Why the lack

Hey there to anyone who actually checks this blog. I apologize for the lack of posting. It certainly has nothing to do with lack of cooking (or especially baking!), because I've been doing lots of that! As a frequent peruser of food blogs, I realize that I am most interested in and motivated by sites and recipes with good accompanying images. Since I continually fail to capture what I make, I just haven't been posting about it. One reason for the poor images I get is lack of good natural light. Sunlight and winter in Holland don't tend to go hand in hand, and I hate flash. Another reason is that acquiring a macro lens for this purpose is way down near the bottom of my monstrous to-do list, particularly right now when I'm waiting for our egg to hatch.

Not to completely leave you hanging, some new and tasty favorites we've tried that you can see elsewhere include:

gail's black bean sweet potato chili love it love it love it (although we made it more stew-like, keeping the kick to a minimum to encourage Ellie to eat it)
cornmeal cake This is delicious and light, and the orange zest makes it smell heavenly while baking.
mini-donuts ala VeganYumYum always with chocolate and sprinkles to satisfy our most demanding customer

Just today, I tried out mini-coconut-blood-orange bundt cakes ala VeganYumYum and I'm a big fan. Not only do you have to love the mini-Bundts, but the flavor is really outstanding for such a simple recipe. I did pour syrup over the hot cakes fresh out of the oven for extra flavor and moisture, but I found the syrup way too sugary to use again for serving.

Happy Mardi Gras!

Mardi Gras is making us miss New Orleans and New Orleans food more than usual. I wanted to bake up a king cake for our prenatal class on Monday night, but I just couldn't get around to it. Actually, I can usually find time to bake just about anything if I'm motivated, so I suppose the real reason is that Markus and I aren't really into king cake itself...just the fun it symbolizes. Since no one here would know the difference, I just made up some Mardi Gras themed cupcakes using Markus's favorite recipe (see birthday treat posting). They came out great, and everyone enjoyed them. Ellie loves the "tinies" (she loves all tinies). Happy Mardi Gras, everyone!