December 29, 2009

First Slice Phobia

First Slice Phobia: the fear of being the first to cut into a dessert. Most often exhibited at social gatherings as referenced in the following case study...

A holiday pot-luck party provided the perfect opportunity to make the full recipe of Low and Lush Chocolate Cheesecake, complete with fancy piped whipped cream, but when it came time for dessert the guests were eating everything but! Why wasn't anyone trying my tempting and (if I do say so myself) gorgeous dessert? Personally I couldn't wait to try it so I did. And then the hoarde descended.

What is it in human nature that makes people so reluctant to take the first slice? If we didn't want you to eat it, it would have been just as easy to ditch the tights and high heeled boots to stay at home in my jammies, the television with a fork! Not that there's anything wrong with that.

December 20, 2009

Improving With Age

Today is my 36th birthday but my blog is getting the presents- a Lowel Ego light kit. It comes with 2 Ego lights, a sweep with colored backdrops, and the promise of increased content right here on this blog.
No more will I toil away on a beautiful culinary masterpiece (ok maybe that's a stretch but one needs a goal) only to have it go undocumented due to lack of available light in my tiny house. Day or night, rain or shine, success or failure, you will read about it here.

But not right now because it's time for cake.

December 1, 2009

Can I Get A Woop Woop


After the whirwind of baking, eating, and more baking that went down last week, I wasn't so sure I could bring myself to dive into to some fancy smancy dessert but something about this Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart kept calling my name. Mainly it was the rosy part, as in red wine. I can never resist and opportunity to bake with booze plus, I already had a bottle of Woop Woop Shiraz open- fun to say and fun to drink. I did only go for a third of the recipe, yielding this one lonely yet lovely 4 inch tart.


While I was at it I attempted to bake ahead and make the Cafe Exploding Sticky Disaster, I mean Volcano cookies, but that is a story for another Tuesday.

To see more tarts in action, check out the TWD blogroll.