If you like cream soups and you like corn, this recipe is a winner for you. This cream of corn soup recipe comes to me from my friend Akiko, who, if I’m not mistaken, got it from one of her Japanese high school text books on cooking. The soup is very easy to prepare and so delicious!
Remember how when you were a kid, you would turn your nose up at anything that was weird looking or nasty tasting? Well, my nemesis was bittermelon (bittergourd). My mom would cook bittermelon every so often either in a stirfry or in soups and insist we eat it because "it’s good for you!" (How many times have you heard that?)
When I first had children and started celebrating their birthdays, I’d bake my own birthday cakes for their parties. The very first one I did I used a recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Cake Bible book and it turned out really well. However, the frosting called for buttercream. While it was a really delicious and not-too-sweet buttercream frosting, it was still a LOT of butter! And I’ve always preferred fresh whipped cream whenever possible.
This recipe from Fine Cooking magazine has been my go-to cake recipe for all special occasions now. I’ve used it to bake birthday cakes and baby shower cakes. Just about any occasion that calls for a cake, I’ve made it. I’ll tell you why.
I’m not big on going out to eat steak. Unless it’s a good steak restaurant, you’re likely to get an overcooked, over-sauced hunk of low quality meat that’s better off ground into burgers. And if it’s a high-end steak restaurant like The Grill on the Alley, you’re likely to pay a very high price for your dinner. (Forget about going out to eat steak anywhere on holidays like Valentine’s Day – you’re likely to wait an hour just to get seated!)
Annie bought some USDA Choice, thick-cut, bone-in ribeye steaks from Costco for $4.99 / lb (sometimes they have Prime cuts for $8.99). About an hour before cooking, I brought the steaks out of the fridge and seasoned them well with sea salt, fresh cracked black pepper, and granulated garlic.
