• Even though I'm sure this chocolate cake is rich and decadent, there's something about it that looks light and airy. I suppose that's why it's called the lighter-than-air chocolate cake. - Smitten Kitchen
• Chocoholics beware, it appears that there may be a global chocolate shortage in the immediate future. - Serious Eats
• Did you know you could make your own cheese in 30-minutes? - Never Bashful With Butter
• Bay Area foodies, you're in luck - Shuna's holding two new classes this spring. Knife Skills and Seasonal Fruit. I wish I could take the knife skills one, and hopefully I'll remember to sign up for the fruit one. - Eggbeater
• Ten absinthes in two hours, now that sounds like my kind of Sunday morning. - Chow
• We've all got home improvement projects we'd like to do, why not build a home bar? - Liquor Snob
• Nothing more to say about this, it's a Daikon that looks like a foot. - Neatorama
• And finally, in the world of, this is interesting, but not interesting enough to devote more than a few lines to, Hooters is opening up a branch in Israel. - USA Today

Ah for the joy of a nice drink (be it alcoholic or non). I don't know about you guys, but I am always on the lookout for something new to try. Whether it's a sparkling lemonade, or a caramel mochatini, I have got to try them all. Turns out I'm not the only one. In the next part of our Better Know a Group series, I thought I'd highlight the group called Let's Have a Drink. Over at Let's Have..., people share their drink recipes, mixing tips and review the tastes. The group's been around for a while, and goes through spurts of activeness, so join Let's Have a Drink today and get this group shaking! (Get it... shaking, like a drink, as in shaken... not stirred! - sorry, I couldn't resist). I can't wait to read all about your favorite drinks and tips.

With spring break narrowing in on us, (woo-hoo! even though I'm not in school anymore I celebrate spring break each year by spending a long weekend away), it's the appropriate time to stock up on a bar tool that you will use a lot once the warm weather hits hard. A muddler is essential to making juicy, refreshing mojitos and caipirinhas. Sure you could substitute a long wooden spoon, but I find nothing crushes a lime and releases the essence of mint as well as a muddler. The handy, crushing one I have at home is this simple beachwood muddler. It's $5.00, a pretty reasonable price considering all of the use you'll get out of it and I get double the use out of mine by using it as a pestle to crush herbs and spices. I prefer wood over any other material because it's easy to clean and will last forever. However if you want something a little more fancy, check out these options and read more

Celebrity chef to the celebs, Wolfgang Puck has just announced several new animal welfare policies that he and his restaurants will be putting into place. In a joint press release with the Humane Society, Puck has released a nine-point program aimed at raising the bar on farm animal treatment.

"I have regularly spent weekends at my local farmers markets and farms, getting to know my vendors, their animals and their animal treatment programs. As my companies have grown much bigger, we must now develop formal policies to maintain our exacting standards."

The polices in his nine-point program are:

• The elimination of foie gras (fattened duck & geese livers) from his restaurants.
• No longer allow the use of eggs from hens confined in battery cages.
• No pork from producers that confine breeding sows in gestation crates.
• No veal from producers that confine calves in individual veal crates.

To see the rest of the policies, read more

For those on-the-go nights, when you're in the door and out the door with very little time for a meal, don't order take out or pick up something premade from the store, make yourself a quick, healthy, and delicious turkey salad sandwich. Portable and easy to digest on the go, this recipe calls for only a small amount of mayonnaise and is packed with flavor. Dried fruits and nuts are interesting additions that meld surprisingly well due to the sweetness of the apricots and the crunch of the cashews. This sandwich is also a scrumptious selection for an afternoon picnic. For the recipe, please read more

George Orwell, famed old school author of 1984 (raise your hand if you've read it), was a big time tea drinker. "There are 11 rules for perfect tea making, rules from which nobody should dare depart," said good old George Orwell. His steps to making the perfect cup of tea are at times absolutely absurd (6 spoonfuls of tea leaves? You'll end up with one potent tea!) and specifically objective (Orwell despised when people diluted tea with sugar). Since I'm hosting a tea party this weekend I thought it would be fun to read his tips over and mention them at the party when there is a lull in the conversation. To take a peek at the outdated eleven steps to make a perfect cup of tea, according to George Orwell, read more

Last time I was at the library I picked up Dorie Greenspan's first book, Sweet Times - Simple Desserts for Every Occasion. It's from 1991 and so it doesn't have the glossy, fancy feel that any book from the last five years has. However I really enjoyed it and felt it was definitely a good solid book. It's broken into eight types of recipes (from Tea Time Treats to Holiday Wrap-ups) and includes a great "Quick Fix Matrix" that allows you to look up recipes by craving (crunchy, spicy, chocolaty, etc.). It also included a fantastic glossary that doubles as dessertmaking 101 and each recipe comes with an alternate "playing around" version.

Looking through it, I definitely wanted to try my hand at quite a few of the delectable recipes, but it was Sunday morning and I was really feeling like breakfast. So I opened it up to the breakfast section and discovered the recipe for a puffed pancake. I've been wanting to create a puffed pancake for a few years now, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity. I actually ended up making two batches, as the first one came out a bit greasy. However they were both tasty with the end result being a rather eggy (in a good way) puffed pancake with a crispy, almost donut-like edges. And believe me, donut-like pancakes = super fantastic for Sunday morning. To check out the pictures and see step-by-step photos, read more

This week I am putting together a tea party plan for you to follow when you want to host an afternoon tea sipping soirée. Contrary to popular belief, tea parties can be a great, contemporary way to celebrate the arrival of Spring (or a baby or a marriage). My fingers are crossed in hopes that this Saturday will be a glorious sunshine-y day and that we will be able to sit outside in my courtyard while we drink tea and nibble on finger foods. I invited a small group of girlfriends earlier this week with pretty little floral invites. The buffet will be set with a dazzling array of sweet and savory classic tea snacks and I'll pour several pots of freshly brewed tea as well as offer a green tea martini to those friends who are in the mood for a cocktail. To see how I'm turning my house into a spring haven, creating a lady-like look with lots of fresh flowers and tea inspired accents, read more