I bake and make desserts all winter. It might be something to do with cocooning or comfort or simply loving desserts, but this winter especially I have been baking up a storm. To change it up a bit, I made a pillowy-soft cloud of star anise scented espresso custard and piled it on top of crisp Italian lady fingers. A spoonful alone transported me to Italy…….to a little cafe where I stood at the bar and spooned anise froth into my mouth from an espresso cappuccino.
So simple. So wonderful.
It starts with steeping anise seeds and star anise in milk. You add egg yolks and sugar to begin making the custard. Whip cream till stiff, fold it in, and there you have it.
It was luscious. Light. Frothy. And less expensive than a plane ticket to Milan, a car drive to Turin, and a memory to remember where that wonderful little cafe actually was.
How is it we crave food we've never even tasted? I've never been to Chicago and I've never eaten one of their hot dogs, but I knew I had to have one. 
Who doesn't love a good dip?! And since it's what I officially call "dip season", why not enjoy the heck out of it. Dip is what we all get together for anyway. Isn't it? Maybe I'm misinformed.
I love Fettuccine Alfredo, but during the summer months it's a little heavy. It doesn't mean I still don't crave it. 
It must be something in the air, I’m not sure what it is. Cupcakes.
Cupcakes instead of cake. First Heather Mangrum (confession– about to
be my step-daughter-in law, engaged to my stepson Alex) who wrote in
about her and Alex’s adorable (and sensible and charming) decision last
week to serve cupcakes at their wedding instead of cake. And the test
they ran to choose them, buying cupcakes from bakeries all over New
York City, adding a kind of individual flourish to an already elegant
and stylized yet slightly modest event. The best kind.
