Category Archives: Food & Wine

Ironically, I’m trying not to do so much baking this fall because I don’t need the extra calories, but that doesn’t stop me from looking through cooking stores searching out new and cool cookware and bakeware. First I found this giant cupcake pan:

Now we all know that cupcakes are hot little pastry items right now. There are cupcake bakeries, cupcake decorating classes, and cupcake designs on clothing. Love the cupcake! So why not just make a giant cupcake? I think this guy might actually be a challange to cut and serve, but it is quite clever. Still, I think that the true appeal of the cupcake is that they’re little.

Then, just in time for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and my birthday (cough…), are these pumpkin cake pans:

I know I’ve seen pumpkin cake reipes before that use Bundt pans, and I guess that you could just as easily use two Bundts or mini-Bundts and achieve the same effect, but hey, I’m just looking for cute here. Also, with these pans there isn’t any wasted cake, and I think there would have to be if you used the traditional pan — you’d end up having to trim the bottoms to get the two pieces to fit together to form that plump pumpkin shape. Anyway, useful or not, these pans (both by Wilton) get my cute baking award. (If I actually had a cute baking award, that is).

The boy is absolutely starving when he gets home from school, so even though this seems like a lot, I am pretty sure he’ll eat almost all of it. Maybe not the frozen peas, but we’re on a "try new veggies" kick. My friend Kelly *loves* eating frozen peas, so I thought that maybe Jake would find that novel, especially since we’re going to see her this weekend. Everything else should be a go: leftover mac & cheese, mandarin oranges, apples, strawberries, cucumbers, and an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. Easy to throw this one together, PLUS I got to use my wavy cutter.

While Jake isn’t doing full-days until later this week, I thought I’d have his lunch ready for him in his lunchbox when he gets home from school for the next couple of days. This gives him practice opening the box, and I’ll make sure I don’t pack too much or too little. (Of course he has a lot more time at home than he’ll have at school, so there still might be tweaking.) At any rate, here we have low-fat pizza bites (chicken & pepperoni), baby carrots & baby spinach with Ranch dip), apples with a marachino cherry face, and for dessert, a few animal crackers sprinkled with a bit of candy corn.

Over a year ago, I was introduced to this product called Floot. Basically, it’s sparkling wine in a can. An adult juice box, if you will. Although the packaging is cute, and the idea of a highly portable sparkling wine is compelling, I had a hard time getting past the idea that I was either going to be daintily sipping this through a straw, or else chugging it like a frat boy at a kegger. (I opted to use the straw, by the way).

At any rate, I thought it was terrible. It was like they carbonated some Franzia chablis. Somehow this little product found its way into a few consumer magazines, and lately I started to second guess myself. Was it really that bad?

So today I decided to try it again. And yes. Yes, it was that bad. It retails for about $3.99 a can (or $15.99 for a four-pack). At that price, I’d rather forgo the convenience of the single-serve container and buy two bottles a bottle of Cristalino (a yummy Cava) or my favorite Prosecco — Filipetti. Both of those bottles go for around $9 and are infinitely better.

In a way it’s too bad because I like the idea — this is perfect for outdoor concerts or venues where glass is not allowed — but the product doesn’t deliver. I’ll keep my eye out, though and let you know if something else comes along.

Next week both of my boys will be having their birthdays. How did hat happen? Jake will be five. Five!!! Noah will be two. Just crazy to think about that. When did I get old enough to be the mother of a kindergartener? (Though I’m one of the youngest moms I know around here, so at least there’s that.)

Anyway, we’re not doing a big party this year. We’re just having our immediate family over and celebrating low-key. We’re planning on doing a sandwich bar. We’re going to get some of my favorite Santa Fe chicken salad from Balducci’s, and then some other lunch meats. I’m thinking probably roast beef, sundried tomato and rosemary ham, and salami. I have yet to delegate dishes out to my mom and mother-in-law, but I know what I’ll be asking them to bring, so that’s easy. I’m probably going to make spinach-artichoke dip for an appetizer and then Jake requested these (non-alcoholic, obviously) pina colada slushes that he saw in one of my “Simple & Delicious” magazines. In that same issue he saw a chocolate-cherry ice cream pie and he requested I make that instead of a birthday cake. I showed the picture to Noah who yelled, “Mmm-mm! YUMMY!” while rubbing his tummy, so I think he’s okay with it too. It’s actually way easier than a cake so I’m happy about that!

I probably should start making my lists because time does tend to sneak up on me lately. Their birthdays unofficially signify the end of summer for me because after I gave birth to them, before I knew it, it was the end of September. You parents in the reading audience know how quickly those newborn days fly by. And with Jake going to school starting in September, I’m sure the time is just going to go even faster.