Homemade Fruit Sorbet Cups
Recipes
The Tasting Menu
The day after Kendrick and I got engaged, we drove back to my house in Los Angeles and sat in my backyard with a Brides magazine, cooking burgers and staring at the ring on my left hand and drinking sparkly drinks and just generally wondering at our new reality. And at one point, I remember, Kendrick looked at me and said, “Can every day really be like this?”
And I knew exactly what he meant. It wasn’t about the burgers or the California sun or even about our engagement; it was about the fact that it was nothing more than a Monday afternoon, but it felt like a celebration. Not of our engagement; of us. Of our life.
Ever since that day – and I think about it all the time – I’ve tried to consciously look for ways to incorporate those mini-celebrations into even the most ordinary of days. Take the afternoon off to go see a matinee, or drizzle chocolate balsamic on some strawberries, or drink a glass of prosecco with dessert. Just because.
What you see in these photos is a pretty good example of how I try to operate when it comes to our evenings: keeping things simple, but adding little upgrades wherever I can. The Ecco Domani wines pictured here, for example, aren’t about being fancy; they’re about taking a second to recognize that a day doesn’t have to be extraordinary to be special.
Red Wine Deviled Eggs
We have a bit of a thing for deviled eggs in this family. And by "we" I mean "Kendrick," who apparently desires them with the fire of a thousand suns, because when they are made they are gone. Like, instantly.
And so, along with Rice Krispies treats (the man has simple tastes, what can I say?) deviled eggs are what I make him when I want to give him the edible equivalent of a hug.
And these? These are like the edible equivalent of…well, something that we don't need to lay out explicitly, because come on, it's not that kind of a site. They are SO rich, and SO good, and SO the kind of thing people are talking about when they say an hors d'oeuvre is a "conversation piece" (go on, serve these at a party; virtually everyone is going to give you a "oh my god what are you asking me to eat?!" look, and then they will eat them, and then they will be all eye rolls and "more please").
Fettuccine with Shrimp, Peas and Spinach
I'm over winter.
I'm over the snow. Over the heating bill. Over the fact that my car's steering wheel apparently stops moving when it drops below twenty degrees.
I'm even over the stews and soups, and as much as I adore my slow-cooker, I'm ready to retire it in favor of all things springy and light. Mostly, I'm ready for seafood and white wine and fresh vegetables.
The Century Egg Experiment
This is a century egg.
It is quite literally the strangest food I have ever encountered in my life. Also called a “Hundred-Year Egg,” a “Preserved Egg,” a “Thousand-Year Egg,” and a “Horse Urine Egg” (oh yes), it's an egg that has been preserved in a mixture of clay, lime, ash, salt, and rice hulls for several months (like this).
According to legend, the Century Egg was discovered during the Ming Dynasty by a man who returned to his home, which had been under construction for several months, only to discover a few duck eggs that had been buried in quicklime. He ate them for some unknown reason and boom: tradition, born.
