Sparkling Strawberry Mint Limeade

This Sparkling Strawberry Mint Limeade is a refreshing, family- and party- friendly drink to get you through hot summer days. Fresh ingredients and some bubble from the club soda make an ultra-cooling and delicious treat. Looking for something boozy instead? Add a shot of vodka or rum and you're set.

Blackberry Swirl Frozen Yogurt

I'm still obsessing over blackberries from our big u-pick trip a couple weeks ago. Blackberry ice cream is now my favorite ice cream flavor. And blackberry puree has been a great addition to my morning yogurt. So good, in fact, that I knew it would be delicious swirled into a frozen yogurt. My, oh my, is it ever! I used Greek yogurt in this recipe and I love the tangy richness. Other plain yogurt could be substituted.  In fact, other berries could be substituted, too. Raspberries or another cane berry would be easy to sub in.

Savory Zucchini Corn Pancakes

It's zucchini season!  The time of year where zucchini plants have grown into large, bushy monsters overflowing with zukes that go from 2 inches to 2 feet over night.  Where our farmers' market practically gives them away at $1 for a bag of 4.  This has resulted in zucchini-filled everything around my house: twists on the classic zucchini bread, zucchini scrambled eggs, grilled zucchini... and these (my favorite) -- savory zucchini corn pancakes. They are packed with veggies, held together by eggs and a little flour, and boosted by some toasted walnuts and tangy feta cheese.  We've been eating them for dinner as an entree, but they could be appetizers or even breakfast.

Almond Rochers

Tartine Bakery on the corner of Guerrero and 18th in San Francisco used to be my neighborhood bakery when I lived there a few years ago.  Tartine has so many delicious baked goods, lunch choices, goodies and strong espresso, plus an awesome location near Delores Park -- it's no wonder the line is usually out the door and around the corner.

While many tout the joys of the pressed sandwiches and (amazing) bread, bread pudding and chocolate mousse, I LOVE their tiny, underplayed Almond Rochers.  These little meringue cookies may be the least expensive choice on the menu, but they are so so good.  Meringue-y, yet crumbly, chewy and crunchy, a little marshmallow-y, nutty.  They are sweet, unassuming and absolutely delicious.  And they keep their integrity for a long time: up to two weeks!  Enjoy these with tea, with coffee, in the morning, afternoon or evening.  They can be crumbled on top of ice cream.  But, seriously, they are perfect all on their own.  Despite needing to have a few things organized, they are also simple to make.

Langes de boeuf (aka lovely French cookies)

When I'm at the library I like to pick up books on subjects I don't know anything about.  That's how I end up with  Writing Picture Books and Graffiti Planet.  More often the books I pick up are related to cooking or baking -- like this one: Puff, by Martha Holmberg.  It's a cookbook completely dedicated to puff pastry.  I didn't know anything about puff pastry before, and now I have several hours worth of puff knowledge (making and eating), as well as several dozen delicate and delectable cookies (as well as several dozen more unbaked cookies waiting in the freezer).

What is puff pastry?  Wikipedia starts by defining it as a light, flaky, unleavened pastry containing several layers of fat.  Fat, in this case, is the butter.  The rolling of butter into the dough creates a flakiness during baking as the water in the butter evaporates. 

The Most-Perfect Blackberry Ice Cream

This past weekend we drove over the Santa Cruz Mountains to the coast to go berry picking.  It was an ideal morning for it -- the fog hadn't entirely lifted so it was still cool, and it was early enough that there were only a few other people out in the brambles with us.  Picking berries is addictive: you pick a few pounds and talk about wrapping it up, but then there is the perfect berry, and the next perfect berry, and the next... and before you know it there are 10 pounds of blackberries piled into your baskets, another 2 in your stomach, and a nice purple hue on your fingers and tongue.

Grilled, Bacon-Wrapped Trout

I love grilling.  Or, more accurately, I love finding amazing-looking grill recipes and telling my sweetheart to grill them.  Summer is such a perfect time to get out and have your sweetheart grill everything you can think of -- veggies, meats, pineapple, peaches, fish, pizza...  or bacon-wrapped trout.  Bacon and trout go surprisingly well together.  Maybe not surprisingly: Bacon?  Delicious.  Trout?  Delicious.  Grilled together with some fresh herbs, this is a winner of a combo.