My husband and I are coming up on our third anniversary and the traditional gift is leather. I know "leather" is sometimes used to describe flavors or aromas in red wines, but I'm not as wine saavy as he is and don't know where to start. So, I'm looking for some suggestions for good red wines that have leathery profiles. Just to offer some direction, his favorite wine is the Cabernet Sauvignon from Heitz Cellars and I'm willing to spend $50-150. Thanks!

I made my husband and I two small fruit tarts for Easter and now have a lot of pastry cream leftover. Way too good to let it go to waste but also don't want to end up eating it by the spoonful by the light of the fridge at 2 am. Eclairs are an obvious choice, but any other ideas out there? Something decently portable so I can bring it to work and that doesn't involve too much effort would be ideal.

I haven't seen anything on SE recently about the fact that tomorrow (3/14) is Pi day! I haven't decided yet what to bake tonight... Key lime? Rhubarb? It's too late for an ice cream pie since I forgot to put the bowl in the freezer. Are other people baking tonight?

I'm trying to decide where to go for my birthday this year. My husband and I checked out Little Goat Bread this weekend and I got inspired to do Breakfast for Dinner. So, I'm looking for a place that serves a mean breakfast all day and where I can get a really solid milk shake to go with it. Has anyone tried Little Goat Diner or have other suggestions? I was thinking cereal at Glen's diner but I'm not sure if they do milkshakes.

Has anyone used the almond pastry filling that comes in cans in the baking aisle? I'm wondering if it's fluid or more stiff like almond paste? I have a batch of lebkuchen dough that isn't the Nuremburger style I was hoping for, so I'm thinking about baking it in a half sheet pan and turning it into dominosteine. I'm wondering if I can avoid buying expensive almond paste for it since at this point I'm just trying to use up a misfit batch of dough. I might just skip the almond paste layer all together and top it with an apricot jam layer and dunk it in chocolate...

My family is going to the country club for Thanksgiving this year, but I just can't let the day pass without doing some baking at home so I've offered to make breakfast. I'm planning on making Kouglof after falling in love with it at a bakery in Paris. Also planning a fruit salad and coffee/tea. What are some other good ideas to add to the table for a casual meal where people can pick what and how much they want to eat? My oven will be busy with the Kouglof, and with a big meal to come at 2:30 people will probably not want anything too heavy.

So last night I was washing yet another sink-full of dishes which is the bane of living in a tiny apartment with a half size sink and no dishwasher. I saved the metal vegetable steamer for last because I hate washing it. It seems like a lost cause to get all the veggie bits out of the fan of collapsible metal fins. As a kid my least favorite item to wash was the food mill my parents used to make spaetzle and the pan used to fry schnitzle. They always happened on the same night and my sister and I would fight like dogs over whose turn it was to do the washing.

So my question is, what's your least favorite kitchen item to wash?

I'm going to a baby shower this weekend and wanted to bring something savory that the mom-to-be can actually eat. Another guest is bringing a savory dish, but it includes deli meats. I am leaning towards a savory bread pudding since it will be easy to put together and won't take to much time away from finishing that baby quilt that needs to get done too. I've done a lot of searching, but haven't found a recipe yet that has intrigued me. Does anyone have any good recipes to recommend?
Thanks!

For my first attempt at making homemade croissants, I used the Tartine recipe. Everything looked like it was working like it should until I started baking them. When I opened the oven to rotate the pans, there was a pool of butter on the bottom of the baking sheets that was frying the bottom of the croissants. My questions is, how do I keep butter from melting out of the croissants when they hit the oven?

It has been suggested I didn't laminate my dough correctly, but I followed the directions exactly with a ruler in hand. Also, my oven temperature is unreliable. According to my oven thermometer it can vary unpredictably from -50 to +75 degrees around the desired temperature.

Thanks!

Does anyone have a tasty and reliable taralli recipe? I've been trying out various ones from the web, but they are hard to find and often I get dough that is too glutinous to work with easily. I even tried one that seemed too oily to me and ended up with the oil seeping out of the dough and forming a bubbling puddle all over the baking sheet. Any suggestions for recipes or essential techniques? Thanks!