I just love the smell of lemon verbena. The leaves release a lemony scent when crushed, with distinct floral notes. It’s sort of like a lemon version of kaffir lime! That elusive flowery-but-not-soapy quality. The leaves have a weird texture, though, rough and scratchy, which makes me feel like I... Read More

Over the weekend, I took my new oven for a test drive. I baked up some tasty Raspberry Breakfast Bars from the Baked: New Frontiers in Baking cookbook by the Baked NYC guys. They came out really well. I’ll blog about them really soon. While I was baking, Shake went... Read More

Shake and I once had a memorable and absolutely lovely dinner at Azure restaurant at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. We’ve eaten there a few times, and always enjoy it, but on this visit, Chef Jon Matsubara (who is totally awesome and ultra creative) served a Tomato Water Consommé in place... Read More

Fiddling about online on Leap Day, I came across a Slate article by Troy Patterson on a cocktail specifically contrived for Leap Day nearly a century ago. It’s called, of course, The Leap Year Cocktail, and is attributed to Harry Craddock of London’s Savoy Hotel in 1928. Patterson had this... Read More