Meyer lemon and poppy seed cake

 There are some great combinations of flavors complementing each other so well, that I can never think of only one of them, they always have to be in pairs. Like lemon and poppy seed, cranberry and orange, lavender with vanilla, or rosemary with sage. It's simply impossible to resist them in freshly baked muffins, cakes or breads. Wanting to sweeten up those long, wintery days I recently made a meyer lemon and poppy seed cake but I still can't tell if it's worth of failing a drug test for. It tasted pretty good, had great texture but we thought it should have been a tad more moist. Any thoughts on how to achieve that???

shopping list:

• 2/3 cup sugar
• 8 large egg yolks
• 1 large whole egg
• 1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• pinch of salt
• 2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1/2 cup of poppy seeds

Posted by M. at 10:33 PM 7 comments

They taste like dirt, really???

Whenever I hear someone explaining why they hate eating beets and hear that
they taste like dirt, my heart just breaks.....
They are such beautiful and nutritious little gems, sure...
they have some earthy qualities but they taste sweet and peppery as well, plus you can use them in so many ways: dye fabrics, make borscht, put them in salads,make lead free lipstick and blush or use them as a natural food colorant in those delicious red velvet cupcakes that everyone likes so much..... I personally use them to make salads.Should you finally decide to give a dirty beet a try, you have to find chioggias. These are heirlooms also known as Candystripe or Bull's eye beets, when sliced they display an array of amazingly red, pink or orange colored stripes. To show they flavor and beauty off I usually go for simple thyme and goat cheese beet salad.

Posted by M. at 1:17 PM 2 comments

Is there a room for one more??

I've had this idea of a food blog sitting (lying, hanging) in my head for months, maybe even a year when only by chance ( while looking up a recipe) I discovered that about 500 000 people had already done it. Is there a room for one more??? A 500 000 and 1 website with food stories, recipes and photographs??? Well ..... as a self proclaimed foodie, wine and photography fanatic wanting to share my culinary triumphs and disasters, I hope there is.....

Posted by M. at 12:24 PM 6 comments