Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Peach Perfect






































So I've been watching more than my fair share of Sweet Genius this summer (what can I say -- Ron Ben-Israel is charmingly wacked-out), and seeing all these fantastic pastry chefs from around the country work like mad to create stunning works of dessert art in an abbreviated amount of time (and with those stupefyingly challenging mandatory ingredients) is nothing short of inspiring. I recently caught one episode featuring a chocolatier from New York who's only 23. I couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy -- I mean, here's this guy who's my age, and he's got it going on enough to be featured on a televised cooking competition. It was like a bell going off in my head, an annoying bell, yelling at me, "Hello, Lira, what the hell are you doing ring ring ring?!?!"

Friday, July 13, 2012

Rice Pudding with Poached Plums



Nothing says bummer summer like a week-long thunderstorm, right? It's been wet and gross here in Austin since Monday. The thunderstorms were so nuts that, on what turned out to be an unsuccessful Target run, the power went out three times. There's nothing freakier than being in a Target in a blackout with dozens of scared shrieking babies, I tell you what.