TWHS Reviews Alice's Tea Cup Cookbook

A day without tea is like a day without sunshine...

Add to the fact that Easter is here, and you've got a recipe for a delightful experience. Even more when sister owners Lauren and Haley Fox of Alice’s Tea Cup in Manhattan have compiled the recipes from their tea room into a cookbook. Divine for those of us who don't have access to experience their three NYC locales.

When the gracious publishers of Alice's Tea Cup: Delectable Recipes for Scones, Cakes, Sandwiches, and More from New York's Most Whimsical Tea Spot sent me a copy for review, I dove into the pages of recipes from their full-service restaurant that includes confectionery delights. It is truly my cup of tea!

Speaking of tea, before this cookbook, I would have never thought of using loose tea as a spice for baking. So that gem of a baking tip alone makes the cookbook unique in my collection.

Between the sandwiches, soups (Green Goddess? Yes please!) salads and sweets, it's definitely a go-to source for planning a spring brunch or shower. Berry Bunch Mar-tea-ni, anyone? I decided to try the first recipe that entailed my love for all things ginger: Ginger-Molasses Cookies.

With ingredients that consisted of basic staples from the pantry, I whipped up the workable dough and scooped it into 2-inch cookies on the baking sheet with my ice cream scoop

A short 15 minutes later, I prepared my daily cup of tea as the first batch of cookies cooled for 15 minutes. Oh, how the aroma of ginger put me in a happy mode!



The first bite was, well, surprisingly bland. The taste of ginger was prominent, but there seemed to be a missing element that would have taken the cookie from good to OMG. I immediately scanned the ingredients to see if I had forgotten something. Nope; sugar, unsalted butter, baking soda, flour, DARK brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ground cloves, ginger, kosher salt, egg...

Not to mention my cookies did not develop the pretty flaws of cracks. Simply put, they looked a little underdressed. So the second batch I decided to dress up by sprinkling them with organic sugar. They came out glittered up, but still underwhelming in taste. My honey confirmed it after coming in after his Boy's Night Out by stating, "They're not bad; but not great".

Oh well; one recipe tried, many more to try. The Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies were hinted as the next one to bake, and I have my eye on the Queen of Hearts Linzer Card Cookies. Just like a writer writes what she knows, it's only fitting that I bake from the heart for the one who holds my heart.

TWHS Reviews Slow Cooker Revolution

Last week convinced me that I need to avoid fast food restaurants at all costs. On a day of power shopping, it was "convenient" to grab a value pack meal from the Colonel on the way home. Two cups of ginger tea later, I finally regained a calm stomach and realized I had better stick to what I do best.

Cooking so defines my lifestyle; it's a form of art that is subjective, yet creative. And seeing that I like my food like I like a brewed cup of tea - done with purpose with an end result that's worth the wait - you can't (and shouldn't) rush art.

Silly of me to think that cooking in a slow cooker was merely throwing a couple of ingredients together, walking away and returning hours later to a meal of perfection. When America's Test Kitchen sent me a copy of their Slow Cooker Revolution for review, it dawned on me that even the simplest form of one-dish meals should have as much prep thought as oven-top cuisine. As the subtitle One Kitchen. 30 Slow Cookers. 200 Amazing Recipes states, they took the science of slow cooking to a new level with this tried-and-true collection of recipes.

The first Aha moment for me was realizing how the prep is the means to the end. For example, five minutes of blooming aromatics in the microwave beats the heck out of having to sauté. Or the fact that putting cut vegetables in a foil packet keeps them out of the cooking liquid and helps from overcooking. And the fact that NO chicken should be cooked beyond six hours (no matter what the recipe calls for) to ensure its moistness (guilty as charged, as I have returned home to my share of dry chicken).

As I read through the recipes in the cookbook, it brought to mind a confession I recently made to a LinkedIn associate; my interest is slowly being diverted from fashion shows to cooking shows; HA! Speaking of shows, America's Test Kitchen is by far my favorite, because it doesn't glamourize the culinary experience. Instead, it gives you solutions to kitchen mishaps that happen to the best of us.

Now for the recipes-

They had me at the Peach Ginger Crisp! I have never seen such a diverse compilation of mouth-watering recipes. Once I finished drooling over the pictures of Italian Stuffed Bell Peppers, Cassoulet and Parmesan Risotto, I decide to go basic first by making the Honey-Mustard Drumsticks, a tag team slow cooker recipe that ends with a light charring/crisping in the oven. With my local supermarket's campaign not to raise the price of value-pack meats for the entire year, it was also a poshly frugal and so-very-necessary choice in these days of rising food costs.

The drumsticks, ready for the six-hour journey (the cookbook suggests you spray with vegetable oil to prevent from sticking; I used canola oil)

The pre-glazing of the Dijon mustard/honey mixture, right before it goes into the oven

The end result; tangy, moist chicken that was well worth the 6 1/2 hour wait!

When it's all said and done, Slow Cooker Revolution has quickly replaced my other slow cooker cookbook. Whether it is breakfast (French Toast Casserole?!!!), brunch, a main course or dessert, it has all this One Woman Army needs to stage a culinary coup against the Colonel.

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.