Poundcake.

The baking season continues for me... you would think that I would be going through cheesecake mania, but nope- I'm still going and discovering new recipes.

This past week at work, we've been served Red Radish- this awesome catering company out of Asheville and Charlotte- and twice now they've served us Porkloin with Grainy Mustard Rosemary sauce. So I was going to try and copy the recipe but they didn't have it, BUT they did have a recipe for a white chocolate poundcake with lemon icing.

Ooooo, I thought. Might have to make that, so I did.

The recipe called for lemon zest and lemon juice AND the lemon icing.. I love sweet-and-savory lemony things, but I felt the need to do something different.. and the end result was yummified to say the least. I substituted white chocolate chips with milk chocolate chips, the lemon zest and juice with vanilla, and lemon icing with cream cheese icing.

Tomorrow I'm going to try and make the grainy mustard sauce from scratch.. we'll see.

Do I really have to keep working in eyes? Can't I just quit and go into the baking business?!

Tis the Season

So this year I'm getting ready to hit a mile marker in my life-- hitting the big 3-0 in November (eesh)-- and while I'm very much looking forward to celebrating my bday at Kobes (yes I have already put my request in)- there's something else I'm looking forward to-- COOKING AND BAKING!! Oh I Love this time of year. Now this year will be very different from any other for more than one reason- one being that I will be 30, two I'm going to try and experiment with different dessert recipes, and third-- this year will be the first year that we will be without our beloved Cindy-- how weird it will be without her there to celebrate and eat with us and have her say, "Hhhmm Mandy that is sooooo good." (BTW, she is the ONLY one allowed to call me Mandy). She will definitely be there in spirit but still will NOT be the same.

When September rolls around, I honestly feel the seasons change- from Pina Colada cheesecake, grilled steaks, salad, and Iced *Bux coffee to pecan-caramel cheesecake, White chocolate peppermint cheesecake, chili, spaghetti, Thanksgiving and Christmas food, and nice hot *Bux coffee. Now I haven't made my fall/winter cheesecakes yet, but I have made an apple tart and a chocolate cake made from scratch. I'm hoping to master an apple pie this year, as well as make my yummy cheesecakes. There is something so hearty and comforting in cooking and/or baking... maybe it's the end result or seeing the expressions on people's faces and hearing people say, "Oh my god Amanda that was heavenly." (yes it's the Monica in me).

And I swear- if I knew I wouldn't sink to the bottom, I would say "Screw it," and go into business for myself.. but it costs a lot of money to go into the restaurant business and statistics say the businesses fail in first 5 years. Then where would I be? Back to eyes??!!! No thanks- if I'm going to be done with eyes, I need to be completely done with eyes-- I can't backtrack.. once the bridge is burned, it's burned.