Each and every single one of us is such a special gift. So when it’s your special day, I believe that you should take some time to celebrate.

Today is my special day and I’m seizing the opportunity to have a lovely meal with my family followed by what I can only describe as a smörgåsbord of dessert.

Some years I know what kind of birthday dessert I want. Some years my mom makes it and some years I’ll order something special.

This year, I couldn’t decide so I went birthday dessert crazy.

There will be apple tart (pictured here), éclairs (chocolate and coffee), butter cookies, palmiers, a teeny weeny fruit tart and a pastry called a Mirabeau (it’s chocolatey and hazelnutty and crème chantillyesque). All from Rahier.

To those of you that have already made my birthday weekend such a treat, I thank you.

To my family (especially my mommy), I love you!

Happy Birthday to me and to all the other lovely people born on this fine day!

Ciao!

My goodness it has been a long time! It’s been far too long between Magazine Mondays posts and for that I apologize. What can I say? I’ve had a lot of busy Mondays since the last one!

I’m back, though, and not a moment too soon. While my efforts to curtail magazine purchases in 2011 were somewhat successful during the early part of the year, I have to be honest, I’ve returned to my gluttonous magazine ways. This means that I must redouble my efforts to get back on track!

Let’s start with one of the best issues of Food & Wine that I’ve seen in a very long time: the November 2011 issue.

I’ve made four or five different recipes from this one and they’ve all been tremendous. Today, though, I bring you the recipe for Old-Fashioned Apple Pie. Much like pancake recipes and chocolate chip cookie recipes, I truly believe that you can never have too many recipes for apple pie.

When people ask me what my favourite dessert is, I always answer … apple pie.

My mom is an apple pie master. Growing up, she would make it often in the fall and winter months and she would make it with a lard crust. Her filling hit the perfect note between tart and sweet. The apples were never too mushy or too crispy.

While this particular pie doesn’t replace my mother’s, I must say it’s a very good one.

To begin with, the all-butter crust is a winner. Like all pie crusts, you have to be careful not to overhandle this one or it will be tough. Still warm from the oven, though, the crust was flaky and the coarse sugar on top added a lovely caramelly crunch.

I was particularly impressed with the filling. The recipe directions call for a little trick that I also learned in one of my baking classes. What you do is you mix the apples and all the filling ingredients and then let it sit for awhile. Letting the apples sit let’s the sugar dissolve and helps any juices to thicken. I’m convinced that you end up with a better filling.

While I don’t have a photograph of the finished pie (it was long gone before I could photograph it), take my word, it was delicous.

As always, I’m joined by some folks who are also targetting their magazine piles:

Mary from Bonbons et Chocolat.com made Midnight Madness Meringue Cake from Chatelaine.

Foodfreak made Masala Prawns and Khachumber from Olive magazine.

Valerie of Sex, Food, and Rock & Roll made Smothered Yellolw Squash with Basil from the August 2004 issue of Gourmet.

Janet of the taste space made Skillet-Toasted Corn, Tomato and Anasazi Bean Salad from Whole Living magazine and Roasted Carrot and Lentil Soup with Hariss and Mint from Bon Appétit.

Lynn of I’ll Have What She’s Having made Ratatouille Pizza from Ricardo magazine.

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Tequila-Glazed Grilled Chicken Thighs from Cooking Light, Lemony-Maple Sweet Potatoes from the December 2010 issue of People magazine and Sausage Risotto from Bon Appétit.

Sue of Couscous & Consciousness made Pasta e Ceci from the March/April 2011 issue of Jamie Oliver.

Julia from Café Lula made Monkfish with Crunchy Aubergine and Salsa from the September 2010 issue of Delicious.

Recipe Sleuth from Eye for a Recipe made Thai Grilled-Beef Salad from the July 2011 issue of Cook’s Illustrated and Pork Souvlaki with Yogurt Sauce from the Summer 2011 issue of Food and Drink.

Elizabeth from The Law Student’s Cookbook made Olive “Pizza” from the June 2009 issue of Cooking Light.

Remember, Magazine Mondays is an informal event. Any time you post a recipe from a magazine just send me the link and I’ll include it in my next MM post.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

What a beautiful, beautiful day! It is sunny and warm and full of fall colours in my neck of the woods - defintely so much to be thankful for!

We are celebrating with a ridiculous amount of food (including the pumpkin swirl cheesecake you see here) but it’s all so delicious and fresh that who could possibly blame us for indulging so much today?!

To all my fellow Canadians, I wish you the happiest of Thanksgivings!

Ciao!

I am an autumn baby and the fall is my time.

I am not, however, completely immune to the allure of summer. It’s hard to not feel right with the world on a beautiful, warm summer evening when the sun is still out and the air is warm and sweet. It’s hard not to feel so alive right at that moment.

But the fall must come. And rightly so.

Still, though, I always feels like I owe it to summer to say goodbye, officially.

So this is what I am doing now. I am bidding summer adieu and saying thank you.

Thank you for the warmth. Thank you for the beautiful fruits and vegetables.

I’ll miss the fresh tomatoes and the warm breezes. I’ll miss open-toed shoes. A lot.

I’ll really miss the peaches.

And the blackberries.

Thank you, summer. See you next year.

Ciao!

The peach pie you see pictured above is from this lovely recipe.

The blackberry tart is from Karen DeMasco’s The Craft of Baking: Cakes, Cookies, and Other Sweets with Ideas for Inventing Your Own.