I Am... Spicy Carrot and Chicken Pasta Recipe
Maybe I don't know where to look for spicy food in Europe, or maybe my idea of spicy differs from the palate here, but I've noticed that there's a decided lack of spicy heat on this side of the pond. I haven't turned into one of those spice monsters that travel around with ghost chilli pepper flakes in their pocket, but I do appreciate that tingly burn you get when digging in to a perfectly spicy dish.
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I Am... Mushroom and Pea Orzo Risotto Recipe
San Sebastian is where I've had the best food I've had in all of Spain, maybe even all of Europe. It was delicious, innovative, accessible, and best of all, in small plate format. How can you not love a tiny version of a perfectly composed dish? I could barely stop myself from ordering entire menus…okay, I admit it: it happened once. But it was a small menu at least!
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I Am... Brown Sugar Bacon Ice Cream Sandwich Recipe
Like most kids, I lived for sweet treats. Not so much anymore, but I still like to throw it back sometimes and relive my childhood. A perfect evening back in the day was a bike ride at dusk with my older brother. We'd both get a dollar from my mom — I would tuck mine safely in my Strawberry Shortcake white wicker bike basket and we'd head off into the just starting to cool off night. We'd "pick up" our neighbourhood friends along the way to the corner store, ringing our bells and barely pausing for them to catch up.
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I Am... Oxtail Pho Recipe
If you've never had pho, you're missing out. Slippery, thin rice noodles, flavourful meat, savoury stock and a bunch of fresh herbs make a bowl of pho something to covet when you're looking for something filling, yet light. It's simple enough to head out to a Vietnamese restaurant for a quick bowl, but if you're looking for a particularly morish bowl of noodles, you should make the stock yourself. Yes, it's a two day process, but this stock is like all good things: all the more sweet because it was worth the wait.
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I Am... Mini Scotch Quail Eggs Recipe
I can't remember my first Scotch egg or even why I decided to try one, but after the first bite I was hooked. How could I not fall in love a perfectly boiled egg wrapped up in a sausage coat? A Scotch egg is all good things about breakfast rolled up into one awesomely hand holdable ball.
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I Am... Best Banana Bread Recipe
I'm a purist when it comes to banana bread: no nuts, no chocolate, no dried banana chips. I like my banana bread to taste like bananas. I love how something magical happens when bananas are baked; the sugars caramelize and intensify, making the bananas taste even more banana-y.
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I Am... Parsley Pesto Pasta with Broccoli and Salmon Recipe
Do you ever just wander around the grocery store until inspiration strikes? Sometimes that means I'm in and out of the store in five minutes, but sometimes it means I'll wander aimlessly for hours.
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I Am... Sweet Potato and Carrot Curry Soup Recipe
State Bird Provisions in San Francisco has been on my radar for a while. I've been meaning to try it even before Bon Appetit named it 2012's Restaurant of the Year. My first attempt at eating at State Bird last April was a utter fail. Mike and I were road-tripping down the Pacific Coast with a wild dream of hopping in for some late-night nibbles, but we arrived a bit too late – by the time we rolled into town they were closed. We didn't try again for another year, but the second try was the charm. Armed with hope and no reservations, we managed to grab a seat at the bar.
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I Am... Heart-Shaped Pizza Recipe
Seems to me like there are a lot of Valentine's Day haters out there, but I will confess right now, I'm not one of them. I'm not the hugest fan – I don't go all out and decorate my house with pink and red hearts, but I do appreciate the large outcropping of heart-shaped foods that tend to pop-up in February. I literally squealed when I saw a heart-shaped doughnut for the first time. Heart-shaped food is just so much cuter than regular shapes.
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I Am... Ranger Cookie Recipe
Mike and I love going on long rambling walks that go nowhere in particular. More often than not, we'll end up in a grocery or kitchen goods store. The other week we stopped into Williams Sonoma where they were sampling their ranger cookie mix. I've never had ranger cookies before but how could I say no to oats, chocolate, raisins and coconut?
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I Am... Raspberry Lemon Cake Recipe
Do you have any friends who don't like sweets? It seems to me that all the people I know don't like chocolate or sweets. What's a girl obsessed with sugar supposed to do?! Its downright difficult pawning off my baked goods. That's why I get so excited when friends' birthdays roll around. I pretty much know they're going to indulge in at least one piece of a homemade birthday cake.
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I Am... Chinese Steamed Fish Recipe
Do you ever have random cravings for food? This happens to me all the time and while I'd like to give in to my stomach's every whim, I rarely do–usually because my food fantasies revolve around elaborate feasts that would be entirely too time consuming to make before passing out from hunger. Thankfully my elaborate feast fantasies don't happen all the time. The other day I had a very sensible, down-to-earth desire for a simple steamed fish.
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