On Thursday October 7th, do not bother me.

Don’t call me. Don’t e-mail me. Don’t text me. Don’t tweet me. Don’t facebook me (is facebook a verb yet???). Don’t knock on my door.

Do. Not.

I will be engrossed in every way by the beginning of yet another hockey season.

Finalllllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

After my family, baking and Italy, there are few things that I love more than hockey.

My hockey team … the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I will pause for a moment while you laugh/joke/point/giggle/smirk.

Pausing. Pausing. Pausing. Pausing.

Okay. Where was I? Oh yes. Thursday October 7th is the first game of the 2010-11 NHL for the Toronto Maple Leafs. As is customary for the first game of the season, they play the Montreal Canadiens.

One of the things that I’ve learned surfing the never-ending sea of blogs is that there are a lot of hockey fans out there and rightly so … hockey rules.

So to honour the start of another season, I thought it would be fun to host a hockey event.

Don’t worry. This one doesn’t have a lot of rules. Basically, if you want to participate, all you have to do is send me a link to a post you’ve put up featuring something savoury or sweet that you would serve during a hockey game.

E-mail entries to creampuffsinvenice{@}gmail{dot}com. Include your name, blog name, name of your dish, blog url and post url. The deadline for entries is midnight EST on Friday October 8th. I will post a round-up on Saturday October 9th, just in time for the first Saturday broadcast of Hockey Night in Canada broadcoast of the season.

Remember. Make whatever you’d eat or serve to your hockey buddies during a game.

Impress me!

Go Leafs Go!

Ciao!

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

Well, it has been a looooooooooooooooooooong time since I’ve done a Daring Bakers’ challenge. I guess I can only claim the “I-didn’t-have-time-don’t-bother-me-i’m-a-founder” excuse so many times before it starts to get a bit old.

I got my act together enough this time around to complete the September 2010 DB challenge hosted by Mandy.

Decorated sugar cookies. Been there. Done that. And not very well, either.

Still, I couldn’t let Mandy down so I got to it.

Part of Mandy’s challenge was that we had to create cookies that represented what September means to us.

As far as I’m concerned, what September means to you depends on how old you are. If you are school age, then September means school. For everyone else, September means fall (unless you’re born in September and then it’s your birthday!).

I’m a fall baby so it’s all about chilly mornings, the harvest and fall colours for me.

I’ll be honest, I knew right off the bat that I wasn’t going to go in for anything very refined and precise because I just don’t have the steady hand for it. Instead, I went for a, shall we say, more “natural look”. I used sprinkles and food colouring to transform my sugar cookies (cut into leaf shapes) into a colourful display.

Then, remembering an idea for a cookie wreath that I saw in a book once, I made a sugar cookie round and used the royal icing to attach my decorated cookies to it. I added some ribbon to finish the wreath.

I love my cookie wreath so much that I’m bringing it to work to bring some autumn spirit to my office.

Thanks to Mandy for an inspiring challenge! Please take a moment to check out what all the other amazing Daring Bakers have created!

Ciao!

I have been thinking about endings lately. As I looked at the calendar and noted that today is the last full day of summer, I thought that the end of another season has come with a new one to begin.

Today was also another ending of sorts. My mom and I attended the funeral of a close relative, a sweet and dear man who was a tremendous father, grandfather and even great-grandfather.

All these endings got me thinking that just as one thing ends, another begins.

Some might be sad to see summer go today, but I’m not because that means that fall starts tomorrow. But just as quickly, you’ll see, it’ll be summer again. And so it goes. And so it goes.

For those of you that are summer lovers, you might pick up a copy of Sunny Days & Easy Living: Relaxed Food to Enoy Outdoors by Lindy Wildsmith.

This is a pretty little cookbook filled with recipes that take advantage of summer’s opportunity to enjoy the outdoors. The book also takes advantage of all the beautiful produce that we have access to in the summer.

It will also make good company during the long fall and winter ahead, especially all the beautiful photos.

Before I went on vacation, I took Ontario blueberries and peaches and made these little frangipane tarts based on a recipe for Blueberry Frangipane Tart from the book.

As we drove home from the funeral today, I thought about how it was a fitting day for the last day of summer. It was sunny and warm. And I thought about the funeral we attended and the family and how in the aftermath of saying goodbye to a loved one, they were warm and funny and accepting of the fact that they must go on.

Everyday there are endings of some sort. But also beginnings.

Ciao!

Blueberry and Peach Frangipane Tarts
Yields four 4-inch tarts.

Frangipane filling
1 batch of sweet pastry dough
2 cups blueberries, rinsed and dried
2 large peaches, peeled and chopped into small pieces
1 tsp. cinnamon
icing sugar (for dusting)

I used the frangipane recipe from the cookbook, however, you can try one of your own like this one.

For the pastry, I used this recipe.

Once the dough has chilled, roll it out to a thickness of about a 1/4-inch. Cut out circles to fit into four tart shells with removable bottoms. Any leftover scraps can be frozen for another use. Alternatively you can make one large 9-inch tart.

Once you placed the pastry in the tart shells, trim the pastry and prick it all over with a fork. Refrigerate for half an hour.

In a bowl, combine the blueberries, peaches and cinnamon and set aside while the dough is chilling.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Remove the tart pans from the refridgerator. Divide the blueberry filling among the four tarts. Top with the frangipane filling.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until the crust is golden and the frangipane is set. Let cool and dust with icing sugar if desired.

Enjoy!

I would like to thank Tia of Buttercream Barbie; Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor and Janie of Panini Girl for guest-hosting Magazine Mondays while I was away. Thank you, ladies!

While I was in Italy, I was fortunate enough to enjoy some really delicious and fresh ricotta. For my MM post, I give you this easy, elegant and delicious Lemon-Ricotta Tart from Martha Stewart.

The flavours are so clean and fresh, it’s a handy tart to have in your repertoire. Please give it a try!

As usual, I’m joined by a number of people who are taking control of those food magazine piles once and for all:

My buddy Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made a Brown Sugar & Chocolate Chip Pound Cake with Maple Espresso Glaze from the October 2007 issue of Bon Appétit.

Ranjani of Four Seasons of Food made Toasted farro, green bean, and shiitake salad with tofu from the September 2010 issue of Cooking Light.

Lynn of I’ll Have What She’s Having made Salmon with Coriander Rub and Lime Cream and Pear and Butternut Squash Soup from the October 2006 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Janice of Kitchen Heals Souls made a Tangy Courgette and Rice Bake from BBC Good Food.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Marinated Flank Steak from Southern Living.

Janie of Panini Girl made Summer Vegetable Casserole from the August 2010 issue of Food & Wine.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made Sunflower Oatmeal Bread from the September 2006 issue of Country Home.

Karen at Mignaride made Feta-Stuffed Peppers from Saveur.

Remember, all you have to do to take part in Magazine Mondays is send me an e-mail linking to a post you did on a recipe from a magazine article.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

I have been back from Italy for exactly nine days, not including today.

There are moments when it is unfathomable to me how easily we can slide from one life to another. A month ago yesterday I slid into Italy, landing in Pescara and then driving (yes, I drove a car in Italy) out of Abruzzi and into Le Marche. Sliding up, up, up into the hills outside Ascoli, Piceno.

And that night I slid into my bed in the house where my father and all my aunts and uncle were born. They were actually born in there. In that very house. And it looks like a completely different house now but it’s still that very same house.

And just like that, after three weeks, I slid right back into Toronto. I remember thinking, the afternoon after I returned, that today I am walking on University Avenue in Toronto on my way to Bloor Street and yesterday morning I was driving on the Autostrada Adriatica (A14) on my way back to the airport.

It is breathtaking and confounding and thrilling how easy it is to slide from one city to the other, from one country to the other, from one life to the other.

I have many stories to tell about my trip. Most of them I won’t tell because they are mine and they belong to me and I will gather them to me and hold them dear. Not all things are meant to be shared.

But some stories I will tell, just not today.

Today I want to tell you about a few words. Have you ever heard a word, a new word, and then suddenly you hear it all the time?

In Italy, for the first time, I heard the word ristoro, which means restoration. I heard it used during a running race that I watched one night in Castel di Lama. After the race, the runners could go to the restauro for much-needed liquids and food. (Note: Thanks to Chamki of La Mia Cucina in India who corrected my use of the word “ristoro”!!!)

I also heard the word sosta, which means stop, but can also be used to in the sense of stopping for a break.

And suddenly, for three weeks, I heard the words ristoro and sosta everywhere. I remarked how funny it was that at 36, and after having been to Italy many times, it was so strange to suddenly know these words for the first time.

One day, I thought to myself that these were good words to know because that is what my trip was for me.

Una sosta. Un restauro.

We all need to pause sometimes. My pause was a beautiful one. And now I’m back.

Ciao.

As many of you know, the August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking was a collaboration between The Daring Kitchen and Sugar High Fridays, created by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess.

While the Daring Bakers’ portion of the collaboration was revealed on August 27th, I’m pleased to announce that the round-up for the SHF portion of the colloboration is taking place today.

I’m giving Elissa a hand with the round-up so you’ll find part of the round-up here and part on Elissa’s blog.

On behalf of The Daring Kitchen, I’d like to thank everyone that participated! The theme for SHF #68 was Beurre Noisette or Browned Butter. Here are the entries:

Rachael of Dessert All The Time made Browned Butter Blueberry Boy Bait.

Lauren of Celiac Teen made Brown Butter Panna Cotta.

Melissa of Sweet Rolls That Rock made Browned Butter, Saffron and Succade Sweet Rolls.

Stephanie from Rocky Cape Tasmania (Australia) made Browned Butter White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies based on a recipe from Joy The Baker.

Jackie made Cupcakes with Browned Butter Frosting.

Sally of Sally in the Galley made Browned-Butter Cupcakes with Amaretti Icing.

Natalie of Seattle Lunch Box made Brown Butter M&M Brownies.

Kirsten of Beezer’s Bites made Browned Butter Almond Cake.

Mihaela of De prin lume adunate made Blueberry Muffins using Browned Butter.

Veena of Veg Junction made Mysore pak.

Jen of Team Rose made Baked Alaska with Browned Butter Pound Cake and Butter Pecan Ice Cream.

Thanks to all the participants! And don’t forget that you can see the rest of the entries on Elissa’s blog.

Ciao!