Happy, Happy Birthday Granny!

May there be many, many more!!

White Rabbit Goes Camping

Sarah's boyfriend took her camping on Saltspring Island for her birthday, and he wanted to surprise her with a camping-themed cake. Who did he call? White Rabbit Cakery, of course! We created a forest cake for Sarah, with birds in the trees, a bear scratching his back, and a googly eyed snake winding around a tree trunk. And lots of mysterious eyes peering out from within the forest. Oh, and of course there was a red pup tent -- who didn't grow up camping in one of those? -- with a pair of feet sticking out. We considered putting two pairs of feet, but not knowing Sarah and her boyfriend very well, we didn't want to get the poor chap into trouble! Inside was our signature chocolate cake with raspberry buttercream filling. We hope the cake survived its journey to Saltspring and was enjoyed by birthday girl Sarah and all her camping buddies.

Chef James Presents: Cherry Lime Pie

Did I mention he cooks now???  Oh, baby!!!

Sparks

About a week ago, James and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary with a big meal, a bottle of wine, and a late show.  With the notable exception of our bulging bellies, it felt like any other night out together, and we both agreed that the third anniversary calls for less pomp than the second, and only a fraction of the first.  It's a good thing, don't you think, that we're not counting the days with tick marks on the wall, not treating every month survived together as a remarkable milestone?  But just because we've settled in for the long haul doesn't mean we're not enjoying ourselves.  Sure, our life together has become comfortable.  Sure, we've broken each other in.  But there is still laughter.  There are still sparks.  And in the words of our favorite psycho cheerleader, changing the routine now would be, like, total murder-suicide.  Seriously.

Adventures in Cooking

So I've never been able to cook. I mean I can make toast but that is about the limits of my culinary skill. Kristi has always been the one to pick up the slack in our relationship and provide me with healthy tasty food. Problem is when she is not around I stare into the fridge look at all the food and have no idea what to do with any of it. I've decided to take a stand and learn how to cook for myself.

There are these things called cookbooks that are surprisingly easy to use! Who knew? In the past week I've been making a few soups and last night I cooked dinner for Kristi and I. I saw some amazing looking turnips at the farmers market and heard them calling my name. Yes, you heard me right. I said turnips! Turnips alone however wouldn't cut it so I also made a lentil soup to go along with it. I present to you Glazed Turnips and Mediterranean Lentil soup.

Glazed Turnips (so good!). From Modern Vegetarian Kitchen by Peter Burley

Mediterranean Lentil Soup. From Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters