It’s Summer! It’s Summer! And I’m still here! Except now my brain is in a beachy-happy-place instead of in a library cubicle, my nose deeply planted in an Agatha Christie mystery instead of in a Nutrition and Disease textbook. Hooray! Although sunkissed and befreckled, I’m also a little shame-faced about my total, unexplained hiatus from the blogosphere… It is amazing how fast a week turns into two, turns into three, turns into several. Do you want the Coles Notes version? Okay, here goes:

Mid to late April: Exams! Last ones ever!! Eek! This gives me a strange happy-sad-frightened feeling.

Early May: MEXICO!! Girls getaway. All-inclusive. Endless beaches. Endless tequila. A trip we affectionately refer to as “Swine Oh-Nine”. (But don’t worry, *oink*, no symptoms, *oink*).

May, immediately post Swine-09: Full-time summer course + lots of visiting family = a bustling, happy house… and a very busy (but happy!) Jenn.

Beginning of June - present: Happiness, in the form of: a sister, a bouncy dog, endless sunshine, a whole lotta ice cream, buckets of Corona, a secret beach, a bicycle, a bikini (or ten), strawberries, and freedom.
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Sigh. I am so conflicted this time of year with the simultaneous arrival of both exam period, and some of the sweetest parts of Spring. Cherry blossoms, warm summery breezes, the appearance of rhubarb at the market… these things do nothing for my already challenged attention span.

But life’s about balance, right? So I am taking lots of study breaks: strolling with Oliver through the streets lined with cherry trees snowing their blossoms onto the cars parked beneath them; running on the beach at low tide to capture a few moments of warm, salty air; ransacking the market on my walk home from the 24-hour coffee house (thus continuing the walk home with 30 pounds of books on my back, and 5 pounds of rhubarb under each arm); and then baking the afore-mentioned rhubarb into a delicious, summery pie. Read More

I was literally this close to having a Cadbury Creme Egg for supper. It’s Easter, after all, which I think is a perfectly legitimate reason to do such a thing. There is something about that tooth-achingly sweet fondant filling that drips down your chin and stickifies your fingers (and keyboard, as it turns out) that I find positively irresistible.

But, I reasoned with myself - it is exam period, and I will probably have a perfectly legitimate excuse not to cook on any given day over the next two weeks. And I have a crisper drawer in my fridge groaning under the weight of luscious, fresh vegetation. So, I reluctantly re-stuck the partially unwrapped foil on my delectable creme filled chocolate treat, and whipped out my apron along with some leafy greens. And I decided I should tell you about how to make greens taste grand. Yes, grand. Not just edible, but delicious.

I really love any edible leaf, but I didn’t always. Nothing is worse than a plate full of soggy, bitter, marsh-hued greens. The first time I had kale that I liked, it was a revelation. This was me: Whaaaaaaaaa….?! That can taste like this?? And now I fill my basket (and meals) with some variation of arugula, spinach, kale, chard, curly endive, beet greens, gai lan, rapini, etc. every week.
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The library - that’s where I’m at. I am up to my neck in assignments for school, and although I would love to write about delicious things instead, I have been living off of salads and sushi. And I think both are are quite delicious in their own right, neither come with recipes for sharing, nor do they evoke exciting descriptions.

So, I decided to share with you my favorite blogs so you can nibble your way over there and get your fill, while I am missing in action. I wake up an extra half-hour early so that I can keep up with my blog-drooling. Here’s a taste of what is currently making me salivate on my keyboard. I’m sure you already know some of them, but maybe there’s a new gem in there for you to discover!

Joy the Baker
101 Cookbooks
King Arthur Flour Blog
Closet Cooking by Kevin
A Dash of Sass
The Food Geek
Not Without Salt
Use Real Butter
Culinary Concoctions by Peabody
Creampuffs in Venice
Sticky Gooey Creamy Chewy

I’ll be back soon, with yummy things like Lamb Popsicles in Tamarind Cream Curry. I promise! In the meantime, follow up real-time updates on twitter. Read More

So this recipe has been floating around for a long time, gracing the blogs and the tables of many a foodie. Personally, I was a bit skeptical. I mean, what is the point of making bread if you aren’t going to knead it, fuss over it, watch it rise, punch it around… Making homemade bread is about technique, timing, and experience. Naturally, it comes with some bragging rights. But this bread changes everything. Anyone who can use a wooden spoon can make it. It’s simplicity makes it such that absolutely everyone has the ability to make gorgeous loaves of crusty outered, tender innard-ed bread.

To make the dough, you mix everything in a bowl. That’s it. The initial rise takes two or more hours. But this rise doesn’t need to be babysat, as you let it grow until it collapses in on itself. Then you take the resulting gloriously yeasty, puffy pile of dough, stick it in a tub, pop it in the fridge, and saw off a hunk whenever you have a hankering for fresh, warm bread. Nothing to it.

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