Kahlua Ice Cream Layered Cake ~ A Tutorial

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Step-by-step, make this killer Kahlua Ice Cream Layered Cake by following my photos. The idea has been in my recipe binder since 2004, a Family Circle cover recipe made with kid-friendly flavors. No way, this had Kahlua potential, requiring a dinner party at home for obvious melting challenges.

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Tee Pon Chicken (aka Sherry-Soy Chicken)

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Advice, please?  I was cooking a simple Tee Pon Chicken recipe, but fretting about photographing “ugly” brown on brown — dark shredded chicken over brown rice. Forget garnishes, I was HUNGRY and it smelled divine. Taking pictures of meat is a crap-shoot (sorry, kinda graphic when talking about food) but I really wanted to share [...]

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Red Lentils, Tomatoes & Mushrooms ~ A Hearty Bowl ‘o Vegan Eats

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Following on the heels of a flubber-inducing two week holiday (read my going Vegan for a day on cruise), it was time to detox from all the great grub. Mushrooms convinced me I needed to cook them pronto; they were growing frantically. What, YOU don’t grow your own mushrooms?

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Publish Your Own Magazine ~ Photozini Product Review

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A few months back, Larry and I hit the LA Travel Show.  It’s a kind of convention for John Q. Public to spend the day scouring hundreds of booths for places to visit and things to buy. Larry and I travel; always good to see what’s out there. If you have a dollar to spend [...]

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Cruise Eating ~ What Most Passengers Will Probably Never Do

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Say hi to two cool Texans we met on our cruise: Kevin and Teri. OK, enough about them… Let’s talk cruise food: on cruises, you eat often and well. Anything. Any time. From modest all-American hot dogs to heady caviar-lobster-prime rib blowouts. So here I was, Day 3 of a Regent Seven Seas Voyager journey [...]

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A Dorie Greenspan Lovefest and One Of Her Secret Ingredients

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Neither of these two in the photo are Dorie Greenspan. Now, I have to assume YOU are a person who loves food. And if you love food, you cannot be unaware of Dorie Greenspan. She is ubiquitous; in Austin, Texas this past week, she was EVERYWHERE. More about that in a sec… this handsome guy [...]

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Take My Mother, Please!

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Whoa hooo, heeee heeee, got a laugh envisioning my mom seeing this headline and getting her ire up before reading the post. Hyuk hyuk. Take My Mother, Please is a custom tour company here in Los Angeles. If you want a highly personalized adventure, seeing exactly the LA you think you want to see, Anne [...]

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Marty’s Spicy Almonds ~ Block Party!

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Every early summer for the past nine years, Larry has hosted a neighborhood block party. I say “Larry has,” because two chiefs don’t work so well for this event. He checks a date with a collection of immediate neighbors, who then help with distributing flyers, bringing beverages and ice, tent setup (always a comedy of [...]

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Happy Birthday Lemon Bars for my Dad

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The weekend of my dad’s 87th birthday is also the weekend of Camp Blogaway with 90 passionate foodies in the local mountains. The conflict, of course, is how to not be a jerk of a kid. WHEW, Cousin Wendy hosted Easter at her house, which gave me a visit with my pop. ACK a gift!!  [...]

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My Treasured Travel Souvenirs

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This morning, while emptying the dishwasher, I took an appreciative look at one of my treasures – my Iowa State Fair 2006 pancake syrup pitcher (#7 in the photo). Love that little thing. It works well, and started me thinking… to me, there are only two kinds of travel souvenirs worth buying. Stuff to wear, [...]

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Hollywood Bowl Picnic for Speed Demons

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Sunday morning, I awoke thinking about Sunday dinner. We had tickets to Rod Stewart and Stevie Nicks at the Hollywood Bowl.  Larry is Mr. Ticket; if a concert is coming to LA, he’s all over it. I’m not such a die-hard concert-goer; I love to picnic, however. He loves concerts but loathes the parking. Our [...]

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Road Trip ~ Take A Long Weekend in Temecula

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Travel posts are harder to write than you might think. They can easily come off with the air of a braggy Christmas letter cuz of the FUN. But my intention is to deliver useful info to you… here’s today’s recommend. If you like the idea of an affordable yet busy So. Cal. getaway, a Long [...]

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Fresh Herb and Mushroom Risotto for Meatless Monday

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My Monday breakfast was leftover Fresh Herb and Mushroom Risotto. And if I hadn’t pigged out this weekend (Temecula… upcoming post), I would have topped this with a poached egg. Leftover risotto makes me as happy as just-prepared. I luv makin’ it and I luv eatin’ it. Today, my challenge to you is to throw [...]

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Mary Sue and Susan’s Chipotle Black Bean Turkey Chili

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Question: can a household have too many chili recipes? Not in our book, as Larry and I seem to be working on collecting a library of them. Our standard Green Turkey Chili, is darn yummy. But, let’s try more! Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger, the Two Hot Tamales have restaurants, cookbooks and some online [...]

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The Best Baked Corn Recipe I’ve Tried

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Interesting what a smidge of sugar does for a savory corn recipe. This was published last Christmas in Parade magazine. I appreciated the short list of staple ingredients. When someone refers to a recipe as “Best,” that doesn’t mean much anymore. But when Larry goes back for a second portion, whoa… yes, I’d say this really [...]

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What Women Over 40 Should Pack For Paris

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A better title for this post is probably, “What one woman over 50 researched, purchased and packed for a winter’s week in Paris with a longtime food pro friend, a stay at the posh Hotel de Crillon, attendance at a Cookbook Fair and Gourmand Awards Ceremony all during Fashion Week.” (The 40-age-mention in the title [...]

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Itinerary Ideas For A Foodie’s Trip to Paris

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Going to Paris? Have a great passion for Good-Things-Foodie? While some people come to Paris with a list of restaurants to hit, I tend to bring lists of places and things to see. I’m a window shopper, a person who likes to see food-related things in different ways. Oh sure, I also like to eat. [...]

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Product Review: Très Chic Trench Coat for Road Warriors

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I’m “posing,” my face had just been done by a Lancôme makeup artist (he was in-between model appointments) at a Vogue-sponsored studio at our lovely Hotel de Crillon, Paris. I felt pretty! Note the trench coat – if you are a road warrior, read on.

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Pierre & Paulette, A Parisian Love Story

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The story of Pierre and Paulette may need a little explaining, unless you are a Facebook friend of mine or Denise Vivaldo’s. We recently traveled to Paris, many thanks to Denise (links below tell you more). For comic relief, Denise often travels with little plush toys from the Idaho Potato Commission called Spuddy Buddy. She [...]

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Eating in Paris

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  A dreamy week in Paris; how I got there sans Larry should be noted. My longtime food pro friend, Denise Vivaldo had two books nominated for prestigious Gourmand Best in the World Cookbook Awards, and she invited ME to join her. She also was a featured presenter at the Paris Cookbook Fair, teaching food [...]

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Gone to Paris

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  Right now, I’m in Paris, shadowing my longtime food pro friend Denise Vivaldo as she travels to the Gourmand Awards, Paris cookbook fair and other French adventures.  Denise’s books are nominated for awards, and she has a food styling demo at the cookbook fair (plus treating herself quite nicely for her birthday).  I am [...]

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How to Make a DIY Bloody Mary Bar

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Blogger Michael of South Bay Foodies rolled a serious-sized ice chest into our potluck meeting of the Food Bloggers LA (FBLA) today. And in a flash, he set up an impressive Bloody Mary Bar. Which, obviously, made the meeting a whole lot more lively (Saturday, 10 AM – yeah baby)!

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Patti’s Mojo Spice Blend

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Last autumn, we took a cooking class at the South Bay School of Cooking. The instructor’s spinach-stuffed chicken breast recipe featured a secret ingredient: her Mojo – a homemade blend of kosher salt, lemon zest and dried Italian herbs. Which made me think of the jumble of herbs in our spice pantry. Once home, I [...]

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Chestnut Cakes

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Do you remember THIS THROWDOWN (to myself)?  My jar of Roland chestnuts was befuddling. What the heck does a California girl make with chestnuts? Plenty of folks tweeted suggestions; most were savory (as in, toss with brussel sprouts. Seriously?). A few readers told me to eat them from the jar. Tempting, but I envisioned something [...]

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Everyone Should Take A Cruise One Day

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Cup o’ tea in the Todd English restaurant aboard the Cunard Queen Victoria Ocean Liner. It’s been some time since we cruised, and this wasn’t one of them. We were docked.

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Universal Studio’s Haven for Foodies

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First the good news: fine dining exists inside the Universal Studios Hollywood theme park. Now the Patti & Larry backstory: From the very beginning of our relationship, Universal has been part of our lives. Larry was an A-Top member of the Universal {outdoor} Amphitheater when we met; he had early access to tickets.  We moved [...]

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Tangerine Pudding with Citrus Yogurt

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You know I write from Southern California, right? Here, practically every yard has a heavily laden citrus tree. Ours are lemon and lime. Which was the problem; when I was making Tangerine Pudding one recent evening, I was a smidge short on fresh-squeezed tangerine juice. Lemon or lime wouldn’t fix my problem, I needed tangerine. [...]

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White Pepper Chicken Barley Soup Made By A Sometimes Princess

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Lucky timing, rain hit the morning after the Valley Performing Arts Center black tie opening. My little satin pumps woulda been ruined! There I was, in line for the potty with Calista Flockhart; Harrison Ford was waiting out in the hall. I people-watched next to Doris Roberts. Moved my tootsies so Beau Bridges could scoot [...]

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My Panda Express “Top Chef” Experience

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Walk out our front door, head East on foot, the closest restaurant is a half mile straight into the UCLA campus… Panda Express. I like their food. I also run errands then – buy stamps (US post office in Ackerman Union) and greeting cards (Bruin Bookstore).  So what is this photo of a non-existent Dancing [...]

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Your Advice, Please ~ What Do You Do With Chestnuts?

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Help!  My longtime food pro friend Lisa Ekus sent me a generous box of Roland specialty food products, lotsa fun stuff. But this California-born and still-lives-in-LA foodie (the Land of Every Kind of Eats, in other words) has a confession – Chestnuts are foreign food to me. I’m asking for your help here… what recipe [...]

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Cast Iron Apple Cobbler

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Larry was enjoying an Ozzie & Harriet Sunday.  First, a basketball afternoon game with buddy, Bruce. Returned home to a piping hot Cast Iron Apple Cobbler. “Wow, it smells great in here.” I appreciated the Ozzie reaction, thank you.  Too early for dinner, they then watched another game on TV. Are they living the life, [...]

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How Do You Make Clam Chowder? Gil Shares

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Close to three weeks touring India with co-travelers meant a lot of talk about food.  At one point, we started chatting “signature recipes.”  People tend to want to tell you about their best recipes, and I certainly want to have them.  That is how I scored Gil’s Clam Chowder recipe.

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Eating in India

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Larry and I weren’t Indian food aficionados before we visited India. Early in our marriage, we lived next door to a delightful Indian family; Northridge, CA. One evening, they invited us to dinner and proceeded to blow our brains out with the hottest food I’d ever encountered. I recall wincing and sweating, followed by spice-burping [...]

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Our India Adventure from A to Z

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Overwhelmed and overstimulated. There’s no way to effectively present our travel to India. Too much to process.  Too many photos to show. Too many questions to answer.  My solution – highlights of our India Adventure from A to Z. Elsewhere you can read about classic India experiences, but here are mine…

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Champinones Rellenos ~ Guest Post by Julieta of Lindaraxa’s Garden

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FROM JULIETA:  I am delighted that Patti has asked me to share this easy tapas recipe for Stuffed Mushrooms, or Champinones Rellenos, with her readers.  My name is Julieta and I blog about my cooking and recipes at Lindaraxa’s Garden.

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Guest Post ~ Turkey Enchiladas by Nancy of A Communal Table

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FROM NANCY of A Communal Table: Recently Patti contacted me about doing a guest post for her blog and I was thrilled! Well, it’s January and although Spring is typically the season for cleaning in my house it always takes place in January. Maybe it’s the influx of gifts received during the holidays but once [...]

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Soup is Skinny Food ~ Recipe Roundup

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Feeling FAT? New year, new plans to get the muffin top under control. And seriously, few foods can do it like soup. This is my recipe Roundup of Homemade Soups on this blog. I make a lot of soups. Once upon a time, I worked for the Campbell Soup company as a foodservice sales rep; [...]

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Guest Post ~ BBQ Country Ribs In The Slow Cooker by Dorothy of Shockingly Delicious

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NOTE FROM PATTI: You know how much I love my crockpot. So when I was chatting with friend Dorothy about a guest blog post, I was THRILLED to discover she’s mastered BBQ pork ribs in the ol’ slow cooker. What a great recipe for New Year’s – try them this way!

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I Want To Talk You Into Volunteering

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Looking for a New Year’s Resolution to help others besides yourself? Volunteer. I came late to community volunteering. My pro bono work was always career-focused. Committee work for professional associations. PR support. Program chair. Treasurer. President. Only in the past two years have I discovered more satisfying types of volunteering. This past Thanksgiving, Larry joined [...]

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Guest Post ~ Italian Cookies, a specialty of Created by Diane

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NOTE FROM PATTI: Readers, I met Diane at Camp Blogaway and am always tickled to see her picture-perfect Italian Cookies at events. Looks like any shape is possible with this go-to recipe. FROM DIANE: Patti is so wonderful to let me share with you my Italian Cookie Recipe today. I blog at Created by Diane. [...]

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Guest Post ~ White Chocolate Orange Cranberry Bark by Jennifer at Savor The Thyme

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FROM JENNIFER at SAVOR THE THYME: When Patti asked me to guest post, I started thinking about what would be of interest to many of you and what you may be feeling just a few days before Christmas: wrapping gifts, planning menus, planning for visitors and thinking about gifts you have not yet purchased. Now, [...]

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Little Lucy’s Excellent Cake Pops

Lovely Lucy belongs to Yoga Jen, our way-cool yoga instructor at Camp GetAway for Mothers & Others.  They were excited to show me their Cake Pops project. These gals are big fans of “Bakerella” and decided for Lucy’s classmates, they would make some of her Snowman Cake Pops – here is Bakerella’s recipe for these guys! 

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How to Roast a Goose & Why is John Crying?

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Don’t feel sorry for John, that’s not his empty wine glass. John was on the front line, dicing onions as a member of Team Soup at our Traditional Old English Christmas Dinner. And he certainly wasn’t crying the remainder of this Gourmet Club cooking and eating extravaganza, I can attest to that. This was the [...]

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Chocolate Kahlua Truffles

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This is my adaptation of a candy recipe in Cooking Light, truffles made with bourbon. If a sweet recipe calls for bourbon, I already think it will be better with Kahlua. Chocolate Kahlua Truffles were my final product. I wanted a “tiny” holiday gift to make for the peeps who matter to me at UCLA Medical [...]

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Mom’s Scalloped Potatoes & Her Thing About Butter

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Let’s see if I paid attention to how my mom, Gloria, made her scalloped potatoes. She was always peeling potatoes; there were seven of us. And she had no recipe box if I remember, just a mental arsenal of foods we would consume without debate. There were no extra items for any fussy eater. Either [...]

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Iced Cranberry Pecan Drop Cookies

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Forgive me, Nestle. You often get my money for chocolate chips to make Toll House cookies, but this time I strayed. There was a packet of dried sweet cranberries in my pantry from a food conference goodie bag.  The cranberry package said “made for salads” — a dumb use, in my opinion. Go for the [...]

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Crockpot Beef, Mushroom, Barley & Rosemary Soup

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It isn’t often that I cook with beef. I’m CHEAP, remember? But Omaha Steaks was having a sale and that’s my (frugal) chance to fill the freezer with steaks and burgers. Somehow I added Tri Tips to that order, apparently part of a package. Hmmm, really cold weather and chunks of beef at my culinary [...]

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Dining In The Dark

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  You have not seen a restaurant review on this blog. I’m easy: I like to eat in restaurants, never send food back, always clean my plate. This review is about an experience, not the menu; our dinner at the restaurant Opaque wasn’t anything I expected.  Their marketing is European-ish, but the actual dining is… [...]

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Last Minute Food Substitutions

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This week is Thanksgiving. And what should arrive on my doorstep from uber-culinary publicist Lisa Ekus?  The gigantic Food Substitutions Bible by David Joachim. It conjured memories of past Thanksgivings with friends and family – for which I am very grateful. And memories of “Oh S**T, there are no coffee filters!!”  And “Wasn’t vanilla extract [...]

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The Original Classic Kahlua Pecan Pie

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Heavenly Kahlua Pecan Pie and I go way back. In the late ‘80s, my little PR agency represented Kahlua as a client. Before spirits were OK to advertise on TV, and before stupid corporate changes decimated the brand (ouch, I’m still bitter), Kahlua was on TOP. The brand made piles of money and spent it [...]

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