Small(est) Dice Challenge: Baby’s First Birthday Cake

This past week, my son celebrated his first birthday.  My husband’s uncle wanted to make one of his signature, grand cakes, but I don’t give my babies sugar.  I allowed him to make his cake for the family, but my son was going to get a healthy cake.  I searched online for cakes with no…

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Downton Abbey…or High Tea at Highclere

I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m a sucker for good British drama, costume or otherwise.  Being the Anglophile that I am, I am not merely satisfied with watching PBS or BBC America to get my fix.  Oh, no.  I subscribe to Tunnel Bear so I can bypass those pesky internet region-restrictions and watch all…

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Small Dice Challenge: Baking Coconut Pecan Bars

I still have a bunch of pecans in my freezer from my mom from Christmas, so I looked through the Baking book to see if there were any recipes that called for them.  I found “Double-Layer Coconut Pecan Bars.” Of course, this sounded delicious to me, because I love coconut, so I figured it was worth…

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A toast to a King and a Colonel

The Goblin King (Laura) David Bowie died on January 13, 2016 from a battle with cancer.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to remember how he died, I want to remember how he lived.  While most people have been touched by his music, his talent extends further.  I think I was 11…

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Hey mambo…mambo Italiano

We call ourselves the Vivande alums–a group of friends and former co-workers at a once popular, now defunct San Francisco Italian restaurant–who gather once or (if schedules permit) twice a year to share a meal, some laughs and reconnect…often reminiscing about the good old days at Vivande Porta Via.   Vivande was the first of three…

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Small Dice Challenge: Baking Scones

Happy New Year!  For Christmas, I received some new baking tools from Mimi.  Apparently, she was not impressed with my burnt cookie sheets and gave me new ones complete with silicone mats so my cookies don’t stick to  the bottom either.  She, also, told me that measuring is very important in cooking and baking in…

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Finger in the Eggnog–Our Christmas favorites

Laura’s Favorite:  Take a sip of wassail and Scrooge yourself There always is a need for an anti-hero, otherwise you wouldn’t recognize the good people in this world.  Christmas is not Christmas without Scrooge.  He just happens to embody the good and the bad, just like me. For this reason, I always have to watch Scrooged…

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Small Dice Challenge: Holiday Cookies

If you are waiting in anticipation of my rotisserie chicken, part 2, then you will have to wait a little longer, because I am tired of eating poultry at the moment.  Instead, I wanted to focus on the upcoming holidays.  I always make cookies at this time to give to my husband’s relatives and our…

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