Baking and Cooking

  • Baking and Cooking

    Penne with Vodka Sauce

    No Mani Monday today – I’ve had to trim my nails due to upcoming gigs on cello and the need to practice. They’re just so horribly hard to keep painted when they’re nothing but nubs. Instead I have for you a dinner I made last week – Penne with Vodka Sauce. Unfortunately I don’t have a recipe for this one. It’s a family dish (yea, a mostly Russian and Ukrainian family has a heritage Italian recipe… figure that out) that I’ve been cooking so long I’m not even sure there ever was a recipe to begin with. I just sort of go and throw stuff in until it looks right.…

  • Baking and Cooking,  Links

    Miso Salmon Dinner

    As mentioned last Friday – until Easter, my one cooking day of the week is being impacted by Lent. No meat for us, because the boyfriend fasts. So as promised, after the Miso Mushroom Pasta went over well last week and it was decided that miso is not a flavor that Jim hates, it was time to go full-out and try the Miso Salmon I’ve been craving for forever at this point. Overall it was a huge hit, and it’s really simple. I basically followed this recipe only omitting the mushrooms (the ones I picked up turned out to be moldy at the bottom of the container). It’s really easy,…

  • Baking and Cooking,  Tutorials and Tips

    Lucky Charm Treats – Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

    St. Paddy’s Day is one of my very favorite holidays. Or rather, let me rephrase that: My hometown St. Paddy’s Day Parade is one of my very favorite holidays, topped only by Christmas. I originate from the Scranton, PA area and let’s just say this – “Parade Day” (as we call it – it’s so important we don’t even need to specify. Everyone just knows) is a big freaking deal. That said, our sacred day was actually Saturday annnnnddddd I was a bad girl and didn’t bring my camera with me. Boooooooo bad blogger. So to make up for the lack of personal photos, here’s a tutorial for Lucky Charm…

  • Baking and Cooking,  Links

    Miso Mushroom Pasta

    I don’t get to cook often. My schedule basically allows me time to cook a nice, hot meal from scratch once a week on Fridays – twice if I’m lucky and don’t have a concert to work Saturday evening. And so I savor my cooking time. It’s something I absolutely love to do, and Friday meals usually work out very well, providing a nice hot dinner for me and Jim (the boyfriend) and depending on the recipe, several other meals that can be frozen and eaten at some point in the future at work. However, recently I’ve run into a problem. It’s lent. Now, I don’t fast. It’s just not…