Last week my heart shaped chocolate strawberry ice cream sandwiches were a huge hit, so I couldn't resist giving you one last heart shaped cookie recipe for Valentine's Day: chocolate dipped shortbread hearts! I just bought a new heart shaped cookie cutter and I have to make the most of it while I can. I've been craving shortbread like mad lately and will finally satisfy my urges when I make these cookies. Although the recipe calls for dark melted chocolate I'll make a batch dipped in white chocolate as well. A domestic goddess can never have enough cookie recipes (or cookie cutters for that matter). To add this one to your collection, read more

Have you ever made a chocolate cake, or a pan of brownies, only to turn it out of the pan and discover that the flour from dusting the pan has adhered to your otherwise gorgeous creation? Well next time, instead of dusting the pan with flour, try dusting with cocoa powder. There will still be a bit of buildup, however it will now be hidden. To checkout my gal PartySugar's latest brownie adventure, read more

What better way to get your Valentine's Day kicked off than with a cocktail concocted especially for the evening? My brother sent me a list of three special Valentine's Day cocktails (Mikey if you're reading: thanks!) that I have to share with you. These drinks look so tasty it's difficult to decide which to make myself tonight. So I stocked up my bar with the ingredients to make all three! Last week I gave you the recipe for a scrumptious Strawberry Kiss and if you want to see how to make a Valentine's Day Chocolate or Pink Passion Martini, please read more

Not too long ago, two of my very good friends Enrique and Elizabeth fell in love (ok maybe I'm jumping the gun here but according to my other girlfriend Eli they were totally all over each other at the Fito concert last Friday night). To show how he feels, Enrique asked me to help him plan a romantic surprise dinner for her! He wanted me to come up with a romantic meatless menu because Elizabeth doesn't eat meat (she does eat fish) and he is mostly used to cooking dishes based with chicken, pork, or beef. I asked you to help me out by adding your best romantic recipes to the recipe database and tagging them with the keywords Romantic Meatless Dinner. A super special thanks to crispet1 for coming up with a delicious and wonderful menu.
To start, crispet1 has Enrique making a simple yet extravagant appetizer of Baked Scallops Waldo.

To see the rest of crispet1's romantic meatless dinner menu, read more

• If you're not totally over Valentine's Day, here's one more last-minute romantic meal. Mmm... lamb chops. - San Francisco Chronicle
• Interested in Thai food? Learn how to make bold dishes from the northern region of Lanna. - Chicago Tribune
• Who says food and romance can't go together? Turns out there's a large number of couples who open restaurants together. - Boston Globe
• Organic to Go, an organic food company that serves organic sandwiches, soups and salads, went public this week. - Seattle Times



• My friend Becky keeps talking about her amazing Red Velvet Cake. Looks like she was slightly ahead of the new NYC food trend. Photo by Tony Cenicola. - New York Times
• Chinese New Year is this weekend, learn how the Chung Mei Buddhist Temple keeps their feast simple and soulful. - Houston Chronicle
• With luscious ingredients, dinner for two can be an easy, extravagant affair. - Los Angeles Times

My sister is a huge procrastinator. She waits until the last minute, buckles down under pressure, and then produces a fabulous finish. If you are anything like her, you've waited until this morning to figure out the menu for Valentine's Day dinner. Luckily I'm not a procrastinator and have found an easy, yet exceptional recipe for your last minute romantic dinner: a steak seasoned with Moroccan spices and served with sweet potatoes. Definitely not your everyday meal, the spice rub infuses the meat and the potatoes to create juicy, excellent end results. Toss in a simple sautéed spinach side and a glass of Zinfandel. Dim the lights, turn up the mood music and voila(!) instant Valentine's Day dinner. To turn up the heat with this meal, read more

I'll be honest with you, I'm actually not really into romantic movies. So when I set out to find the perfect "TV Dinner" for Valentine's Day, I hit a wall immediately. Then suddenly, in a moment of clarity, I remembered the film Chocolat. After all, what could possibly say romance better than a film starring Johnny Depp, Juliette Binoche, and a whole lot of chocolate?! My only problem is that thanks to all the chocolate, I had a hard time coming up with one scene that summed it all up.

However, I did recall that the shop was called Chocolaterie Maya and that the hot cocoa (you know, that one that melts even Judi Dench's old heart) contained a bit of a kick. To learn the secret recipe that is as close to the movie as possible, read more

Fat Tuesday, the biggest night of the Mardi Gras celebration in New Orleans, is less than a week away. To honor the day I'm going all out and hosting a blowout bash. I made a whole bunch of mask invites and sent them to everyone I know. I researched Mardi Gras foods and will be making three savory appetizers and two sweet appetizers. This isn't the type of party that you would bring your mom to, there is going to be drinking, dancing, and whatever else happens... Wow, I'm getting ahead of myself, it's not party time yet and I still haven't told you about the drinks I'm serving. It has to be cocktails to fill a crowd and to see what I have up my sleeve, read more