I’ve just found out that I received a Host Award (which I think is like an Honorable Mention) for the December DMBLGIT (aka Does My Blog Look Good In This) contest! The notable picture was the lemon curd which you can see above in the header; I’d submitted it sort of on a whim and am completely surprised to be counted among the winners! Many thanks to all the judges and to Dayna the host at food+photography. I competed with some very talented photographers and it’s quite an honor to have my pic picked among so many gorgeous entries.

In other news, I recently found out that someone from the Pittsburgh City Paper, a local newsweekly, did a brief article on local food blogs and mentioned cookworm. The article also introduced me to some other Pittsburgh bloggers that I’d not known previously. Thanks very much to writer Colleen van Tassell, who fortunately seems to find me amusing rather than simply freakish (good thing she doesn’t know me in real life).

But seriously, it really is encouraging to see that people are reading and enjoying things around here. I’ll do my best to keep up a steady stream of improvements. Thanks!

General | 6 Comments »

“Some people…some people like cupcakes exclusively,
While I myself say there is naught nor ought there be nothing so exalted on the face of God’s grey earth as that prince of foods…the Muffin!”

The Muffin Man
Frank Zappa

I have to agree with Frank that cupcakes just don’t do it for me. It’s mostly the frosting - especially the current trend of outrageously thick clumps of the stuff, in quantities sometimes surpassing the amount of cake. Now muffins, oh how I do enjoy a nice muffin for breakfast. Alright, so perhaps they’re not quite the “prince of foods”, but delightful in their own way all the same. I frequently make a batch on Sunday night, freeze them, and use them for my breakfast during the week. If I take one out of the freezer before my shower, it’s nicely thawed by the time I get to work.

Orange and nutmeg are one of my favorite flavor combinations, and I’ve spent an unsuccessful couple of months now trying to make a muffin with these flavors that isn’t laden with butter or cream (so I can feel virtuous in the mornings). I tried using applesauce, which made the muffins taste vaguely of baby food, then buttermilk and yogurt, which lent a distracting tanginess, and also whole wheat flour, which was too dense and didn’t fit well at all with the delicate spicing.

With luck, I finally stumbled upon the magic ingredient: ricotta cheese! I just knew when I saw the recipe for Lemon Ricotta Muffins from Rosa of Rosa’s Yummy Yums that my prince had come. I made a batch with some slight modifications and found them to be as deliciously fluffy and fragrant as promised. They are lovely as lighter sort of snack or breakfast, and during times such as when one notices that one’s pants are fitting a bit tighter since starting this whole blog thing. Ahem. Shall we move on to the recipe, then?

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Baking | 8 Comments »