When it comes to little girls, or at least little girls like mine, you can never have anything too pink, too tiny, or too precious. Anything falling into one of those categories seems to elicit a smile. So when the December issue of Bon Appetit came out a few weeks back and I got a quick glimpse of the cover, I just knew that I had to make their Candy-Striped Peppermint Meringues for my daughter’s 7th birthday party. They’re pink, they’re tiny, and they’re oh, so precious. As a matter of fact, they are so precious that even this very full grown little girl (me) couldn’t resist them herself…

As a food professional who is responsible for coming up with new and fresh ideas daily, it’s not all that often that something jumps out at me with such gusto. Sure, we often find inspiration within the pages of magazines and on the menus of our favorite new haunts, but it’s rare that I see a recipe that I feel compelled to duplicate exactly as written, but such was the case with this one. And so, when preparing the food for Lily’s party, I pulled out my Bon Appetit and tried my hand at these little meringue cookies.

Of course the beauty of meringue is its pure simplicity. Sugar and egg whites. Period. The only things added to this basic formula for these are a pinch of salt, a smidgeon of peppermint extract, and a few drops of red food coloring. The instructions were foolproof, (I’m really not a baker at heart), and after just a few minutes of bonding with my mixer, this is what my baking sheet looked like going into the oven:

I cannot tell you how excited I was when I pulled these out a couple of hours later. It’s completely passive cooktime (put in oven, set timer, and forget about them. Really!) and even my husband, who is very much a guy’s guy and very much not into pink, was impressed. As a matter of fact he started rattling off a list of names of friends who he thought would enjoy some of these little gems for Christmas!

And speaking of Christmas, we’ve even made a batch of these for our Homebase Christmas party today…so the whole office will get to try them.

 Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays!

Ever wanted to be able to create your own doughnut?  Well now you can!  Here’s a fun online tool from Dunkin’ Donuts to help you design and share your dream doughnut.

 

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Picture 1 from 9: Made in Florida, but certainly loved by this beach town.

While on a weekend trip away from the Big Apple, I shot some photos of some beachy snacks, signs and even seaweed!

I’ve been on a wee bit of a sushi bender.  My pal Ann took notice of the situation and brought over this set of sushi roll soaps.  I went looking for them on line and found a site that sells, sushi soaps, pillows, bandaids and even a sushi fragrance.  By the way, no detail is missed, the sushi roll soaps smell like ginger and they’re vegan.

Yup, that’s right, dental floss flavored like our favorite breakfast food items.  Imagine coffee breath taken to the next level, or explore the latest craze “tartar and waffles.”  Me, I’m all about the bacon floss…but that should come as no surprise.  Got a sweet tooth?  There’s also frosting-flavored cupcake floss.  Will the madness ever end?  I hope not.

I’ve eaten lots of chocolate-covered snacks.  But, until picking up a tube of these candy-colored seeds, I had never tried this sweet variety of sunflower seeds!  They remind me of a healthier, slightly less sweet version of the ever-popular M & M.  If you happen upon them at your local corner store, give them a try!

There is nothing better that seeing one of my childhood favorite breakfast items making a comeback on brunch menus.  I remember many a Sunday morning with my family at our neighborhood pancake house, my brother and I sharing an apple dutch pancake bigger than our heads combined and covered in a blizzard of powdered sugar.  We were in heaven on those weekend mornings and challenged each other to see who could eat their entire half.

This is my latest retro dutch pancake find.  It was served in an individual caste iron dish and baked with the season’s first crop of local berries.  Light, fluffy and delicious.  I love brunch.

While walking on 23rd Street towards the Hudson River to catch the display of Fourth of July fireworks, my friends and I stopped for an ice cream cone at one of the many trucks dotting each corner along the route from subway to river.

I ordered my favorite, a simple vanilla soft-serve cone dipped in chocolate.  But, in a moment of genius, I asked the ice cream man to top my dipped cone in coating of chocolate sprinkles!  Delicious!  A perfect marriage of textures and flavors!  How did I not think of this as a child?!

Because I now feel like I have to make up for nearly 30 lost years of chocolate-sprinkled ice cream cones, I’m certain that I will have a problem in the warmer months ahead.  Even though the ice cream truck that is parked outside my restaurant everyday is very convenient, I’m not sure my belly will appreciate this new endeavor…

According to the gang at Yumsugar, Sprinkles cupcake shop is serving .75 cent shots of their rich and decadent buttercream frosting…frozen.  Although it never ocurred to me to eat frosting frozen, it sure sounds terrific.  We don’t have a Sprinkles in New Orleans, but I did just get the latest Martha Stewart Cupcake book (genius by the way) and so I’m planning on whipping up a bit of extra frosting to pipe into mini tasting cups and toss into the freezer.  The lazy person in me is also considering going to the local cupcakery and asking them to do it.  Either way, I’m checking it out.

You know I will definitely attend at least one of the FREE outdoor showing at the South Street Seaport this week for the 3rd annual NYC Food Film Festival!  Free food films and snacks?!  What gets better than that?!!!  (Free drinks, I guess…)