If you have any penchant for food blogs at all, you know Cynthia. She’s the quiet, quasi-anonymous beauty behind Two Red Bowls. The kind of writer who uses just enough big words to make you feel a little shy about your own prose while keeping everything warm and casual and best-friendy. A food-styling sensation. And creator of such culinary masterpieces as these beautifully storied umami-bombed noodles; these temptingly grabbable (steamed) buns; and this nostalgic Korean stew that is topped with not one but three of my favorite post-war convenience foods: spam, hotdogs and American cheese. (I die.) If you’ve been reading along in … Read More
Triple Coconut Tres Leches Cake with Honey-Vanilla Summer Fruit (DF/GF)
Alanna (The Bojon Gourmet) and I met when I was just baaaaarely pregnant — those first days when you’re still wincing at sneezes and consulting your sustainable seafood app for fear of mercury poisoning at every turn. Both of us being only somewhat formally employed at the time (note: if you’ve read the tale behind the name of her blog, you’ll know she takes no offense to this; note-within-a-note: she is now a bonafide cookbook author!!! while I am still…whatever the hell I am…), we met up for a weekday brunch at Plow where I promptly broke out into a cold sweat … Read More
Brown Sugar Panna Cotta with Honey-Balsamic Roasted Figs + Toasted Pepitas
When Chris and I lived in Ohio, one of our favorite restaurants was a bustling Italian place on the riverfront in Dublin called La Tavola. For happy hours, it had a huge patio surrounded by plenty of hardwood trees for shade and unfussy cocktails mixed by unfussy bartenders. For date nights, it had lighting that was just dim enough and handmade pastas you could order by the half or full — perfect for sharing a taste of everything, even when it was just the two of us. And for impressing out-of-town family, a gigantic rustic farm table that sat smack … Read More
Chile-Lime Coconut Mango Pops
Hey guys! Little known fact: I am only capable of starting posts with hey guyssss. They are literally the first two words that pop out every time I open a new draft. And then, like, 64% of the time I come back to the top and force a new opener. Or just add a bunch of sssssssss’s. Or swap in a super original spelling of hey. I’m kinda digging haaaaaaiii but sometimes heyyo slips out, too. Hihihi! Hehwoooooooh. Heyeyeyeye. Hajjjjaieyeewwww. I’m drinking $4 wine. Hey guysssssss. Anyway, these popsicles are so super simple that they leave me with almost nothing to drone … Read More
mexican chocolate crème brûlèe (vegan)
Hi guys! Hope all you ‘Mericans out there had a crackin’ holiday weekend. We took Miss Bug up to the lake for the first time and it was one of the most joyful weekends I can recount. Just a small group of good friends (we even flew the Ohio bestie out!), big dinners at home, plenty of time taking in Tahoe’s sweet sugar-pine air — running, hiking, biking, beaching — and even a few tan lines to show for it. Somehow, I’m always caught off guard by the Hot As Shit sand and the Cold As Shit water in Tahoe, but when … Read More