A Fashion And Feast Infusion (With a Pinch of Couture)

I was in full swing with customary holiday traditions as I made my grandmother's macaroni and cheese to keep her memory alive. But I have also adopted a unconventional way to add a taste of style into my couture kitchen, thanks to the generous folks at ASSOULINE Publishing, who shipped me a copy of the American Fashion Cookbook.

Published in a joint collaboration with the Council of Fashion Designers of America, this cookbook of recipes from over 100 American fashion designers is just as much of a visual feast as it is an addition to my cookbooks. Needeless to say, I have mine prominently displayed as kitchen objet d'art.

And you know it promises to be a good thing when the culinary queen herself (aka Martha Stewart) writes the foreword. I swear I have died and gone to food heaven as I read the savory recipes from the likes of Carolina Herreras, Diane von Furstenberg and Michael Kors. The recipes are displayed like multi-layered lookbooks (complete with illustrations): Saffron Penne, South Philly Cheese Steak, Big Boy Popovers and Couture Chocolate Cake. Hence the name of Fashion Cookbook. As in Cook. Eat. Repeat. Fashion diet, it is not. I think they should have included a couture bib to catch the drooling one will inevitably do...


So what recipe has captured me like a DVF wrap dress? Mark Ecko's Adults Only Chocolate Chip Cookies. Being a current lactose intolerant chocoholic, it is my duty to indulge in the guilt of melt-in-your-mouth pleasure (albeit a month-long hunt to snag a bag of dairy-free baking chips causing me to be fashionably late in making them). But since my birthday is January 2nd, I plan on making a second batch of the cookies instead of my traditional red velvet cupcakes. With Ecko seducing the CC recipe with the unexpected ingredients of caramel sauce and espresso, I expect my kitchen to become oh-so-haute.