My half birthday was last Friday, and to celebrate I made myself a decadent chocolate layer cake. The recipe was something I personally devised by combining several different cake, pudding, and frosting recipes. The Bailey's pudding was an excellent consistency for the inside of a cake and the intense creamy flavor intense and insanely delightful. Even those who don't enjoy sipping a glass of Bailey's will enjoy this pudding. I have a delicious chocolate cake recipe that I use whenever I make chocolate cake, but this time I decided to experiment with a new devil's food cake recipe. In the end, I preferred my original recipe over this devil's food cake, but this one came out pretty good too.

Let the frosting rest for several hours instead of just one and you will have a smooth, luscious, deep brown icing. I had a horrible crisis when I went to assemble the cake, the layers were slipping like mad. The frosting would not stick because each layer was sliding every which way. Extreme times call for extreme measures and I asked my dad to help me align the cake with skewers (conveniently he was prepping shish-ka-bobs for the grill and had the skewers handy). We placed a circle of skewers in the cake which looked like birthday candles and easily averted disaster. I popped the whole cake in the fridge for a few hours to chill and it firmed up expertly with the frosting cooling to a ganache like state. The final product was a cake that was dense and delicious, moist and super chocolatey. I can't wait to have another piece today when I finish dinner. For the recipe and a gallery of photos, read more

This weekend I was hanging around on TeamSugar and realized that there are a lot of great groups devoted to food, drink and entertaining. So I thought I'd start a series spotlighting each one. Sort of like Stephen Colbert's "Better Know a District" only it's going to be Better Know a Group. Today I thought I'd start with the active group, Kitchen Goddess. Here you can post your own recipes, review your friends' recipes, review your kitchen products and appliances, share your favorite kitchen tips and everything else cooking related. There are definitely some lively team members and some great recipes, so be sure to check out Kitchen Goddess. And while you're there, don't forget to join and start posting your own tales of kitchen goddess creations - (kitchen gods welcome too!).

Be sure to come back and see the rest of the groups in this Better Know a Group series!

Does anyone else remember the magazine Budget Living? Sadly it's now defunct, but I always looked forward to each new issue. This weekend I found a stash of old magazines, including a copy of Budget Living's October 2005 issue. Naturally, I had to stop what I was doing and look through all the pages. I became absorbed with the issue and was surprised when I came across a really great looking drink recipe. Surprised because I'm sure I must have read it before, and yet it seemed totally new to me. Actually, I should make that totally new and totally tempting. I'm learning to appreciate whiskey more, and I already love ginger ale, so I think this one might become a new favorite. To check it out, read more

Extreme eaters mark your calendars. And well actually, by extreme I mean people who want to/can afford to spend a lot of money on food. And by a lot of money I mean a LOT of money. Remember how I told you about the $25,000 dinner in Thailand? Well on December 12, 2008 (that's over a year away, you can start saving now), master 3-star Michelin chefs from around the globe will head to the ancient pyramids in Egypt to cook a dinner for over 500 diners. But hey, compared to Thailand, this is going to be a bargain. The price isn't confirmed, but organizers say it will cost less than $10,000 per person.

A kitchen, half a mile long, will be set up with the pyramids in the background. Also, unlike the Thailand meal that was mostly French cuisine, this time the menu will be "culturally diverse and paired with fine wines from around the world."

How close to the pyramids is also yet to be decided, it depends on the Egyptian government and UNESCO (the pyramids, after all, are a World Heritage site). Some of the profits from the meal may be given to charity (my theory is that is probably the only way they will be able to get close enough).

I don't know what you guys think, but it sounds horribly tacky and horribly AWESOME. So hey, like I said, it's at a bargain price and is over a year away. Start saving now and I'm sure you'll have enough, right?!?

Source: Contra Costa Times

During the spring and summer, my mom and I like to go over to my grandfather Al's house to tan and swim in his pool. He lives in the East Bay and often times it is 10-15°F warmer at his house than it is at ours. When we head over to Al's house, we stop at the store for the fixings for a lovely dinner. I love cooking in his kitchen because it's super open, always clean, and has two ovens. However when I go to clean up after cooking, he never has any nice dishtowels. As purchasing linens for the kitchen is hardly a task that a bachelor like him should have to partake in, I want to get him a whole bunch of new towels. The towels should be durable and simple. No hearts and nothing too girlie. Think block colors and nautical accents. Save the kitchen towels you find in the Yum Market with the keyword, Dishtowels. I can't wait to see the towels you discover!

To teach you how to bookmark in the Yum Market, geeksugar has created a helpful how-to.

Although I love fancy foods, sometimes a super simple, super tasty, home-style meal really hits the spot. This one uses up the bolognese sauce from yesterday and turns it into a hearty meal that will really please your taste buds and belly. The best part is it only takes one large skillet (ovenproof) and a bowl, which means cleanup is a snap. To check out a simple, delectable meal, read more

I just learned that my favorite little egglings have three new varieties: spicy red pepper, lavender and wild strawberries. Egglings, for those of you that don't know, look and feel like a large egg, but are really a ceramic container that you crack open, water and voila! You've got a plant that will grow for about five months before having to be planted in the soil. Available in basil, mint, phlox (a flowering plant), petunia, chrysanthemum, and now spicy red pepper, lavender and wild strawberries. The cost is $9.50 each.

Source: Design*Sponge

Spring has sprung! Well almost - the official first day is this Wednesday, but the weather has been so amazing here in California that it feels like it has already arrived. To celebrate, I'm hosting a tea party this weekend. This isn't going to be stuffy ladies in pastel suits at a formal table with antique china, it's going to be modern, fun, and fabulous. My fingers are crossed that the warm weather will last until Saturday so I can host the tea in my courtyard. I want everything about the party to scream spring, starting with the invitation. The invitation is an integral and essential tone setter for the party, so it should reflect the arrival of spring in the design and color scheme. To see the tea party invite I've made - that you can make too if you follow my step by step instructions - please read more