Baking Day

IMG_0730 IMG_0720 IMG_0723Saturday was baking day and I was able to spend the entire afternoon in the kitchen alone, making delicious treats for friends and family. While in the supermarket on Friday I found a huge container of strawberries that looked so fresh and seemed to call out an early spring that I had to turn this fruit into a delicious bread for our weekend breakfast.

IMG_0693IMG_0681 Next on the list was chocolate at its most decadent, mixed with pecans and walnuts spread on cookie sheets to make brownies with melted caramel and another with melted semi-sweet chips.

IMG_0708 IMG_0732I have done many variations with this brownie recipe since my mom first let me bake at the wondrous age of 11. I can still remember how thrilled I was when she gave me these simple instructions to see if I could follow the guidelines in order to make a dessert for our evening meal many years ago.

Recipes for Cocoa Brownies and Strawberry Bread!

So, the next time you have you have a few minutes to spare, remember to bake stylishly!!
K

Season of Carnivals

IMG_0601 IMG_1646 Carnival is a time of wild excesses, along with the breaking of norms for the vast consumption of food, liquor and partying before the austerity of Lent. A time when the populace takes to the streets wearing masks and costumes, partaking in the freedom from religious or political constraints, and a time for delightful parody and satire to be expressed at it’s finest.

This festival has been around since the Middle Ages and is still celebrated in Europe and South America preceding Ash Wednesday. Known in France and New Orleans as Mardi Gras or Fat Tuesday, everyone enjoys beignets and beads; while in Rio the street bands play raucous music with people sambaing and drinking mojitos on every corner, as they wait for the ball at the Copacabana hotel, and lastly in Venice the masked are celebrating with the hopes of being invited to their local palazzos for the party of the year!!!

So, whatever your preference is globally, enjoy one of these galas… or all!!

-Mardi Gras in New Orleans on February 17th
-Venice Carnavale on January 31st– February 17th
Rio Carnival on February 13-17th

Celebrate stylishly,
K