What better way to embrace the arrival of springtime than to spruce up your kitchen with a few fun florals? I just remembered I've got to change my winter table setting into my spring one and substitute the black leather placemats for mint green satin ones and the white candles for pink and yellow ones. Changing your table scape is one way to freshen up the look of your kitchen, another way is to purchase a few essential items that scream spring with their floral patterns, pastel colors, and refreshing newness.

A perfect example of this is the printed flask that thoroughlymodern saved in the Yum Market on TeamSugar. This container is so beautiful that I may have to get one for myself, how chic would it be to pull this out at a romantic picnic?!

Two more flowery finds so read more

Okay - every now and then the universe goes wild and produces amazing stuff that makes me shake my head and say what?? This time it's a webshow called "Dinner With The Band" which will pair Sam Mason (the former pastry chef of New York's famous WD-50 who's currently opening a new space called Tailor) and indie rock bands. Mason will invite his favorite touring bands into his apartment for a little cooking 101 and in turn, the band will do a live set. The end result is edited together with some flashy bits, recipes and great music clips. The pilot, which features New York's own The Cloud Room, was picked up by OnNetworks - an Austin, Texas based new media company - for 8 online episodes. The pilot is available in 5 parts on the Dinner With the Band website, but if you want to check out the trailer, read more

No meal is complete without dessert, right? And just because flour, baking soda, and the like is not allowed as an ingredient in the Passover meal, doesn't mean you can't make a divine dessert spread. Macaroons are one of the most popular Passover treats today and I like to offer guests a choice of either almond (it's FitSugar's recipe!) or fudgy coconut. Normally a breakfast treat, matzo brei a cinnamon and sugary like pancake, will round out the dessert menu. For the macaroon recipes and DearSugar's favorite part of the Passover, matzo brei, read more

A little while back I dramatically declared that YumSugar was desperately in need of our help. Ok that may be a little exaggeration but she recently spent a good amount of money on a special, creamy goat butter (which she expertly turned into delicious goatbread cookies). Before the butter goes bad she wanted to find a butter bell. A butter bell is a butter container that maintains the perfect temperature of the butter while protecting it from outside air. She did a quick search but could only find hideously ugly little butter bells with butter written in loopy letters. So she asked me to ask you to scour the web for a sleek modern butter bell that matches her unromantic kitchen and granite counter tops. I was surprised to see 2 whole pages filled with awesome butter bells. Here are the ones that I think Yum will like the best:

BellaCalla found this handsome porcelain and steel butter bell. It holds one stick of butter without refrigeration for up to one month.

Two more so read more

Today's TV Dinner comes from TeamSugar member celebrity_soup. She wrote to tell me about how she was watching an episode of MTV's Made (you know the show that "makes" people into things they're not) and the folks on it were making a penne with vodka sauce, she also included a recipe for it. The episode, from season 5, is the one where they try and turn Ian into a salsa dancer in order to woo the girl of his dreams. Along the way he discovers that she loves penne with vodka sauce, so he sets about making some. In the end, he actually doesn't get the gal, but it's not from his lack of trying. And hey, at least he got a great meal (not to mention salsa dancing lessons) out of the whole thing. To check out a recipe similar to the one Ian uses on the show (thanks again to celebrity_soup for finding it for us), read more

Today I'm planning you a perfect Passover meal complete with matzo, haroset, and all of the traditional fixings. During the first 2 nights of the 8 day celebration, the religious Seder dinner is typically practiced by the Jews to commemorate the Israelites escape from Egypt. Usually the dinner begins with a telling of this story, a reading from the Haggadah that is long and allows the guests to build up an appetite for the main course. When the narration is finished reward guests for their patience with hearty braised lamb shanks and a mixed lettuce salad with hard boiled eggs (to represent the symbol of mourning for the destroyed Temple). For these succulent recipes, read more

I know that kids are drinking too much soda (adults too), and so everyone is looking for new products to drink (like flavored, fortified and designer water), but do we really need candy bar flavored milk? The folks at Bravo! Foods think so and have recently come up with new milk based products called Slammers. Available in Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Starburst and MoonPie, Slammers are the "ultimate milkshake" (or smoothie in the Starbust case). I don't know about this one guys, do we really need a drinkable candy bar?

Anyone tried these, what do you think of them?

I recently watched an episode of Giada's Weekend Getaways on Food Network because she was visiting my barrio, San Francisco. One of the dishes that was featured on the show was a lobster pot pie and it got me thinking about pot pies and substituting them with seafood. At first I thought of recreating the lobster one until I realized lobster doesn't exactly fit into my everyday dinner budget. Then I stumbled across this recipe that is for a pot pie using the rosy colored fish, salmon. The pot pie is made on the stove and topped with packaged puff pastry dough, so I can make a quick stop at the market on the way home (if you're feeling super lazy purchase cooked salmon fillets) and whip it up for an exceptional Friday night dinner. To do the same, read more

Well I've just about wrapped up the party plan for julieulie and Scott's engagement party (Julie: you still haven't told me the story of how you got engaged!). The event is being held later in the evening because it's a dessert party where sparkling wine will be poured freely and desserts will be decadently divine. The invitees have rsvped, the desserts - including the couples favorites - have been chosen, the drinks are waiting to be chilled, and the fiesta space is looking decorative. But before I give the green light to this party there is one more thing to worry about: the music! An elegant engagement party that sets the tone of the upcoming wedding must have an equally sophisticated soundtrack. To see my playlist, read more

To round out our wedding registry tips, I thought I'd cover my favorite category, cookware & bakeware. To begin, look at both of your current pots/pans and see if there are any worth keeping, or any sets you have already started. Also look to see what kind of pans you have, are there any you love and want more of? Or maybe you splurged on a fancy brand only to learn you hated the way they heated. Also think about your cooking style. If you're more health conscious, you may want to consider non-stick so that you can use less oil. If you're an aspiring chef, go for hard anodized stainless or copper for superior heat conductivity. To learn what you should look for when selecting pots, pans and bakeware, as well as a pretty full list of things you might want to register for, read more