All posts filed under: food

Zucchini dish

carpaccio di zucchini inspired by our family dinner at cucina

Published by fairfaxhill

Cucina is one of our favorite restaurants. Slowly, it has turned into our go-to place for birthday dinners, especially when they fall in the middle of the week and we don’t have enough time to cook something special. Our order typically includes pizza and pasta. Bombolotti al Sugo is a favorite, and we all like to share the Frito Misto as our starter. We rarely order dessert, since the cake and presents are typically waiting for us back at the house. A few weekends ago we were there again to celebrate Patrick’s parents’ wedding anniversary and got to try some new dishes, including Funghi Ripieni, Carpaccio di Zucchini, Insalata con Bettole, and Donna’s Amazing Almond Cake.  I liked the Carpaccio di Zucchini so much, I had to try to recreate it at home. And guess what? It turned out pretty good. So, I’m sharing my recipe with you. But before I do that, I need to highlight that the key to getting this dish right is to move quickly. And, to make the salad look as pretty as the one …

making ice cream cones is easy!

Published by fairfaxhill

When it comes to ice cream, I’m not sure what I like the most, the ice cream or the cones. Every time I go to Fairfax Scoop, our favorite ice cream shop in town, I wonder how difficult it would be to make sugar cones at home like the ones they make at their store. Would I need to have special equipment? This thought crossed my mind again last Sunday as we drove through town on our way to the supermarket. Sarah was driving, so I was able to use my phone to google a bit and found a recipe that looked pretty easy. It was almost 90 degrees outside and ice cream sounded like a good idea. We got the ingredients at the store and got started right away after we got back to the house. Making sugar cones sounded a bit intimidating, but honestly, it was super simple! All you need is a bowl and a whisk and something to prevent the cookies from sticking to the baking sheet. I used a silicone mat but …

a baking dish with bread pudding

simple bread pudding with apples and cinnamon

Published by fairfaxhill

Happy Earth Day! I’m baking again. Well, we’ve been baking since March 24. It’s hard to believe that our new stove was delivered almost a month ago, right in time for Patrick’s birthday, which was great. I was even able to bake a birthday cake, with the only problem that the delivery and installation pushed all our cooking plans late into the evening, so there were no good photos of the cake. Okay, the other problem was that my frosting didn’t turn out very pretty. So I didn’t think my first cake in our new oven was blog-worthy. It was tasty, though! Patrick had asked for a lemony dessert, so I made a four-tier mini cake filled with lots of lemon cream.  Since then, we’ve been trying to stay away from eating too many sweets in an effort to get in better shape, so it’s been a bit quiet in the baking department. We are also trying to resume our family hikes on Sundays. We started the tradition some time ago, but haven’t been very consistent. Last …

a strawberry tart

baking a strawberry tart for Sarah

Published by fairfaxhill

It was Sarah’s birthday last week and as usual, she requested a fruit tart instead of a cake. In Marin, you can find strawberries pretty much year-round. Most come from Mexico, but already this week local strawberries are starting to show up in the market, and surprisingly, they are delicious – so sweet! I wish I had bought more. It seems like every time I make a tart I don’t have enough fruit to cover all the custard, but Sarah didn’t seem to mind. Happy kid, happy mom, right? Fruit Tart Recipe Tart dough recipe slightly adapted from my favorite book: Tartine Bakery CookbookPastry cream filling Fruit(s) of choiceJam/jelly for glazing the fruit For the Tart Shell Make sure the eggs and butter are at room temperature. Combine the butter, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the paddle attachment and mix until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, until everything looks smooth.  Add the flour all at once to the butter mixture. Blend at slow speed until just combined. …