Apple-Cinnamon Cereal Snickerdoodles

Cookbook Club – Holiday Cookie Swap As a bonus Cookbook Club event, we did a holiday cookie swap where each person chose a recipe from either BraveTart, The Cookie Collection, or Dorie’s Cookies. Then we all got together and swapped cookies, so you went with one batch of cookies and came home with a variety…

Persimmon Crisp

Our Cookbook Club tradition is to do a Friendsgiving event in November, where instead of using a cookbook everyone makes a dish that’s either a Thanksgiving tradition for them or something new they want to try this year. It’s persimmon season, and my friend recently gave me a bag full from her tree. I make…

Sweet Pea Soup with Coconut and Ginger

Cookbook Club – In Bibi’s Kitchen In October we used Hawa Hassan’s cookbook In Bibi’s Kitchen for Cookbook Club. Hassan gathered the stories and recipes of bibis (grandmothers) from eight African nations: Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, South Africa, Madagascar, and Comoros. To get a taste of the foods we tried from these bibis’ kitchens,…

Chipotle-Garam Masala Olives

Cookbook Club – Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food September’s Cookbook Club book was Nik Sharma’s Season: Big Flavors, Beautiful Food. Sharma’s stunning photography showcases his take on Indian cooking in this gorgeous cookbook. To see all the beautiful food, go to my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish! I got as far as…

Taco Pasta

Cookbook Club – Guerrilla Tacos For August’s Cookbook Club we used Guerrilla Tacos, a compilation of the recipes LA local Wes Avila created for his very popular taco truck of the same name. To get a taste of all the tacos, go to my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish! I know, I…

Lentils with Curried Butternut Squash and Walnuts

Cookbook Club – Gourmet Today For our July Cookbook Club we used Gourmet Today, a collection of over 1,000 recipes which Ruth Reichl compiled during her time as editor in chief of Gourmet magazine. To see all the dishes we sampled from this massive selection, go to my Cookbook Club site. For now – my…

Hot-and-Sour Curried Chickpeas

Cookbook Club – Milk Street: The New Rules Cookbook Club is back!!!!! Can you tell I’m excited? It’s been 15 months of COVID craziness – wearing masks, staying away from people, and definitely not having dinner parties. Anyone who knows me knows I love a dinner party, so it’s been rough. But the world is…

3.14 Pi(e) Day V

Well, COVID is still a thing, so once again we did a scaled-back gathering with fewer people in an outdoor setting. Even a global pandemic can’t get in the way of me and pie! Pie Day was a great opportunity to catch up with some of my fellow pie-loving friends, many of whom due to…

Soy-Ginger Dinner Scramble

Cookbook Club – Virtual Potluck Well, COVID-19 happened, and that made dinner parties impossible… almost. But we can’t let anything stand in the way of Cookbook Club, so we figured out how to do a virtual potluck. We provided some recipe options from Bon Appetit for “when there’s nothing in the fridge”, and then we…

Pasta all’Amatriciana

Cookbook Club – Milk Street: Tuesday Nights The cookbook for our March Cookbook Club was Milk Street: Tuesday Nights. Due to host availability we had scheduled it for earlier in the month than usual, which turned out to be a lucky thing since COVID-19 may keep us from gathering for awhile. It looks like we’ll…

3.14 Pi(e) Day IV

In a scenario I never expected to experience in anything but film and TV, we are now living through a global pandemic called COVID-19. In accordance with CDC guidance to avoid large gatherings, we scaled down our big Pie Day event to just an intimate group of five pie-loving friends. In scary times we need…

Glazed Radishes

Cookbook Club – The Silver Spoon For February’s Cookbook Club, we used the The Silver Spoon, a bible of Italian food with over 2,000 recipes. To get a glimpse of our entire home cooked Italian meal, go to my Cookbook Club site. For now – my dish! Radishes are so rarely cooked. In fact, I…