This is the first post in a series of three – click to read Part II and Part III.
In my last post, I was extolling the virtues of making something simple from scratch. Now I am going to extol the virtues of making something rather complicated from scratch: Danish pastries using sourdough starter. Yes, we are doing this!
At the end of April, I wrote a list of stuff I wanted to make for this blog over the summer, and Danish pastries was on it. I had my first taste of making laminated dough when the Daring Bakers made croissants a while back, and I wanted to try it again. But I was kind of putting it off because it’s a lot of butter and a lot of work: all that rolling and folding and rolling and folding and resting and waiting. Then, during the Daring Bakers reveal last month, I came across Sourdough Surprises, which is another baking group that a few Daring Bakers members have created to bake together once a month using their sourdough starters. And their recipe for May was sourdough Danishes! Well, it seemed like fate. I was in….
May 19 is 
On weekends, I love a big breakfast of eggs benedict or something similar, but on weekdays, I try to go for something a little lighter. Enter: the smoothie. Mine usually includes frozen berries, orange, banana, plain yogurt, ground flax seeds, cinnamon, maple syrup or honey, water or almond milk, and (this is where it might get weird for you) kale leaves. This is results in a not-quite-green smoothie that tastes nothing like kale and everything like deliciousness, but still makes me feel like I’m eating a leafy green vegetable. Sometimes I’ll also add half an avocado (I know, weird again), which makes it super creamy and smooth….
I have a new blog crush… which is kind of an old blog crush, actually. I discovered 
Recently Nate had a birthday, so naturally, I made a birthday cake. Last year I made him a 
It is finally strawberry season here, and by that I mean that there are local strawberries in the stores. They are a bit more expensive than the ones trucked up from California (which seems so totally backwards!) but they taste amazing because they are so perfectly ripe and fresh.
A few months ago I was asked if I would write a review of Shelley Adams’ newest cookbook (her third so far), 
I know we’re still a few months away from tomato season, but I couldn’t resist. Which is odd because I don’t actually like raw tomatoes very much: I really want to, but there’s something about the texture and sometimes watery taste (I think?) that puts me off. However, roasting magically changes both of those things and turns them into super flavourful little tomato bombs….
The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at 
This is something I’ve been meaning to do for years. I’ve made pasta before, but it was using my Mum’s pasta roller, which means I was still living with my parents, which means it was a loooong time ago. Somehow rolling pasta out by hand just seemed too daunting. But then a while back I read Greg’s post about