Two Days of Dessert and More On the Way

Over the years I've posted photos of this or that dessert with the tag "Just for the heck of it." The idea being that this somehow got me off the hook for putting words together. Or that photos of tasty dessert can do their own talking.

Amy's Gingerbread Pear Upside Down Cake. I'm always amazed when this works, Amy uses an old school Magnalite frying pan we have laying around. Like a charm.


Penny's Pumpkin Spice Cake with Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting. The cake rode shotgun for our Thanksgiving Dinner dessert course.


We have one last cake engagement to squeeze in before it's back to work. A date with Pumpkin Cheesecake this afternoon.

Appletini

I've been sneaking an Appletini into the line up once a week or so, mostly to make the next Sazerac taste better. I work with the IBA specified ingredients, but skew heavier on the apple pucker - which tastes exactly like an Apple-flavored Jolly Rancher. Goes down pretty easy, which is more than I can say for our recent addition.

Each Year, The Ferry Building

Each year in the fall, work takes me across the bay to the Embarcadero Hyatt. Last year I grabbed lunch at Hog Island, this year I stocked up at Boccalone. If you're local and into that sort of thing, grab some Lardo Iberico De Bellota, the price to ship a chunk your way while keeping it cold is a real bluff caller.

India Tree's Dark Muscovado Sugar

The India Tree Gourmet line of dark sugars is yours for the grabbing at Berkeley Bowl. My favorite is the Dark Muscovado, jam packed with molasses. It's also a real ding in any perceived aura of locavorism - hauled in from Mauritius. The Bowl has carried this stuff for years, but I don't get over there much these days.

I've been using the sugar like a philistine, i.e. just like anyone would use any sugar. Particularly as the basis for simple syrup in Sazeracs.

Belated Feliz Dia de Los Muertos

We developed a soft spot for this holiday at some point. For me it happened around the time we moved to Oakland. Axel took his first unassisted steps at Oakland's Day of the Dead festival a few years ago. Most years we manage to snag some "Dead bread" at Arizmendi. Slightly orange-flavored, fennel seeds, those are chocolate chips that were his eyes.