LoveFeast Table

So, we thought of posting a nice post of a yummy cake we made or a delicious meal, we are a “foodie blog” after all!  But, we have three days left to Rock the Vote!  We are pulling out all the stops and going on the campaigning trail!  Will you join us?  Tell everyone you meet today to Rock the Vote at www.lovefeasttable.com!  In return (not that we can buy your vote or your affections), we promise next week we will heap on tons of good recipes, meal planning ideas and restaurant reviews!  Your need for food porn will be fulfilled!  Promise! But for today, ROCK THE VOTE!  (rules: you can only vote once a day. You can vote for us in these catagories, Best Foodie Blog and Best Overall Blog)

CLICK HERE TO VOTE — http://data.baltimoresun.com/mobbies/

So, as you can see, we’ve been a bit absent…sorry, folks!  We’d like to say we were traveling the world searching for the finest culinary creations, or sharing meals with celebrities…reality?  We were sucked into the “back to school year vortex!”  You would think we’d never sent 8 kids to school!  We lost track of time!

We apologize! (Not very Godfather like!)

As we reentered the blogging world, Elizabeth (fellow blog writer) filled us in on what we had missed!  We were nominated for the Mobbie award in the favorite foodie blog category at the Baltimore Sun!  What an honor!  (Honestly, we are shocked and a bit embarrassed we didn’t even know!)  Thank you Elizabeth!!  As Michael Corleone says, “Never hate your enemies. It affects your judgment.”  So, we send you our love, Elizabeth and say, “May they best man win!”

This is how the job will go down…click here.  Set up a quick account with the Sun paper (it’s easy).  Then vote!  You can vote for best foodie category and best overall category.  You can vote once a day until October 9 at 5 p.m.

Why should you vote for us?  We promise this year, at LoveFeast Table, we’ll be laying out some fun, new surprises!  We are actually kicking it up a knotch!  We promise to continue to entertain you with our daily antics!  Make you drool with our delectable dishes!  And disappoint you when our daily lives take over and we slack a bit on getting posts up!  We also plan on taking you on a few adventures!  Introducing you to the things that inspire us!  And inviting some of our friends to join us here, to share their stories!  It may all be a bit vague…we promise more details in the near future!  For now, you will have to take us at our word!

We are making you an offer you cannot refuse!

So, I just spent the morning reading about the adventures of Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, her blog and her twitters, and also, I must add:  that of her bloggy friends, like Smitten Kitchen.  And, let me tell you!  These people are going to spontaneously combust with creativity and energy!  I don’t think they’re normal!  And, I say this with MUCH admiration, as well as awe.  My reasoning?  They are waking up at the crack of dawn, 5 a.m. to cook!  And, they turn out more cooking and baking in a couple days than I could hope for in a month!  PLLLEase!  I have been twittering about pie baking for at least a couple days.  And yet, still no pie!  Come on people!!  Show us some slack!!  You are raising the bar way too high for us newbie bloggers!!  I mean we are still trying to figure out our technology let alone some of us, our kitchens!!  I was up until two o’clock in the morning trying to get pictures formatted and dealing with the blog eatting monster at WordPress!  Don’t you just need to put your swollen feet up and read a magazine? (To let us catch up.)

OK, whew!  Got that off my chest.  How’s a girl to blog with all that up in her head?  Anyhow, back to MY post.  It’s all about these sweet little lemon souffles!  Let me tell you the back story on these little lemons.  The first time I had this dessert was at Kristin’s, for our friend, Magy’s wedding shower.  Magy, was born and raised in Switzerland.  She can fold clothes tighter than anything you’ve ever seen.  Seriously.  It’s like magic.  Of course, there were many amazing treats to be had that afternoon…but, there was a fuss in the kitchen…excitement was building…something special was coming!

Suddenly, small china plates were presented here, there and everywhere, with stout little lemons puffed with souffle!  We all dug our silver teaspoons into the lemony warm bliss.  Wonderful!  I remember feeling very unladylike after that, wondering if one more, “Oh, my goodness, that was the best dessert I have ever had!!” would get me seconds.  With obnoxious hopefulness, I eyed around for leftovers.  No such luck!  For years they remained a memory of a very special dessert.  And, quite frankly, after hearing about how tedious the scooping out of all those lemons were, I pretty much had settled with the fact that I wouldn’t be having this dessert again, anytime soon.

After so long,  recently, I decided to make them for my family:  my husband, four kids, Grandma and Grandpa, and Nana.  I decided really, on a whim.  I wanted to make something special and unexpected, theatrical, and just…fun.  And, I had a bag of lemons.  And, it was the middle of winter in Minnesota (about a month ago).  And, I have a habit of wanting to pretend we are some place warmer in the winter, thus the tropical fruit desserts.

So, if you want to put down something that makes you look and feel like Martha…and it should, because it’s her recipe, from The Martha Stewart Cookbook.  Here’s the secret:  they’re easy!  All you really need is time (cleaning out the lemons takes some time) and tough strong hands (we’re dealing with acid here, people).  And, of course, an audience, to appreciate your amazingly beautiful dessert.  Each lemon affords about six scoops of souffle.  It’s all about the “presentation wow factor”, because scoop-scoop, and it’s gone.  They are light and sour.  They were too sour for my daughter.

Next time, I might concede to add a little more sugar, maybe two or more tablespoons, even.  Will that throw the souffle?  It’s my first souffle, so if you know, you’ll have to tell me!  Wouldn’t these be superb for Mother’s Day?  I highly recommend them, very lady like.  And, Nana liked them, too!

So, here’s the scoop:  in the next week or so, I will be producing a pie.  There, I said it…I’m “intending” it, even.  So, out into the universe go! you happy pie producing vibes and bring me back some energy!  I’m telling you, if I was cloned, I’d be getting a lot more done!

Like I said on Facebook and Twitter, I was dreaming of making this cake.  And, today was deadline day, I would either bake or break – - turns out I did both, but nothing that a little sculpting and frosting can’t fix!  I didn’t let a late night at the Cabooze stop me either.  I was at the Cabooze last night with my husband and friends to watch the bands Umbrella Bed the English Beat.  Who’s that, you might ask, as did the cute girls at Covered, who helped me with my outfit and informed me that Cabooze was “rock-n-roll, not pop”.  Hilare!!   I didn’t think I would go for “pop” but, no matter.  I love going into the city.  I loved the Cabooze — and the thirty-eight motorcycle bikes next door or the bridge to throw people off near by, did not deter this mom of four from the ‘burbs!  Like we said once in a post, “we don’t get out much“.  At any rate…great night, late night and now this cake!  You can’t beat that!!

The cake baking was inspired by blog Smitten Kitchen.  The cake recipe is from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes, by Alisa Huntsman & Peter Wynne and adapted by Smitten Kitchen.

What is a love log?  I came across it in the new cookbook, Baked New Frontiers In Baking.  What’s not to love about a love log?!  It’s raw cookie dough that you wrap in parchment and give to a friend.  I decided to take a love log to a luncheon we were serving for women in our neighborhood.

Once a month, a group of us, plan, prepare, serve and share a meal with women from all walks of life.  We originally started it to share hot meals with women who are victims of sex trafficking (we call them ladybugs) in our neighborhood.  We found that along with the ladybugs, there were single moms, immigrants and others who needed to have an afternoon of sharing life with other women.  It has been a time of encouraging one another and listening.  When the “real life” stuff melts away, even if for a moment, we are all just women.  We talk about our kids, our husbands, cleaning, laundry, dreams and desires.

This month a single momma, Carol, made an incredible minestrone soup and overstuffed meatball sandwiches (both of which I inhaled!).  I added my love log!  I made super sized cookies that melted in your mouth.

Make your own love log…use any recipe…cook up a love feast, or just take it to an elderly neighbor!  If you do, please come back and share with us your story!

My sister-n-law, (aka, the “Holiday Sangria Lady”) has long been an incredible baker.  She has awed our family with gooey rolls, known as monkey bread.  She is an expert in bars, cookies, and pies full of butterscotch, caramel, and chocolate.  For a long time she has collected all sorts of recipes.  It makes sense, then, after years of wow-ing friends and family she has recently begun the journey of launching a baking business in the Chicago area.  So, when I came across a cookbook called Baked: New Frontiers in Baking–I thought it would be the perfect gift for her.  She says it is one of the first cookbooks she has ever read, cover to cover.

However, I must confess.  It sat on my desk too long.  I should have wrapped it sooner, resisted temptation, closed my eyes, and NEVER should have felt the smooth fresh cover!  I couldn’t help it.  After all, I rationalized, I should give it a good once over, make sure it’s suitable, perhaps….test it.  I snuck a peek.  I didn’t even crack the spine.  I lifted ever gently and peeked onto the page.  Page number 53, actually, Red Hot Velvet Cake.  Somehow, the possiblity drew me in, that even I could make something wonderful.  And, after all, it was my husband’s birthday.  So, I began the afternoon, with guilty pleasure, baking a homemade red velvet cake.

My brother married a wonderful English lass!  She’s creative, beautiful and in touch with our slight obsession for all things food.  Every year, we exchange names amongst the siblings and their spouses.  This year my brother had my name.  But, as my (newly added) sister in law discovered, it is still the wife’s job to round out the gifts (and sign all the Christmas cards!).  So, I opened a beautiful scarf from Scotland that my brother had chosen all by himself.  He really nailed it!  It’s gorgeous!  The next two gifts were definitely wifey chosen!  Laura chose a pleated bib front shirt from Aubin and Wills.  This is the sister company to Jack Wills, the outfit that Laura designs for!  But, at the bottom of the pile of packages, there was a flatter present wrapped and patiently waiting to be opened.  As I slowly (okay, not so slowly) tore into the paper, Jamie Oliver’s premier mag issue was smiling back at me!  I have been slowly digesting each page and savoring every article and picture!  I have to admit, I’m only half way through.  I want this moment to last!  It is a beautiful magazine…grainy pics, colorful shots and witty articles.  There is one thing I know, without a doubt, Jamie Oliver would be our friend if he lived next door.  I think everything my husband Devon loves is featured in this launch issue.  There is a wonderful article about root veggies and a discussion on Scotch.  If you read on, Jamie features the Rocket man!  Have you ever had a fresh rocket salad?  Most people in the US don’t even know what rocket is!  It’s a staple in our home!  Then to wrap up this incredible delight (yes, I flipped to the back page) there is an article written by Jamie’s wife Jools.  As she discusses food cravings during pregnancy, I couldn’t help but think, she would also be a best friend on this side of the pond.  She shared about her need for anchovies and chewing on rubber.  After reading her bit, it is apparent who rounds out this culinary family!

Ahh…after opening all the wonderful “prezzies” from my British family, I tried to devise a way to steal a ride back in their suitcases.  I think I would be able to move there, love the clothes, get lost in the food and immediately have new best friends (or should I say, other side of the pond best friends…cause our Minnesooota bffs could never be replaced)!  This Christmas made me hunger for more British wonders!