What I've Been Cooking

I thought I'd be very clever and post a picture of my belly under this header. And then I realized it would scare you all from ever having children. Needless to say, I look like I could birth my sister right about now. Yes, the 6 month pregnant one. T minus 2 weeks, maybe less if Little Miss B decides to be kind to her mama.

Yesterday was a busy day for visitors, so I finally got around to baking something. Our friends Joree and Lee came over for brunch, with their 2 girls, 17 mos and almost 4 years old. Who kindly showed us all the babyproofing we'll need to do over the coming years. Who knew that despite a houseful of toys at this point, the big blue Thermador range knobs would be the most desirable thing in the house to play wiith?

This is all an aside, as they didn't actually get to eat my baked good (as I made it in the afternoon). But for brunch I had a choose-your-own omelette station and it was really fun. I had chopped some different meats & cold cuts, some herbs, caramelized some onions, and had a couple different cheese options. I had 2 pans going simultaneously, so we could all sit down at once, and it worked out great. Served the eggies with some homefries I made with thyme & onions, and some toast with fresh tomatoes, and it was lovely (and EASY!)

Anyhoo, to get to the baking part. Joyce, Ed, Nat, Vlad and Joey were coming over for dinner. They all claimed they wanted to see the nursery, but I think they were really coming over to try and help me rally through this home stretch-- patience has never been one of my virtues. Shocking, I know. Really, pretend you are surprised.

Chris was bbqing, so I decided to go back to a standby for dessert inspiration-- our good ol' Cooking for Mr. Latte. I remembered the almond cake that Amanda had raved about, and I think Jer has tried and said would be good. I wanted something non-chocolate to at least pretend to be lighter, and something that would pair nicely with all the great summer fruit out there. So Mr. Latte's favorite Almond Cake is what I made. pg 70-71 I believe (I'll transcribe the recipe tomorrow when I'm near the book)



It was really easy to make, I'd forgotten how easy batter cakes were. All in the KitchenAid (in stages), then pour into the springform, bake for an hour, and voila. It came out deliciously. Lovely almond flavor and texture, great rise, and paired beautifully with fruit (we had blueberries and peaches from that day's farmers market-- yum). I really wanted to pour some Armagnac over the top of it for an extra dazzle of flavor (maybe even Armagnac whipped cream for super indulgence), but I figured Little Miss B might not appreciate me getting her drunk-- so I'll save that for next time. And there will be a next time as everyone agreed this was definitely a keeper.



But for now, I'm taking the rest to work with me, as if I don't she really is going to be 10 lbs by the time I birth her...