tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3507456988820547652024-02-19T05:45:48.404-07:00Always... leave room for dessertMy journey for the sweetest things in lifeLeave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-38578767997375529362011-04-02T10:25:00.000-06:002011-04-02T10:25:14.128-06:00Blog renos
Whew... It's taken a lot longer than I expected it would, but I finally have my brand new home for my blog! That means, http://leave-room-for-dessert.blogspot.com/ will no longer be updated. Instead, www.alwaysleaveroomfordessert.com has a brand new look and some new features, and will be the permanent home for this blog.
I want to thank you all for you readership and support (Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-66375203680146368102011-03-07T16:25:00.000-07:002011-03-07T16:25:27.767-07:00Florentines Cookies & Panna Cotta
florentine cookies and coquelicot panna cotta
The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.
A true cookies and cream combination! Silky panna cotta, served alongside a chewy oatmeal sandwich cookie filled with rich Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-33920043051388575962011-03-07T13:58:00.000-07:002011-03-07T13:58:38.807-07:00Eating my way across Europe, part II
Café Norden's Caramel Latte
As you'd expect, when you visit so many great countries, you get exposed to a lot of really great food, and this trip was no exception. I found a fabulous and super sexy resto-café in Copenhagen, called Café Norden, that serves a killer mushroom pasta with grilled chicken, or, if you're only in the need of a hot drink to warm you up, sit back in one of Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-67367733158723491152011-02-16T20:10:00.006-07:002011-02-16T22:00:28.139-07:00Riding the Rails In Europe - or 8 reasons Trains beat Planes any day.I'm back! I've returned to the land of snow and ice and slush, from an incredible 24 days in Europe. My Darling Hubby, knowing how much I hate our winters, sent me off to do some "research" abroad for what is typically the worst part of said winter (I know! In my opinion, he has a free pass for Valentine's Day, anniversaries, and birthdays and any other special events for the next Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-39194097139995029652011-02-04T02:05:00.001-07:002011-02-14T08:28:14.188-07:00La biscuit jaconde imprimeFirst, please allow me to apologise for the delay in posting, but for the last few weeks I have been traveling through Europe, and posting from the the road is not without it's challenges.... I know, feel bad for me, okay? (PS it's due to these challenges that there are no photos with this post, a situation I am trying to correct)
Jacode Entremets.. not perfect, but pretty good for my first tryLeave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-41426854333822760112011-01-18T14:17:00.001-07:002011-01-18T14:23:19.869-07:00Gingerbread with Caramel Sauce - and change....
It's fairly obvious that I have been an absentee blogger lately, but I do have my reasons. Or excuses at least... The holiday season was a busy for hubby & I (like it is for 99.9% of the rest of the world), but then throw into the mix the preparations for a month-long trip through Europe and wrapping up parts of one life so that a new one can begin. You see, a little over a year ago, right Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-9660693849029875362010-12-27T05:01:00.002-07:002010-12-27T05:01:00.267-07:00Christmas StollenThe 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.
Fresh from the oven Stollen loaf... sans rum and sugar coating
Being of more French Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-42170028649911087492010-12-25T13:27:00.000-07:002010-12-25T13:27:50.825-07:00Merry Macarons to you!
Parmesan Pancetta Rosemary Macarons
This holiday season has been a busy one for me, but I am not complaining. It's incredibly flattering to have people hire you to do baking for them. This means, prior to leaving for vacation, most of my nights have been spent happily up to my elbows in sugar and flour and butter and eggs... and almonds. Yes, I made quite a few macarons this month, and Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-26408916890678117892010-12-10T11:58:00.004-07:002010-12-10T21:19:26.146-07:00A Sticky Toffee Pudding Send-Off
If you happen to follow me on Twitter, lately you have seen me gushing a lot about @darrenstravels. The owner of that twitter handle is my hero, and lucky for me, he also happens to be my uncle.
@darrenstravels (aka "Uncle D") My hero
"D", as he is affectionately called by nearly everyone in the family, is my mom's baby brother - "baby" by enough that he is only 12 Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-75589182814669278452010-12-05T20:28:00.001-07:002010-12-05T20:38:16.822-07:00Apricot CrostataThe 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.
I was pretty excited when I saw the challenge for November, because I've actuallyLeave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-48779779184268641592010-11-26T23:35:00.000-07:002010-11-26T23:35:12.565-07:00Pink Pecan Pie Macarons"What does Fall mean to you?... Does fall mean Thanksgiving, or deep cinnamon flavour, are apples your calling or do falling leaves announce the season to you? Or then, is it the warm comfort and luxury of hot cocoa or warm spiced cider?"
-Mactweets
l'Automne. Quite simply my favourite season of the year, when the river valley is an explosion of reds and golds, and the sunny but crisp daysLeave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-14118432013563435702010-11-07T21:33:00.001-07:002010-11-08T08:33:21.311-07:00Awww NUTS.... here we go again!
delicately sweet Cashew Butter Cookies
It's kinda funny. As a kid, I would not have classified myself as a nut lover. Sure, I enjoyed my fair share of peanut butter on toast or in PB and banana sandwiches, but nuts in their non-butter form, not so much. Even then, nuts of the non-peanut form were pretty much a rarity (ya ya, I know - peanuts are not "technically" nuts, Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-46298452470203820422010-11-04T23:27:00.000-06:002010-11-04T23:27:56.051-06:00It's all about the creamI recently mentioned the amazing Strawberry Panna Cotta hubby and I enjoyed on a day trip to Sausalito, and the memory seems to be a strong one, 'cause I cannot seem to get it out of my mind. It was creamy and delicately sweet, surprisingly thick yet not heavy or overly rich. For a girl who misses UK double cream like I do, it was heaven on a spoon. So it's no surprise that,&Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-49984075045473743932010-10-27T22:21:00.000-06:002010-10-27T22:21:37.912-06:00Macaron FailFor the past couple of months, I have been a bad MacTweet-er. I have missed not one but two challenges in a row - not because I've wanted to, but because hubby and I have been busy putting in some new flooring and putting a fresh coat of paint on a few rooms. The downstairs portion of our house is looking pretty great now, and Molly and Riley are quickly learning they can't quite Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-70788392247419344512010-10-25T21:08:00.000-06:002010-10-25T21:08:54.349-06:00In the words of Homer Simpson...mmmmmmmmmmmmmm....doughnuts.
Homemade Vanilla Bean Glazed Doughnuts
The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious. Thankfully, I no longer have a fear of frying, so I was pretty excited about this Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-88408591217721837592010-10-11T21:03:00.001-06:002010-10-11T21:47:11.323-06:00Happy Turkey Day! (in Canada at least)
Fall is very officially here, no question about it. We didn't get the nice, long Indian Summer I was hoping for... not quite, anyway. Yes, we're back to warm, sunny days, but it took less than a week for all the leaves to turn colour and drop this year. Who can blame them? Summer ended very abruptly this year - sunny and 28C one day, cold, drizzly and 13C the next... and Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-8979144423588655432010-09-27T11:46:00.044-06:002010-09-27T14:06:19.654-06:00Delectable delights in San Francisco
Golden Gate Bridge
For hubby and I, one of our favourite things to do together is travel - get out there and experience new places, check out the local museums, shop (ya, that might be more "me" than hubby there), take loads of pictures and, of course, taste the local cuisine. We like to see as much as we can of a new place, and for us, that means lots of our time is spent walking - Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-10228268696275031072010-09-05T17:24:00.002-06:002010-09-05T17:32:13.555-06:00Summer's disappeared
S'mores... they're not just for camp fires anymore!
So here I am, writing my first post in over a month. It seems like I fell off the face of the earth, but I managed to pick myself up and dust myself off. The last 6 weeks have been a blur of house-guests, out-of town visitors, errands, dinners, more visitors, meetings, work functions, appointments and all on top of Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-33451423034992020702010-08-01T21:20:00.000-06:002010-12-06T11:02:39.809-07:00Getting over my fear of frying
This month's Chocolate with François challenge was selected by yours truly. When I was asked to select the recipe for July, I carefully perused Chocolate Epiphany, searching for something different. I wanted a recipe that would really put my cooking and baking skills to the test, something that would teach me something new. As soon as I read his recipe for Chocolate Beignets Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-45036823389361843752010-07-27T00:01:00.002-06:002010-07-31T23:05:13.454-06:00Now that's my kind of Cherry Bombe!
Chocolate Cherry Bombe
The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home. Well, the timing for this recipe challenge could not have been better. Dad's Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-74725323230527604072010-07-18T23:52:00.000-06:002010-07-18T23:52:28.390-06:00Nutter Butter
Life-saving Almond Cookies... it could happen!
The other day I was wandering aimlessly through the grocery store - one of those days where I couldn't seem to remember what the heck it was I needed to get, so I just walked up and down the aisles hoping to jog my memory. And before you recommend I make a list next time, I had. I forgot it. Yup, I was totally bringing by A-game that Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-74639175150550901642010-07-12T23:00:00.003-06:002010-07-14T18:24:50.286-06:00With a little help from my friends...
Carrying on a conversation is problematic for me when I'm baking, as inevitably I pay more to attention to one than the other, but I love having music playing when I'm working away in the kitchen. I don't think I'm alone in this, as this month's MacTweets challenge was Sing-a-Song macarons. Normally I think I would have chosen one of the songs on my favourite baking playlist - and Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-60914526154141923092010-07-03T15:52:00.002-06:002010-07-03T16:07:26.923-06:00I've never thought of myself as "cheap" before
Not that kind of cheap! I mean cheap as in thrifty, a penny-pincher (or as we say in Canada, one who can "squeeze a nickel 'till the beaver farts"). We're a classy bunch, aren't we? :-)
I've always been cursed with expensive taste, an appreciation for the finer things in life. That said, I was also raised by a veteran bargain hunter, a woman who can spot sale signs anywhere, even Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-18455962119124860812010-06-28T20:46:00.003-06:002010-06-28T20:51:17.658-06:00Not every ballerina gets a dessert named after her....The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard - a book already in my collection.
Ahhhhh, Pavlova. There's a dessert I haven't had in years! This was one of the dessert's inLeave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-350745698882054765.post-66989025830291573442010-06-25T09:43:00.000-06:002010-06-25T09:43:46.435-06:00Papa Screams for Ice CreamI love to bring people joy with my food, it's one of my favourite things about cooking and baking. This why I like bringing desserts when we get together with friends, or baking a cake for someone's birthday. It's the reason I send treats to work with hubby, or take a pie over to a friends house "just because". While I don't necessarily need an occasion, Father's Day was as good an Leave-Room-for-Desserthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00312971848745685265noreply@blogger.com5