maybe like at oneg shabbat.

when i think of oneg shabbat (the little reception after friday night shabbat services), i think that there might have been a pull-apart cake. or maybe it was the luncheon after saturday morning services. i know it was there. typically made from those pre-made pillsbury biscuits that pop(!!) when you open the can. but i digress.

recently, i saw a recipe in the internets for monkey bread, which is apparently how many folks call it. and this one was a little more detailed, with yeast and a couple of rises and definitely a bigger time commitment. but as soon as i saw it, i wanted it. so i made it for the book discussion (i will not get into the book, because i could not stand it.). it was a total hit. like bite-sized cinnamon buns.

a note: i didn't have a bundt so i used an angel food pan. a few pieces got stuck to the bottom but i just refitted them to the top of the cake. and there's icing, so i bet no one noticed anyhow.

the baby, for now.

my goddaughter olivia is turning two today.

if she lived near me, i'd make her this cake. or this one. or maybe these. or maybe alex would make her a baked alaska.

i hope it is the greatest.

36 hours in new york, new york.

about a week before this adventure, dominic, my friend and husband of one of my bestest friends, emails me to ask if i would be interested in coming to new york to surprise yelena (said bestest) for her birthday. he's throwing her a surprise party in their apartment and would like to get me a plane ticket to doubly-surprise her. of course i agree. he asks about my dissertation; i tell him that it can wait for another weekend. and thank him all the times for the offer. (a note: yes, this is an ode to the nytimes "36 hours" series in its travel section.)

FRIDAY.

noon
1. ready already.
i actually look out the window as the plane touches down at LGA, already a little nostalgic for it all. though i was in new york last summer, it feels like decades ago, and i know i won't be back until the fall. i had planned to take a bus to y+d's apartment but i am too excited and get in a cab. i text dominic, who is at murray's cheese. i am happy to meet him there (doesn't everyone love that place?), but he'll be home by the time i get there.

130pm
2. the one person.
since i am to be a surprise, i have pretty much told no one i would be in new york (except for my friends in north carolina who i have begged to watch chloe (one of them agrees) and take me to the airport, which i end up paying someone to do, and my mother, who would lose her mind if she later found out i got on a plane and she didn't know). the one person in new york who knows i'll be there is april, who i am hoping is grossly pregnant but mostly looks like she just ate a burrito (it's too soon for the giant belly anyhow). she nervously meets me at y+d's apartment and we go to mile end for lunch, consuming much of the vegetarian items on their menu.

we also venture to gristedes to pick up items for the party and i almost lose my mind because they sell tins of charles chips and mallomars, both of which i do not buy. because it's ridiculous.

400pm
3. the constant surprise.
at this point, i am mostly hanging out with dominic, cutting peppers and making barefoot contessa's onion dip, which something i promised to do (i used to make this dip if i was throwing a big party; it's always a hit and it's really important not to think about how fattening it probably is.). he gives me myriad instructions about setting out food, who is coming over, and how this will happen. i am nervous about the potential for late-arriving guests and early-arriving yelena, who is texting him to pick her up early from work. it's easter weekend and everyone's gone and it's her birthday, for christ's sake (she wasn't that demanding).

friends begin to arrive (i am a surprise each time, to varying degrees of excitement), as does the cake (and cake plate!) and strawberry shortcake decorations and streamers. we begin drinking who-knows-what. a note: we later learn that yelena does not know who strawberry shortcake is, because, well, USSR.

700pm
4. yes, yes, they are in the building.
it's all actually a surprise. she had no idea. it's insane. dominic's web of lies lead her to the apartment and we were all there with loads of drinks and foods and lots of vine-ing and cake and chatter and helium sucked from the balloons and suddenly it was 100am and friends are having very serious, very drunk conversations on marriage.

SATURDAY.

1100am
5. we've got to do our taxes.
we caffeinate. y+d go to have their taxes done (i know this is going to happen before i even arrive. moving this tax appointment would have added to the complexity of the surprise.) i need to buy jeans, as i am wearing a pair with a repaired hole in the crotch and another one forming (i blame the bike-riding), and am happy to walk around and look at people who don't look schlubby (get ahold of yourselves, UNC students) and remind myself that new york is lovely and remains the nombril du monde.

the new jeans already have bike grease on them.

130pm
6. all the merry.
we reconvene at five points because they have pitchers of bloody marys and eggs rancheros. it is at this moment that i remember that brunch in new york could probably be had as late as 300pm but in north carolina, we are lucky if anyone serves it at all (or it's worth leaving the house for).

300pm
7. not opening ceremony.
the three of us stroll around soho and its surrounding hoods, sucking down australian coffees (i had a flat white) from happy bones and looking for the next, newer opening ceremony. yelena buys a shirt that resembles a shirt she was photographed in when she was four (not to be confused with 3-year-old yelena at the top of the post).

we pass pearl + ash, a restaurant apparently named for me (y'all know yelena calls me pearl, right?).

we've barely finished brunch at this point and are thinking about dinner, but decide against this place because it's so meaty (she later reports back that it's pretty awesome if i want to consume some animals).

800pm
8. named for its hood.
part of the birthday lie was there would be a big dinner on saturday night at vinegar hill house. it was not true (ha!), but there was no reason why it didn't have to be. the only subway ride i took in my trip was to dinner and dominic even paid for my ride (he's really a catch, that guy). tracy joined us--really, it was like i had gone back in time, having dinner with these ladies on a saturday night. i can't really remember what i ate: beets, brussels sprouts, some sort of pasta something. more drinks.

by the time we left, it was late and my flight was early early. we went home and drank amaro (gifted to yelena the night before) and passed out.

SUNDAY.

700am
9. cabbing back.
i grab a cab and head to LGA. the cabbie repeatedly calls me "princess" and makes me guess where he's from (ecuador). i am home before noon. i could've stayed camped out in y+d's living room longer, but, well, work. and i should really hammer out that dissertation already.

it's safe to say.

i am in a grapefruit phase. to the point where i have started referring to casey's dog as pamplemousse (or maybe that's because i bathed him in the delicious grapefruit soap). but i am eating grapefruits like they are going out of style, or probably more like i live in california or florida, like they are here, growing in my backyard. 

they are not.

but i was thumbing through the baked cookbook (they actually have 3 books now), looking for something delicious to take to book club. they have what seems to be a delicious orange olive oil bundt.  and i was thinking about adapting it to grapefruit instead. naturally. 

but then! i opened the smitten kitchen book. and there it was:  the grapefruit olive oil cake.

 done. i made it. it was the best thing ever. to the point where casey said it tasted like candy (in a good way). and my friend megan called it a "fruit loaf," because she's given up pastries and confections for lent and wanted to eat it.

i feel like you should own this book, and i am not going to transcribe the recipe. but it involves putting grapefruit rind in the dough, injecting a grapefruit syrup mixture into the top of the loaf, and coating the cake with a grapefruit-powdered sugar frosting. i was so excited about it all that i put mine on too early and so it's not so white (see below).

do it. do it now.

all about deb (mostly).

i've pretty much been hanging out and making smitten recipes. in the last week:

• light wheat bread
• light brioche burger buns
• grapefruit olive oil cake (you're going to have to buy the book)

additionally:

• lemony hummus
• cowboy cookies (adapted from baked)
• strawberry-blueberry jam (inspired by cookfight)

photographs and details to come. 

epic.

i swear i'll tell you how this all came to be, but for now, here's a photograph of the birthday cake.

baked chocolate yum.

baked sunday (#4 for me, #6 for everyone else).

double chocolate loaf with creamy peanut butter spread.
so easy. so delicious. you will want to make this all the time; it's just so awesome.

you can get the recipe via the link above.
i hand-chopped what seemed like tons of chocolate. opening all those bars made me feel as though i worked in veruca salt's father's company, searching for her golden ticket. (she's, easily, my favorite character. i LOVE that movie.)
and there you go! the cake. on my marimekko plate that matches my childhood sheets. weird, huh? i found those plates in the thrift store yesterday and almost died.
i also thrifted these fancy glass plates with matching glasses that fit onto them. PERFECT for double chocolate loaf with peanut butter cream cheese spread. and coffee.

but the cake! the cake! the loaf. the oversized brownie. whatever you want to call it. fantastic.

a bit more than one hour 15 minutes in the oven, but the house smelled so sweet the entire way.

my week is going to taste delicious.

the rockest rock stars.

pavement on ace of cakes. so cool.
(i had to go with a link because i was struggling with embedding the videos.)

marylander.

yelena and i having been talking about the smith island cake for months now. it's the state cake of maryland and it's exciting enough for npr to do a whole segment on it! so, i decided to make one last friday, and have a handful of people over for cake and punch (that's gold-leaf punch, kids, another recipe by damon at prime meats).

this cake has 9 layers (though the recipe says it will make 10). i have 3 baking pans, so i had to bake 3 layers at time, let them cool, and then remove the cakes & repeat. they were like thin pancakes. i think that the icing should've been thicker, but, well, it was sugary chocolately goodness.

and peeps for garnish. that was all yelena.

a miniature catalog of notions.

1. i want there to be a song about abilene like maybellene. but there's not. after tracy and i returned from our texas independence day drinks, i ate this seemingly boring meal. but it was not: half fried egg sandwich (on a weeknight!) and a pile of steamed broccoli. (the broccoli, i have just learned, can be steamed in the microwave. less energy than heating on the stove.)
2. the atlantic wrote a great article comparing whole foods to wal-mart. terrifying. from all directions. mostly, i don't want to shop in either place.
3. i attended a food conference last saturday: footprint. it was overwhelmingly busy, and so i only stayed for one panel (culinary cartography). overall, it was really exciting to see that there are so many new yorkers interested in the same ideas as myself--wanting to learn more about the production and distribution, economics, social aspects, science, and policy of food and drink.
4. there's a tomato shortage (due to a frozen south) and a recall for so many random items that i do not even want to type a list.
5. tonight's dinner: spicy chickpeas, garlicky asparagus with onion and pak-choi, steamed broccoli, and a salad of carrots, tomatoes, and avocado. why is the photograph blurry? no idea, but i am not posting it.
6. yelena gave me a punch bowl with matching punch cups for my birthday. i want to make a new punch, and a smith island cake. and then have people come over. to consume both.
7. i am going to make jordan's birthday cake tomorrow. can you believe she's a year old? i am thinking vanilla cake with buttercream icing and strawberries. sounds good, right?

baby cakes.

i don't want to reveal this recipe. it's my mother's apple cake, but, in this case, miniature. i loved to eat this cake growing up, and i initially did not even want to learn to make it. i loved the idea that my mother would just bake one for me when i visited. it's super sugary, and full of real apples, but i was always allowed to eat it for breakfast.

i made the small ones for my students, for the afternoon they decorated the school for halloween. it was already weeks ago, but i am still thinking about the cakes.

they were lovely.
maybe, one day, i will give you the recipe. maybe.

carrot cakes.

i often bake treats for people's birthdays. my friend, dominic, likes donuts. some years ago, he asked if his birthday cakes could be in the same shape. i was already planning to make carrot cake for his birthday, so i made small ones. in the shape of donuts. sort of.

they were quite good. i can't remember which recipe i used, but probably one that has nuts, and not pineapple. i am unsure why so many carrot cake recipes use pineapple, but it just doesn't seem necessary.