I have a tendency to overdo it when I travel. I get excited and want to do everything. The more guidebooks and blogs I read, the more plans I make. My friends and family remind me that “You can’t do everything” and I politely ignore their advice. This was the case during my last trip
Brussels Beer and Chocolate Tour
Brussels Grand Place – look closely and you’ll notice the entire building is off center! When I sat down to write this post, I sent a text to Annie and said that I was having a hard time figuring out what to write about the Brussels Beer and Chocolate Tour. Her response was, “All you
Tips for Better Baking – Chocolate Bars vs. Chocolate Chips (#48)
Tips for Better Baking: Chocolate Bars vs. Chocolate Chips (#47) When baking with chocolate, opt for chocolate sold in bars instead of chocolate chips. Bar chocolate is a higher quality and will produce a better result in your final baked goods. Chocolate chips often contain fats other than cocoa butter and tend to be sweeter, waxier, and
Peanut Butter Pretzel Pie
Every time I travel abroad for extended periods of time, I find myself craving certain foods that are mainstays of my diet back home. When I spent a summer in Asia, I craved Chipotle, fresh salads, and Cracker Barrel (my guilty pleasure). When studying in France, I craved Asian and spicy foods and, yet again,
Tips for Better Baking: Always Sift Cocoa Powder (#38)
Cocoa powder is notoriously clumpy. If you add it straight to a recipe, it can be nearly impossible to break up the clumps and you’ll end up with dry spots in your finished product. In order to avoid this frustration, I always sift cocoa powder (at least once, sometimes twice!) before using it in a
Kentucky Derby Cookies: Pecan Shortbread with Bourbon & Chocolate
Living in Cincinnati is funny. I live and work in Ohio but buy my groceries and get gas in Kentucky. Even the Cincinnati airport is located in Kentucky. I often forget I’m changing states when I cross the river, but once you hit Kentucky you can feel that you’re in the South. One of the best
Champorado – Filipino Chocolate Rice Pudding
For the next stop on the Rice Pudding Around the World series, we’re headed to the Philippines… When asked about my favorite cities and countries around the world, my two answers are Paris and the Philippines. Paris is a given, but my response of the Philippines is often met with a bit of surprise. A few years ago I studied
Chocolate Covered Strawberries
There are a few kitchen tasks that I absolutely dread doing: peeling and deveining shrimp, cutting brussels sprouts, trimming sugar snap peas, and peeling fava beans are a few that come to mind. Usually, it’s those menial, repetitive processes that take all day and bore you out of your mind. But, there are also things that
Peanut Butter & Chocolate Cupcakes for Halloween
I had my 5th birthday party at Chuck E Cheese. I don’t remember too much about it except that Chuck E Cheese provided a birthday cake for the kids to decorate. At some point during the party, a server brought out a plain white frosted cake with several cups of different colored sprinkles and various tubes of icing
Chocolate Ganache Recipe
Chocolate Ganache just sounds good. Would you rather have chocolate icing or chocolate ganache? I’d go for the ganache.