The Candy Conundrum...

this vosges barcelona bunny (hickory smoked almonds + grey sea salt + deep milk chocolate) is my Easter candy of choice...

I've been feverishly working on pulling together the girlie's Easter Baskets (somehow Easter snuck up on me this year, it's early!), and I'm facing a candy dilemma.

We are candy fans. HUGE. So much so, that I have to severely limit what we buy so that the temptation just isn't there. If there's candy in the house, Bryan and the girlies (and if it's good chocolate, clump me in there too) can sniff it out...no matter how well it's hidden. That's just how they roll.

I fear if we go cold turkey I'll end up with kids that hide in the closet to eat Snickers bars, so my typical M.O. is to go quality over quantity. I try to make the occasional dessert from scratch or buy good gelato or ice cream to avoid the candy issue altogether. And when the occasion does call for candy (i.e. this Easter basket thing), I'll buy a few really good sweets (no peeps or waxy hollow bunnies in sight) and attempt to deflect attention from the lack of massive quantities of sugar with other goodies like books and bubbles and whatnot.

But deep down (and I know this is crazy given how strongly I feel about eating well and generally avoiding, well...crap) I feel a little bad. Like I'm somehow shortchanging the girlies if their baskets aren't overflowing with Cadbury Cream Eggs and Jelly Beans.

How do you guys handle the Easter basket. Are you all in or do you rein it in??

Eating Out With Kiddos -- Part II

So I've written about this topic before, but recently we've had a couple of experiences (one bad and one fantastic) that has firmly put me in the camp that believes you can have a great meal out with kiddos in tow.

First up our bad experience...a horrendous meal at a chain restaurant on our way down to Austin a couple of weeks ago. I won't tell you where we ate, as I dont' want to be a meanie girl (as Millie would say), but suffice to say it was very bad food...and it wasn't cheap. It had all the hallmarks of a "kid friendly" restaurant -- loads of crayons, a gimmicky menu, plentiful high chairs, but the food, oh the food was bad. Even the girlies knew it, which was actually the high point of the meal, the fact that we've gotten to the point with them that they know when they're eating crappy food. So that's the upside I suppose.

Now cut to our great experience. We took the girl's to Tillman's in Bishop Arts this past Friday night, which we'd only been to with other adult friends and on date night. This place is by no means "fancy", although I doubt many would categorize it as "kid friendly" either. But I was certain deep down that if we went early enough, the kids would love this place, and that it would be totally appropriate to bring them (they serve table-side s'mores for goodness sake...with homemade graham crackers and marshmallows, natch.)

We rolled in at the embarrassingly early 5:30 to find several other families with the same idea, and it was a huge success. The food (as always) was outstanding, the kids loved the fun, interesting, cool atmosphere, and they were totally accommodated. Tillman's has the loveliest kid's menu I've ever seen, filled with cool drawings and activities + the girl's meals were served on little wood grain print melamine plates and, of course, the s'mores were a rousing success.

The key, I've discovered, is embracing that embarrassingly early hour. I'm convinced (now) that we can take the girlies almost anywhere if we're willing to eat early (which truth be told, I'm always willing to do...) Now I'm busy working up a list of all the places we want to try with them. I'll report back here on all our successes.

Do you guys have any favorite "grown up" restaurants where you love taking your kiddos? Maybe we can pull together a little list of great spots across the U.S.

For Your Weekend Baking Needs

I made the best. cookies. ever. all thanks to this lady who had the genius idea to morph the famed Neiman Marcus cookie recipe with one from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc cookbook to essentially create, well...as I said, the best cookies ever.

The secret (I think) is the brown butter, which maybe the world's most tastiness-inducing (I know, I know) ingredient. Ever since I read Jeffrey Steingarten's article in Vogue about brown butter I've been drying to try it, and now I'm hooked.

the brown butter in all its glory...

So a couple of things about the recipe that threw me off a bit...When I poured my brown butter over my softened butter, it totally melted it. As a result, the butter wasn't creamy when I whipped it, rather it was just liquefied, which in turn made the batter was very soft and greasy. This worried me a bit as Shayna said it would be dry (so my guess is that she let her melted butter cool a bit) but never fear, it didn't effect the sheer amazingness of the cookies at all. Also the batter is dark (due to the brown butter, natch) so the cookies might look done before they're actually done. Don't take them out too soon (I cooked my in a convection oven for about 16 minutes...)

Ok that's all. Now to the important part, the recipe. Happy baking, and be sure you have someone around that will take some of these off your hands, otherwise you will eat every single one by yourself. I'm just sayin.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from the lovely Shayna)

Makes 2 dozen cookies

• 1 stick unsalted butter, divided
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder
• 1 cup of chocolate chips (I didn't have chocolate chips, so I busted a bittersweet chocolate bar into shards)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a baking mat or parchment paper.

Set aside one half (4 tablespoons) stick of butter and let soften. Cut the other half in chunks and melt over a medium flame, swirling often, until it's light brown in color and has a nutty aroma.

Pour the melted butter over the softened butter and beat on high for about 30 seconds until the butter has a creamy texture.

Beat in both sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until completely mixed.

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add this to the butter mixture and beat on low until just combined. Stir in the espresso powder, chocolate chips and walnuts and finish mixing by hand.

Drop the dough on to the cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Lightly press down to flatten. Bake about 16 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.

In Print Part II -- Kid's Cookbooks

images via edible

A while back I collaborated with my friend, photographer Richard Adams, on a piece about kid's cookbooks for the Dallas & Ft. Worth edition of Edible magazine. I am a huge fan of Edible, as it focuses on local, sustainable food and the art direction and photography is beautiful, so I was honored to be asked to contribute...

+ Audrey loved being in the photo shoot ;-)

You can click on the image above if you want to read the piece.

A Scallops Phase...

I'm a scallops fan. Huge. I don't eat them often and have (shamefully) never made them. But I had the occasion to eat them twice last week.

The first time was Thursday evening...a girls dinner at Urbano Cafe (I would highly recommend) with my friends Kristie and Christine. The scallops were seared and served over a little pool of lemon creme sauce and risotto. Incredible.

Then I had them again on Saturday at Smoke, this time served over white beans and brussel sprout chips. Equally incredible.

Now I'm officially addicted and itching to cook scallops at home...any tips?