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Cook the Book: 'Recipes from an Italian Summer'

I adore fresh fettucine with asparagus, parmegiano reggiano, a little bit of prosciutto and balsamic vinegar. Amazing!

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Mother's Day Giveaway: Peanut Butter & Co. Chocolate Bonbons

Stuffed peppers...Mom's not a great cook, but she doesn't have to be and her stuffed peppers are just good comfort food.:-)

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Valentine's Day Giveaway: Peanut Butter & Co. Chocolate Hearts

Great dark chocolate with any sort of almond or hazelnut addition is so insanely good I could cry.

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Recent Comments

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Recipes from an Italian Summer'

I adore fresh fettucine with asparagus, parmegiano reggiano, a little bit of prosciutto and balsamic vinegar. Amazing!

From Serious Eats

Mother's Day Giveaway: Peanut Butter & Co. Chocolate Bonbons

Stuffed peppers...Mom's not a great cook, but she doesn't have to be and her stuffed peppers are just good comfort food.:-)

From Serious Eats

Valentine's Day Giveaway: Peanut Butter & Co. Chocolate Hearts

Great dark chocolate with any sort of almond or hazelnut addition is so insanely good I could cry.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: Unforgettable Desserts

Tres leches---sooo amazing, but it really has to be a special occasion to deal with the guilt that inevitably follows.

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Cook the Book: 'Nigella Christmas'

Chocolate-hazelnut filled linzer tarts (with a cut-out heart)

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Cook the Book: 'Nigella Christmas'

Madeleines--I know they might be considered pretty plain-looking, but when they come out of the mold perfectly and they're just the right color and displayed on a striking platter, they're gorgeous.

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Cook the Book: 'New Classic Family Dinners'

My mother is a bad cook. My mother actually borders on being a horrible cook, but her Sunday dinner of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and store-bought dinner rolls always felt warm and cozy and comforts me whenever I think of it (even if the meatloaf is greasy and tough and the potatoes are dry and bland).

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Cook the Book: 'The Craft of Baking'

Chocolate hazelnut gelato (from The Bent Spoon in Princeton...incredible ice cream) sandwiched between two amazing polenta shortbread cookies. It was creamy and crunchy, sweet and grainy, it was just a perfect combination and I'm drooling a little bit remembering it.

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Cook the Book: 'Dishing Up Vermont'

New Jersey--amazing tomatoes, gorgeous corn, great blueberries! And if I can divert a little into "prepared foods," we have The Bent Spoon, which makes the most mind-blowing gelato/ice cream/sorbet.

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Cook the Book: 'Bite-Size Desserts'

Biscotti is the perfect treat--you get it all! There's crunch, but there's also that meltingly wonderful texture after it's been dunked in coffee; there's usually a tinge of sweetness, but it's buried in a wonderful, hearty cookie base. To be REALLY specific, the perfect bite-sized treat is the chocolate-dipped almond biscotti at Stella Pastry in the Telegraph Hill area of San Francisco.

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Cook the Book: 'What We Eat When We Eat Alone'

A ridiculously large bowl (I mean the size of a toddler's tricycle) of roasted brussels sprouts with freshly ground pepper and sea salt.

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Cook the Book: '100 Best Vegetarian Recipes'

Spicy ragout of eggplant, summer squash, zucchini, tomatoes, and carrot over broiled polenta.

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Cook the Book: 'Mrs. Rowe's Little Book of Southern Pies'

Biggest triumph--my husband's 40th birthday cake. I had never made a "celebration" layer cake and stupidly chose a cake everyone hailed as unforgettable, but really unforgiving for the poor soul making it as the cake is delicate and NEVER turned out of pans without crumbling a bit. I researched EVERY possibility for turning out complete cakes, evaluated the methods, and the cakes were picture perfect and insanely delicious.

Biggest flop--Five minutes after putting a cheesecake in the oven, noticing that all the sugar that was supposed to go into the cake was still sitting in a measuring cup on the counter. Oops.

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Cook the Book: 'Rustic Fruit Desserts'

Strawberry rhubarb tart in a shortbread tart shell, topped with unsweetened whipped cream. Sigh.

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Cook the Book: ''Wichcraft'

A beautiful ciabatta spread with fresh sun-dried tomato hummus and then layered with roasted eggplant, portobello, red peppers, fresh basil, and oregano, topped with just a thin sliver of fresh mozzarella and placed under the broiler for a minute.

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Cook the Book: 'Urban Italian'

Rigatoni in a pumpkin cream sauce with mild sausage--heavenly!

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Cook the Book: 'Ten'

A French pastry shop about an hour away from my home makes the most incredible cheese pastry I have ever had...not sweet at all, substantial and flaky all at the same time.

Last year my husband was taking me to the pastry shop on the morning of my birthday to have one of these GLORIOUS pastries. I rarely indulge in this kind of treat, so I was hugely-bouncing-off-the-walls excited. About halfway there, some sort of cataclysmic event occurred in the car's engine and we were stranded on the side of the road near a small toll plaza. One of the toll takers wandered over to check things out and my husband mentioned that our situation was particularly sucky because it was my birthday, we were on our way to my favorite pastry shop, etc. The toll taker chuckled and said, "That sucks. You can take my bike if you want to."

Umm...okay.

I hopped on his bicycle in my skirt and sandals and rode 15 miles to the pastry shop on the hottest day in June. Given the unplanned workout, I felt totally justified in having one danish at the store and grabbing another to share with my husband when I finally made it back to the toll plaza...and it was totally worth it.

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Cook the Book: 'Kneadlessly Simple'

It has always been Irish soda bread; lately, focaccia is a close second...both are dangerously addictive.

From Serious Eats

Cook the Book: 'Kneadlessly Simple'

Irish soda bread has always been my favorite bread to bake--it's hugely fun to make and the result is one of the most delicious things in the world. In addition, it reminds me of baking with my grandfather when I was a child.

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Cook the Book: 'Almost Meatless'

Fresh pasta with balsamic vinegar, red chili flakes, parmesan, and asparagus

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Cook the Book: The Essence of Chocolate

A few years ago I was at a local, swanky place called The Ryland Inn (now closed) and I was served a molten chocolate tart. It was so rich that most of the dessert was wasted, you could really only eat a few bites before you felt completely full of and enveloped in chocolate...but those few bites were bliss.

From Serious Eats

Valentine's Day Giveaway: Macarons from Itzy Bitzy Patisserie

A hazelnut cookie filled with dark chocolate-irish cream tinged ganache would be amazing.

I would also be in support of a simple mocha cookie with caramel filling sprinkled with sea salt.

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