Apparently cake pops are the hot thing right now (I guess cupcakes aren’t anymore? I can’t keep up).  I love this idea from Aubrey and Lindsay’s Little House blog – instead of making cake pops from scratch, put a timbit on a stick and dip it in icing.  I’d want to start with a plain timbit so you don’t mix the glaze from the donut with the icing (that’s too much sugar for me).

Excellent idea, don’t you think?

[photo via Aubrey + Lindsay's Little House Blog]

Usually the only time you’ll find me in the kitchen is when I need to refill my glass of wine – Ian does all the cooking in our house.  But every once and a while I can bake something.

Yesterday I had a big time chocolate craving, and Clara was in the middle of a long nap, so I made chocolate chip cookies.  Not just any chocolate chip cookies – Thomas Keller’s Chocolate Chip Cookies from the Ad Hoc at Home cookbook.  They are the best.  I think the secret ingredient is an insane amount of butter.

If you feel like making them yourself (and I recommend you do – it’s so easy, even I can do it), you can find the recipe online here.

The Selby took some photos of Chef Eric Ripert at work in his NYC restaurant, Le Bernadin.  I don’t know which I like more – the photos of the kitchen, or the photos of the food!  Click here to see all the images.

Hope you have a delicious weekend.

I just renewed our summer share for the CSA program from Kawartha Ecological Growers.  What’s a summer share and a CSA, you ask?

“Community-supported agriculture (CSA) is a socio-economic model of agriculture and food distribution; a system that connects people craving farm fresh local produce directly to the farmers growing their food.  A CSA consists of a community of folks who commit to supporting a farm before the growing season begins, in return for a regular dose of seasonal produce throughout.  In this way, the farm becomes the community’s farm and the consumers become co-producers of the food, with the growers and eaters supporting one another while sharing in all the risks and benefits of food production. It’s the ultimate model in local eating!”

Great idea, huh?  We get our share from Kawartha Ecological Growers – a group of about 20 small farms West of the Kawartha Lakes.  They have different pickup locations around the city, and we get ours every Tuesday at the Ceili Cottage (conveniently located at the end of our street). Fresh produce directly from the farm, all summer long = bliss.

Want to know more, or sign yourself up?  Check out Kawartha Ecological Growers’ website.  And yes, full disclosure, I designed the site.  But that’s not why I endorse them – I honestly really love this organization, and the CSA model.

One of my bestest pals, design partner, birthday sharer (this Friday, April 15, holla!) and illustrator extraordinaire Kinnon took a trip to Portugal and Spain a couple months ago (she often travels solo, which is gutsy and cool).  As a way to honor the trip, and remember what she ate, Kinnon has illustrated the most memorable meals from her journey.  What a great idea for a travel diary, no?

You can see all of Kinnon’s travel food illustrations, and read the stories that accompany the drawings, online here.  Warning – do not read when you’re hungry.  Or you just might find yourself searching for flights to Spain.  Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Yesterday Ian and I were watching CBS Sunday Morning (yep, we watch Sunday Morning and 60 Minutes every week – we’re quite the old married couple), and we saw this story on Gourmet Magazine’s new Cookie Book.  The editors of Gourmet have gone through their archives and selected one cookie recipe per year from 1941-2009.  Of course, the book is great for bakers looking to expand their repertoire, but it also offers an interesting look at social history, as it features “headnotes describing their cultural context, the recipes present a fascinating bite-by-bite history of how our appetites evolved.”

The Gourmet Cookie Book would be a great last-minute gift idea for the baker or cookie historian in your life…

This morning I’m jumping on a plane with 5 of my favourite ladies, and we’re headed to Vegas for 3 nights to celebrate Hilary’s birthday.  I’m not much of a gambler, and I won’t be partying much (being pregnant has me in bed by 10pm most nights), but I am looking forward to hanging out with my friends, a little shopping, and eating our faces off.

We have reservations tomorrow night at Bouchon Bistro, and I haven’t looked forward to a meal this much in a long time.  Bouchon is a Thomas Keller restaurant (you know, Thomas Keller of The French Laundry?  Arguably the best chef in America, if not the world?), and although I’m sure Keller himself will NOT be in the kitchen tomorrow night, it will still be a meal to remember.

Just look at those steak frites…

Hold me back, or I’ll buy a plane ticket… the New York Times recently published an article in their travel section about fresh seafood and other fine dining on the Isle of Skye, in Scotland.  The idea of Scottish fine cuisine used to be an oxy-moron, but now there’s a Michelin star resto on Skye.  I wish I was there, slurping back fresh oysters, looking out at the dramatic hills and coastline…

My regular readers know how much I like picnics (I’ve posted about it here).  So you won’t be surprised when you see how much I love the picnic kits from Boxsall (especially the “urban picnic” box that looks like an old-school ghetto blaster).  These have been featured on more design blogs than I can count – they’re very popular.  I don’t think you can get them in Canada though.

Last week, I helped my friends Vic and Malia set up a website.  Their electric scooter was stolen, and they wanted a website to post videos, photos, and comments (all in an attempt to get some media coverage for their plight.  Crazy – it worked!)

I didn’t expect anything in return – Vic and Malia are great people, and I wanted to help them out.  But, being the awesome people they are, they sent me a gift basket from Eat My Words, featuring 12 beautiful mini-cupcakes in a gorgeous hat box.  (And they were dropped off by a really cute delivery boy – extra bonus)

And the best part of all of it – the proceeds from each and every Eat My Words treat box go to the Stephen Lewis Foundation.  So I can feel less guilty about eating 12 cupcakes at once (just kidding… kind of).

Now if only Vic and Malia can get their scooter back – then all will be right in the world.