i don’t know about the rest of you, but i am extremely excited about our 44th president! the night before his inauguration, i was driving home and listening to npr when this story played over the airwaves. in case you’re the kind of person who won’t click on that link (meaning that you and i are more alike than you know!), an NPR correspondent interviewed members of the DC Central Kitchen. DC Central Kitchen is a charity organization that has grown in the past 20 years from collecting leftovers from previous inauguration dinners and distributing them to homeless shelters, into a culinary arts program for people who have been in prison or homeless. thus, instead of feeding people with challenging circumstances, the DC Central Kitchen now trains them and places them into jobs as the complete the program so they can feed themselves. for this inauguration, the DC Central Kitchen made over 8,000 shortbread cookies from Michelle Obama’s own recipe. i haven’t had a chance to try these out, but i wanted to share the inspirational story above as well as the recipe with you (recipe is after the jump). here’s to a new administration of change and hope!
as i was grocery shopping this week, and looking through the store’s winter selection of apples, pears, and citrus, i found myself really missing my favorite summer fruits and berries: nectarines, strawberries, raspberries, and plums. as i was daydreaming about these fabulous fruits that feel months away, i absentmindedly placed a bunch of bananas into my basket. as i unpacked the groceries a little later, it dawned on me that although i miss the summer fruits, and consider the four above to be my all time favorites, bananas might actually qualify as my absolute favorite, albeit the unsung fruit in my life. since bananas are present almost all year round (thanks, global produce market), and something i never leave the store without, why don’t i think of them as my absolute favorite fruit? perhaps it’s because i take them for granted and never yearn for them in off season months. are there any fruits and veggies that you miss over the course of the year, dear readers? do you think that missing them makes them better when you actually get to eat them than they actually taste?
mike and i are lucky enough to celebrate the christmas holiday with three different and fantastic sets of family: my mom, mike’s parents, and my dad. for the celebration at my mom’s this year, we decided to give edible presents to each other for various reasons, but the biggest of which is that we all love baked goods (it runs in the family, i guess). mike and i got a little overzealous about the project and selected not one, not two, not three, but yep, you guessed it, FOUR different kinds of cookies to give away. we chose to make: 1. krumkakes; 2. cocoa-coconut macaroons; 3. vegan strawberry pinwheels; and 4. cinnamon stars.
in case you missed part one of the vegan cupcake extravaganza, i’ll catch you up to speed. jamie, tyler, mike, and i perused the cookbook vegan cupcakes take over the world, by isa chandra moskowitz and terry hope romero, and bit off more than we could chew in one night by selecting two recipes. we started the project late in the evening, and didn’t thoroughly read the directions for the creme pie cakes, which includes not one, not two, but THREE steps of chilling ingredients for at least an hour.
a few weekends ago, jamie, tyler, mike, and i decided it would be a great idea to select TWO cupcake recipes from the tantalizing cookbook vegan cupcakes take over the world, by isa chandra moskowitz and terry hope romero. we labored over our choices, drooled over the pictures, and selected coconut lime cupcakes and brooklyn vs boston creme pie cakes.
