From the time that I first heard about Farm and Fable’s Cookbook Book Club, I was sold — what is better than hanging out with a group of friends and chatting about cookbooks? Oh right, eating the recipes from them! I finally was able to join one of the meet-ups this weekend and it was a ton of fun. This month the book was Huckleberry, the new cookbook from the famed Santa Monica bakery. While I love cooking, I’m actually not the most skilled baker (sticking to proportions and instructions can be tough for me, I always want to add more butter, oops!), so I ended up picking one of the more savory recipes from the book, a tomato goat cheese cobbler. It was really tasty, and so were the 10 other recipes that book club attendees made. My favorite? The chocolate banana bread bundt cake — holy yum. I loved getting to hear their experiences with the recipes and even got a few new tips and tricks to use next time! 
One of the things I love about Boston is the amazing food scene we have here — I get a little burst of pride opening up Bon Appetit magazine and seeing some of my favorite local spots getting more and more shout outs these days. One of the restauranteurs that is synonymous with the Boston foodie scene is Ming Tsai. I’m excited to be joining Ming at his launch party for Season 12 of his cooking show at Blue Dragon on October 21, and you could join me too! The fine folks at Breville are giving away 2 tickets to the event, as well as a signed copy of Ming Tsai’s cookbook. To enter just head over to Instagram and follow @breville and @domestikblog, and then find their post about the party and comment, tagging a friend you would bring. Good luck!
I am absolutely terrible at packing my lunch for work — I try to bring leftovers every once in a while, but I tend to prefer heading out for lunch to get something fresh. When a copy of Mason Jar Salads and More showed up in my mailbox though, I figured it was good motivation to make something tasty to bring along with me to work this week. The book has lots of good tips for layering salads and meal ingredients in mason jars to keep them fresh and crisp (dressing on the bottom, and pack down ingredients over it to keep other ingredients from getting soggy!). I took inspiration from the book’s caprese pasta recipe and made my own version: spinach tortellini with pesto, mozzarella, grape tomatoes, red onions, grilled corn, and more tortellini on top — the flavors melded together great!
A few weeks ago I was having brunch in the South End with a friend, and we made it a point to stop into the a new shop that I had been hearing about called Farm & Fable. It’s kind of like dying and going to vintage kitchen heaven. The store specializes in vintage cookbooks and serveware, and has an awesome collection of new heirloom kitchenwares — and it is some kind of miracle that I didn’t buy every single item in the shop on our visit. Oh also, they are starting a Cookbook Book Club where all of the attendees make a recipe from one cookbook and bring it for a potluck to chat about the recipes, how cute is that? I’m sad I can’t make the first meeting, but am definitely signing up in the future — that’s a book club I can get behind. If you’re in the neighborhood you must check it out!
Big update here people, it’s my birthday tomorrow! The nice thing about having your birthday right after Christmas, is you don’t feel guilty lusting over cute new products after the holiday rush — it’s totally allowed. So I’m sharing an updated ‘caught my eye’ list today with a few things I have on my radar. On the top of the list? Some new bedding — I have been scoping out Biscuit bedding for a possible bedroom refresh! And a cute water bottle to help me keep those new years resolutions… and the Mast Brothers chocolate cookbook for when I inevitably break them, right?
Tufted bench, Biscuit bedding sham, Anchor doormat, Chocolate cookbook, Heart water bottle, Gold dipped spoons, Belvoir cordials
One of the very last stops we made on our cross-country road trip honeymoon was a walk down Abbot Kinney Blvd in Venice Beach, and on that lovely little stroll ending our two-week adventure, we popped into LemonadeLA and tried their tasty drinks and cookies. So when I saw that the Lemonade Cookbook was being published this fall, I jumped at the chance to take a peek through it! I can tell the SoCal vibe of the recipes will be perfect come summertime, and in the meantime I tested a more seasonal recipe — their oatmeal raisin cookies — which went over quite well at a family get-together last weekend.
Cookbook gifted to me c/o Lemonade LA, all opinions are my own.
My boyfriend bought me the new Gwyenth Paltrow cookbook, “My Father’s Daughter” and I have been reading it over and over again drooling over the delicious pictures inside. I bookmarked a few of the recipes to try out this week — a salad dressing and stuffed artichokes — and over the course of my cooking experiment I learned that:
1. Artichokes are very photogenic. Dinner may have been a bit late because of an impromptu photo shoot.
2. Gwyenth Paltrow knows her way around a vinaigrette. I’m having dreams about her chive dressing.
3. Turns out, I don’t really love the taste of artichokes. But the French bread and tomato stuffing? Scrumptious.
It’s an all-carb day here at DomestiKatedLife… first bread, now sweet treats! I took my new Flour Bakery cookbook for a test run today and made milk chocolate hazelnut cookies for my New Years Eve party on Friday. The taste as good as they look, and they smell even better.
I definitely recommend picking up a copy of the book, it’s a little complicated but with some precision and patience, the results are very, very worth it. I have to try out the infamous sticky-bun recipe next!
