This blog turned two over a week ago without so much as a happy birthday wish from me let alone a post to commemorate the fact, which says a lot about the sorry state of things over here. One year ago I had recently left my job as an editor and was working in my [...]

The other day I was feeling nostalgic about the things I used to make at Bluebird, these muffins most of all.

Um. It’s been so long I don’t even know what to say. It’s shameful. As usual, I have an excuse. Two this time.

You might think that making muffins all the time at work would make me sick of them. Quite the opposite. Muffins have now become synonymous with morning for me, and I’ve found myself baking them at home on my days off.

I did not take pictures while making this banana bread, which means that I wasn’t planning to share it with you. I know this is going to sound crraaazzy, but sometimes I like to cook for the pure pleasure of it, without having to stop every ten seconds to snap multiple photos. Mostly, though, I [...]

Cornbread. I guess a lot of people feel strongly about its regional aspects. Southerners generally prefer their cornbread thinner, drier, cornier, and baconed up, whereas Northerners prefer it lighter and cakier and sweeter. This is just what I’ve read. I’m no cornbread expert, but I like it a lot, my preference being for the sweet, [...]

I wasn’t even going to tell you about this one, but then it really grew on me, as quick breads tend to do. They almost always get better as they mature, and by the time I was down to this last end piece, I was seriously regretting bringing nearly half the loaf to my neighbors [...]

So you know how a recipe calls for 1 cup pumpkin puree, so you open a can of pumpkin, then you have like almost a cup left over, and so you find another pumpkin recipe so you can use up the leftover pumpkin, but it calls for a whole can of pumpkin, so you have [...]

Before I give you the backstory on this one, I must gush and rave. This cake is f*ing amazing. It is sooo f*ing good. Good enough to necessitate expletives, Dale? Really? Hell f*ing yes! If I ever write a cookbook or open a restaurant, this cake will surely be featured. It is just so delicious. Nothing fancy, [...]

I know. I’m extremely disappointed in me, too, for making something so ridiculously similar to something I just made. (You don’t even need to click on that link, you can just scroll down a few inches.) I couldn’t help myself with this one, though, because one of the most gratifying things for me in all [...]

I had a dream the other night that I had a C-section. Not to extract a baby from my womb, but to extract food from my stomach. They gave me painkillers so I wouldn’t feel them cutting into me, but I watched them do it, and I witnessed a whole mess of partially digested food tumble [...]

So I realize that “muffin cakes” seems kind of redundant…either that or oxymoronic, but what I’m trying to get across here is that these were supposed to be cupcakes but were really more like muffins. A muffin-cupcake hybrid, if you will. Denser and cakier than cupcakes, and maybe less sweet? (Ummmm, I was pretty drunk [...]

The only things better than warm, buttery frosted maple scones fresh from the oven for dessert are warm, buttery frosted maple scones fresh from the oven for breakfast. I know this because (are you ready for this?) I made these babies for dessert last night and again for breakfast this morning. But before you call [...]