than I’ll ever be able to write.

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Crowd Pleaser: Mini Tiramisu Cups

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What’s better than dessert? Individual desserts! No need to compromise or share plus less guilt from the miniaturized treat. I’ve always been a huge fan of cupcakes. You can bring a variety to a party and everyone can enjoy their favorite flavor. How could any other mini dessert not be as amazing?

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Forcing Spring’s Hand

Cook Spring even if the weather doesn't agree!

Cook Spring even if the weather doesn’t agree!

Last Wednesday was the first day of Spring. Here in Brooklyn, unless you double checked the calendar, you’d never know. I swear in the past few days it’s actually gotten colder. During a trip to the Union Square Greenmarket on Friday, I saw one farmer selling buckets of tulips and it gave me hope. At least Spring has arrived somewhere! That was until I actually read the sign: “Greenhouse grown”. Not that there’s anything wrong with greenhouses, but I was kind of looking forward to finding something that actually grew in the ground.

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Looking Pretty Doesn’t Have to Take All Day

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When you tell someone you’re having sirloin with a port reduction sauce, it sounds fancy, and something you shouldn’t attempt on a weekday night. Yes there are meals that you slave over for hours, days sometimes, and serve to a small dinner party. Complements fly, you graciously accept them responding with things like, “oh it was nothing” or “no, I really just love cooking” in your simple but stylish attire. No one has to know that you changed out of your oil and spice covered cooking clothes, showered and primped only minutes before they walked in the door. The party starts at 6pm, but you’re secretly hoping the party starts to break up around 9pm so you can don your fluffy pajamas, crawl under the blankets and sleep for days after your 48 hour cooking marathon. And then there are those days when you come home after work, exhausted, and whip something up in less than 20 minutes for just the two of you. Well here’s one of my biggest secrets. What if you could make fast look fancy?

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Valentines Day Heart Success & Bacon Beer Salad

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Success! The nontraditional heart and chocolate Valentines Dinner was a success! If you happened to be seated at our dinner table, and didn’t know you would be eating heart, you probably wouldn’t be any the wiser. Beef heart (at least went slow cooked and smothered with mole sauce) tastes a lot like tender steak, think Filet Mignon. At first I was pretty worried the meat would be chewy. When I stirred the pot partway through the cubes of meat seemed very tough and dense. However, the dish was nothing but delicious. I noticed the heart had a stronger beefy flavor and was firm but super tender. I think my next experiment will include it in a stew or maybe chili.

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