When my mom rented the movie V for Vendetta, she was pleasantly surprised by a scene that brought her back to her childhood. She paused the television and turned to me excitedly and said, "My mom used to make me those everyday for breakfast when I was a little girl!"

If you've seen the movie you know what I'm talking about. V makes Evey an "egg in a basket" for breakfast using real butter and later in the film, the scene mimics itself when Gordon makes Evey the same thing. An egg in a basket is a fried egg cooked inside a piece of toast. I had never seen this tasty little breakfast treat and my mother informed me that she and my grandmother, Nan, referred to it as an "egg in a nest."

The next morning I awoke to find my mom, who doesn't cook, in the kitchen over the stove! "I'm making us eggs in a nest for breakfast!" she told me enthusiastically. An egg in a nest (or whatever you want to call it) is a simply divine breakfast, the crisp, buttery toast and the runny, gooey yolk are a combination that rivals peanut butter and jelly. I was hooked after a single bite and now my mom makes me one every Saturday morning. To make V's egg in a basket, read more

Cakes, cakes, cakes, I love making cakes! During 2006, I went crazy making homemade layer cakes for every event I hosted and all of the holidays in between. To me, making a cake is an enjoyable process and once you understand the basic technique, the flavor possibilities are endless! Many cakes are done by the classic creaming technique. You cream together the sugar and butter, add eggs and then alternate between both a wet and a dry mixture. The dry mixture contains flour, baking soda, etc. and the wet mixture is vanilla, buttermilk, etc. Once all of this is combined, extras can be added (chocolate, etc.) and voila! you have cake batter. Since today is National Apricot Day, I found a cake recipe that has an apricot marmalade filling. read more

I recently told you about my brother who has "NO time for food." He works a lot and doesn't have a girlfriend, so it's up to me to make sure his diet doesn't consist of Taco Bell and In-N-Out. To surprise him I'm sending a care package, that you helped put together, full of healthy snacks, tasty treats and good almost-homemade food. I started you off, letting you know I planned to send him this catalog for prepared meals. You searched the web and added your care package goodies to the Yum Market. There was some great stuff to choose from, but here is what I'm putting in the package.

Yum Market diva participant, Crispet1 found these healthy Naked juices that are perfect for my brother. He drinks way too much soda so a little fruit juice will do him some real good. Although, I'll have to make sure these get there quick and cold, they're perishable!

Crispet1 also submitted this Trader Joe's jarred Cuban Mojito Sauce that is perfect for simmering with poultry. It's more chic than your standard jarred sauce and the Cuban Mojito name will appeal to my bachelor brother.

Three more, so read more

Leave it to the folks over at the premium cable channels to come up with another fun marketing campaign. This time HBO has graced 100 Italian restaurants in LA, NY and Chicago with bottles of Rome wine. The cabernet sauvingnon, which is bottled in California, will be offered free to patrons. Each table will have a card that states:

And our house wine tonight is brought to you by HBO. A taste of 'Rome' awaits you. Ask server for details.

I'm not sure what the entire marketing strategy is, but I wonder if it will cause as much buzz as rival Showtime's clever Weeds brownie promotion.

Source: Ad Age

Although I love a great dry vodka martini, sometimes what a girl wants is a light fruity drink with just a touch of alcohol. When craving a drink of these sorts, I suggest the recipe for the following drink: an apricot fizz. The sweet apricot brandy blends nicely with the fresh citrus juice of both a lime and an orange. To celebrate National Apricot Day with a great apricot fizz, read more

Don't forget to submit your raisin sporting recipes to the Secret Ingredient group. Any kind of recipe will do, breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert or even a drink! Go wild and come up with your best recipe. We'll pick our favorite one and put it up here on Friday. So hurry up, you've got until Thursday to get the recipe in.

There is nothing as purely and simply delicious as fresh squeezed orange juice. I'm not talking about that stuff they sell in cardboard cartons on supermarket aisles, I'm talking about the real deal made with super ripe oranges. Although it may seem as if citrus is always in season because you can purchase it virtually year round, it is in fact at its best now. Lemons, oranges, mandarins, tangerines, and grapefruits should all be consumed for their high level of vitamin c, which helps reduce the severity of colds.

Citrus is a super versatile ingredient and can be consumed in liquid form or in everything from desserts to salads to sauces to cocktails.

Learn how to get the most juice out of your citrus.

Hey everyone!
Thanks to all who joined us in the SugarChat Room. If you missed out, you can join us every Tuesday and Thursday at 11am Pacific / 2pm Eastern in the SugarChat Room. We'll have themed discussions on all sorts of food related topics (recipes, tips, and Top Chef to name a few). So come on and stop by!

Lately I've been really into walnuts. Plain walnuts for snacking, candied walnuts in salads, and toasted walnuts in cookies. Just when I think I've used walnuts in every possible dish that I can, BAM a new recipe is discovered that incorporates walnuts in an exciting and different way. Walnuts in pasta? Now we're talking. Essentially this dish is similar to making a pesto but walnuts take the place of fresh basil. For a rich vegetarian supper, where walnuts are the star ingredients read more