Strawberry Pink Lady Apple Pie

This past SXSW festival I was determined to get out and see as many free shows as my sleep-deprived body could handle. This was the year, I told myself, to finally take part in Austin's famous, internationally-renowned event. My friend Spike and I hopped on our bikes and slowly made our way through downtown crowds, first to enjoy a light bike ride, then to hit the clubs for some shows. I found the amount of people daunting, reminding myself I hate, hate, large crowds, yet reminding myself further that I was determined to take in SXSW; Spike and I rode along. We stopped at Club DeVille and as approached the door Spike admitted, you know, I am just not feeling this. I replied, hey, want to go make some pie? And that was SXSW 2013 for me.

Single Girl Special #2: How Deep into My Fridge Can I Go?

Readers* may be familiar with my Single Girl Special, my rice/egg/ranch concoction which, despite the list of ingredients, is amazing. For years it has stood alone, in my mind being the ultimate symbol of both a sparse pantry and an all-consuming desire to eat ranch dressing. However, the time has come to create the category of Single Girl Specials. That's right, I just made it plural. Obviously, there is the essential SGS, the purpose of which is to provide a vehicle to legitimately transport ranch into my mouth, but since a glance into my fridge and pantry provides my own perverse version of Chopped (you have 11-month-old ginger jam**, stale bread, a jar of mayonnaise that seems legit, and eggs; cook!) there is the other element of an SGS which is, what the hell can I make with the ingredients available? In all honesty, the majority of these concoctions elicit nothing but shame as I choke them down, my dedication to consumption fueled by little more than frugality, laziness and a desire to remain in pajamas all day, but occasionally I mangle something together and think, holy shit, this is amazing. Yesterday was one of those days.

French Peasant Beets

A coworker of mine recently purchased a Rebel T2i, same camera I have, but chose to get the 50mm lens rather than the standard 18-55mm, the kit lens, and I have been seething ball of jealousy since seeing his first few pictures. Such clear quality in such low light! Every picture I took of these beets was met with disgust and so, after a quick check of my bank account, I gave in to desire and ordered a 50mm lens for myself. Can't wait!

No 50mm lens yet, but Picasa has instagram-style editing now!

For now, however: last Christmas I was given the Food52 cookbook, "140 winning recipes from exceptional home cooks" - a collection of winning recipes from Food52's weekly contests. Have you visited Food52 yet? Please take the time to pop over now. Amanda Hesser, of the immense and amazing The Essential New York Times Cookbook, and Merrill Stubbs, who assisted Amanda with the ENYTC, created Food52 first as a vehicle to create the "first crowd-sourced cookbook in 52 weeks" but it has since grown to a community where cooks of all caliber share recipes, tips, debate food news - there's even a real-time hotline to help you along any recipe's journey. Seriously, check it out.

Pickled Grapes!

Hello there! I know it's been a while - like "one year" a while - and even before I disappeared I had trouble keeping up with regular posts. What can I say? Adjusting to life back in the States was difficult, especially the whole "working and writing a cooking blog" part. And some other parts, too, but that is for another post on another day. Today, though, is about pickles, sweet, delicious pickles.

I first noticed this recipe from Smitten Kitchen while living in Kuwait, where fresh grapes were either unavailable or expensive enough to keep thoughts of recipe experimentation far from my mind. These days in Texas, however, grapes of all varieties are dripping over produce displays and I thought to myself, "Yes."