Remember the other day, when I was grumbling about the onslaught of fall? Well, I’ve caved.

There’s just no ignoring the changing leaves, approaching Halloween costumes, and my favorite fall activity, pumpkin carving. Well, that, and eating toasted pumpkin seeds. Oh! And making pumpkin pie. I have been soothed by the idea of pumpkin, people.

Which leads me to this: one of my favorite pumpkin pie recipes. It’s super easy, and has a kick of pepper that I’m just mad for. I made my own pie crust, but you could of course use a pre-made version, for a quicker pie.

Related posts:

1. {VIDEO} Curried Butternut Squash Kabobs
2. {Video!} Sautéed Potatoes With Chives
3. “I’m in Denial” Potato Salad

Guys: fall is almost here. Which means summer is coming to a close, and I’m just not ready to accept such a thing. While everyone else is cooing over the pumpkin flavored beverages recently available, I’m digging my heels firmly in the sand, and refusing to acknowledge the temperature decline. No, no, no.

As such, I’m offering up a quintessential summer picnic dish as today’s recipe: potato salad. This is full blown denial, love bugs.

But, it’s also a very good recipe, and one that leaves out drippy mayonnaise. I offer it to you in the hopes that you’ll have at least one more summer picnic to bring it to in the coming weeks. Or at the very least, that someone other than me will be rebelling against the change of the season with a bowl of potato salad. Pumpkin, shmupkin.

Related posts:

1. {Video} Peppery Pumpkin Pie
2. Bright & Bridal
3. Portland, Maine: Part One

It’s recipe time! I’ve got a super simple idea for your next veggie side: curried butternut squash kabobs. Four ingredients, super simple, and absolutely yummy—I swear you’ll love it. And you can even skip the kabob threading part, and just eat the roasted butternut squash with a plain old fork and knife—after all, it’s the curry butter that makes this so special. That’s right. I said curry butter.

Related posts:

1. {Video!} Sautéed Potatoes With Chives
2. Anytime Green Frittata
3. {Video} Peppery Pumpkin Pie

I received possibly the sweetest email of all time this weekend.

Jackie, an 11 year old, is making a four-layer red velvet cake for her mother’s birthday, and reached out to see if I could provide her with a video for how to make cream cheese frosting, because “as you know,” she writes “cream cheese frosting it the ultimate topping for red velvet cake.” She goes on to request that it be a true frosting and not an icing: “I saw the video where you explained the difference between frosting and icing and I would like to know the recipe for frosting.”

How cute is that? I was not only honored to be asked, but impressed—11 years old and making a four-layer cake! With homemade frosting! Jackie, I tip my whisk to you in admiration.

Here is the video I sent along to her; although this is a recipe for reduced-fat cream cheese frosting, traditional cream cheese can be used in lieu of a low-fat version (as called for in the recipe), providing you with a perfect, yummy cream cheese frosting.

Happy Baking, Jackie!

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This week’s wish list is going to take an actual list form, as there is just too much goodness to fit in a pretty little box. The items and ideas that have me obsessed this week run the gamut from a Lime & Blackberry Italian Meringue Pie (I know, right?) to dream-level sparkly shoes. The common thread? They’re all utterly, utterly delicious.

1. Bon Appétit‘s Lime & Blackberry Italian Meringue Pie: Bon Appétit‘s August cover stopped me in my tracks. Literally. I was pushing my cart through Whole Foods when I spotted this frothy, gorgeous pie, and started something of a traffic jam. Forgive me, fellow Manhattan Beach Whole Foods patrons; I was transfixed.

The recipe can be found here. Please, I beg of you: go forth, bake, and then immediately send me a piece. Or better yet, I’ll come to you.

2. Ryan Gosling’s Wardrobe, Crazy, Stupid, Love: Yes, yes, I know: initially the world was atwitter about Ryan Gosling’s shirt coming off in this summer comedy, as rightly summed up by Emma Stone’s declaration: ‘Seriously? It’s like you’re photoshopped!’. But I swear: the costume design was so perfect, you’ll want his clothes to stay on, on, on. He is by far the best-dressed male character I’ve ever seen; costume designer Dayna Pink created MAJOR modern dreamboat looks, nailing every single scene. She chats about how she did it in this interview with GQ. Do you think we can start a petition to have her dress the men of the world? Like, all of them? Ah, well…a girl can dream.

3. Kate Moss’ Wedding Photos: Oh, my. This fairytale event was chock-full of playful touches, old world glamour, and a bit of rock ‘n’ roll, all teased into a beautifully photographed frenzy. I particularly love the couple’s recreation of the famed Mick and Bianca Jagger backseat wedding portrait. But no more than I love the sweet and wistful photo that follows it. See them all in Vogue‘s slideshow, here.

4. Christian Louboutin’s Croc-Sequined Platform Pumps: Yes, I realize that these cost more than a studio apartment in LA (or not, come to think of it), but aren’t they just gob-stoppingly gorgeous? In order to take possession of them, I really would have to be the woman who lived in her shoes. But what a pretty domicile it’d be.

Images via Bon Appétit, GQ, Vogue, and Bergdorf Goodman.

Related posts:

1. Wish List: Pretty Lucky
2. Bright & Bridal
3. Wish List: DIY Floral Necklace

As previously discussed here and here (and lots of other places, such is my love for this ingredient, but I’ll spare you a paragraph of back linking), I am a sucker for eggs morning, noon, and night.

And my current favorite iteration of not-for-breakfast eggs is the frittata. This is possibly because I am a lazy cook, and the frittata requires no stirring, scrambling, or flipping. Or perhaps it’s because it looks so gosh darn elegant, but is ridiculously simple to make (also pointing to the lazy chef syndrome).

You can also pack loads of veggies into a frittata, as I did the other day, for a quick and easy lunch for two. I grabbed the remaining odds and ends of that week’s vegetable bounty:

I sauteed them for a moment, and then in went the eggs:

It was finished off with less than a minute in the broiler, and then sprinkled with some most excellent goat cheese. Paired with leftover roasted rosemary potatoes, I had a simple, healthy, and pretty lunch prepared for my guest, in under 15 minutes.

And, really—what’s better than that?

Related posts:

1. {Video!} Sautéed Potatoes With Chives
2. Going Green
3. Pancakes & Eggs With a Twist

This week, I have visions of a steamy summer evening dancing in my head. No, not that kind. The heat I’m talking about is generated by spice on the tongue, a tiny taste kick. Like the kind found in Brian of The Blue Hour’s Dark & Stormy, and Kerry of French Revolution’s Ginger Jam Shrimp (both pictured above).

I stumbled upon their blogs recently and am in love, as I know you’ll be too. Visit Kerry’s for French fare galore, and Brian’s for haunting images of food, friends, and the world as he sees it. And, give a listen to his midsummer mix, which would most certainly be playing in the background of this perfect, spicy summer evening.

Images via The Blue Hour and French Revolution, respectively.

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I’m always on the lookout for easy, breezy summertime recipes. And what I find particularly alluring are guest-worthy summer desserts that smack of flavor and luxury, yet are simple to make. The very best kind of dessert (or anything), don’t you think?

Exactly like, for example, these wine soaked peaches I made the other day, as suggested by Alice Waters in a recent Glamour magazine interview. They couldn’t have been more simple: soak peeled, ripe peaches overnight in Moscato or Rosé (I went the Moscato route) and serve to happy, sun-warmed guests. Delicious.

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OK. So, I’m not typically a fan of fried foods (with the exception of my ultimate weakness, french fries) but I made the most fun recipe ever for Recipe.com recently, and had to share.

Did you know you can make your own doughnuts at home, super easy? Using buttermilk biscuits? It’s true, my friends. Watch on for a how-to on the most fun dessert to ever come out of your kitchen, guaranteed. (OK, maybe I can’t guarantee such a thing, but it’s up there on the list of super fun desserts, pinky swear.)

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I adore, adore, adore kale. Packed with vitamins and fiber, it’s a fabulous alternative to your standby green. It’s a bit tougher than spinach or lettuce, so if you’re new to the world-o-kale, consider starting with a simple sauté, like the one I walk you through below.

Once you get going, the kale options are endless—my current favorite  is to pan-fry kale with plenty of crunchy sea salt, and serve on a piece of wheat toast with a fried egg on top. Add a drizzle of truffle oil, and I swear—mouth explosions. Ah-mazing yumminess!

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