Pine Nutz

A few weeks ago I tried my very first Bouchon recipe, Lemon Sabayon-Pine Nut Tart with Honeyed Mascarpone Cream which came out pretty okay. The crust was made out of a kind of pine-nut shortbread, which I thought would make a good shortbread cookie.
Which led me to this recipe for Honey, cinnamon & pine nut shortbread fingers which I have modified a little:

• 2 sticks plus 2 Tbsp. soft butter
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 tbs honey
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
• Plain flour, to dust
• 1/3 cup pine nuts

Grind pine nuts into pine nut dust using food processor. Mix dough as you would any other cookie dough. Pat dough into pan and cut into fingers before baking. Bake at 320 degrees for 40 minutes.

Nice Things from France You Can't Have, Pt. I

I've been in love with the La Cornue CornuFe Stove for years now, and using the suck oven in my new apartment last night made me want it even more. It has two convection ovens, beautiful handcrafted metal finishes, five burners, and is hands down the most beautiful stove in the world. It is available from Williams-Sonoma, but I highly recommend visiting the La Cornue website, which is chock full of hilarious Frenchness, "How can one not relate to this aphorism by George Bernard Shaw?"
Plus the company's web page pictures (above) the stove floating over France.

Zucchini Squashes

It is still summer, and there are zucchini everywhere. A few weeks ago it was "Battle Zucchini" on Iron Chef America (Zucchini Blini?)

Then, last week Everyday Food featured this Zucchini Lasagna recipe.


Not to mention the amount of times I've heard "Zucchini Fritters" lately...

Lobsters! Electricity!

Speaking of lobsters, there's been an ongoing debate about whether or not they feel pain when you boil them alive. In 2005, Norway claimed that no, they didn't. In 2007, Ireland claimed that yes, they do.

Either way I don't really care because they are delicious. But if you feel uncomfortable boiling something alive, you can always kill it beforehand. With the.... CrustaStun- the at-home electric chair for lobsters.

Outdoor Dining

I can't tell if this is the worst idea ever, or just unbelievably bad. Alright. It is the worst. Dinner on an amusement park ride, strapped into an unattractive seat? Attached to a piece of construction equipment? And forget wearing a dress.

The only things that would make this a good idea: The table is suspended smack-dab in the center of Rome. It is free despite almost every dish containing lobster, and dinner is prepared and served by a very flirtatious, half-dressed Rocco DiSpirito.

Zebra Cakes

I've always had a soft spot for Zebra cakes, those chemical-riddled bits of sugar and vegetable shortening made by Little Debbie. But there is a much more grown-up cake that resembles everyone's favorite jungle horse creature, zebra cake.First you mix up the vanilla batter, turn half into chocolate with the addition of some cocoa, then painstakingly pour the batter 3 Tablespoons at a time, alternating colors into a cake pan to create the stripes.

Vegetable Deceit!

Did you know that the Jerusalem artichoke is neither an artichoke, nor does it have anything at all to do with Jerusalem? It is a tuber that grows from a sunflower, and tastes somewhere between a potato and a (SURPRISE!) artichoke.Let's get some at Whole Foods and make them into soup! Shallots, fresh sage, garlic, celery, cream, potato. Served cold and topped with fried leeks and bacon.