Summer is just around the corner and I’m off to Connecticut for the long weekend. I have to work out, pack, and somehow Chris and I need to find a little time to run over to the UPS store this morning to pick up boxes for the move next Saturday (off to Cambridge we go). We’ll also be attending a surprise birthday party for Chris’s grandmother tonight. After some serious thought about what I should bring I decided to bake a Raspberry Swirl Cheesecake.

The bright red swirls were so pretty before I baked the cheesecake, but then I had to leave it in the oven for an extra 10 minutes (so the middle would set properly) and the top cracked. Grrr! It’s totally my own fault though. I should have followed Martha’s instruction to bake the cake in a warm water bath (but it was 10 PM and I was lazy/tired/overconfident). Honestly though, I added a pretty fresh berry garnish around the top and I highly doubt anyone will notice or care. Cheesecake is cheesecake; which means it’s awesome no matter how it looks. Enjoy!

Bash	Press
Mix	Puree
Pour	Drop
Swirl	Serve - Oh La La!

My love affair with del.icio.us and google reader continues…but since the only person I really share my food related “gems” with is my boyfriend Chris (who probably has met his lifelong quota of pink kitchen gadget links) I thought I might spare him a bit of culinary overload this week and instead share some of my daily lunch hour finds with all of you.

My birthday is June 3rd and I’d desperately like this set of French Bull Utensils to come back in stock. I’m a huge fan of bright and bold kitchen accessories and honestly you can never have too many pastel gizmos to stir, flip, and whisk with.

Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen has a tempting Donut Hole recipe that I’d love to try made entirely of dried fruits and nuts. The photograph that accompanys this recipe is gorgeous and if you squint a little you might be able to trick yourself into thinking these are butternut munchkins from Dunkin Donuts — except without all of that saturated fat.

The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton was revealed to me via a link on the Kitchen section of Apartment Therapy. I missed watching this when it premiered last weekend, but I’ve since queued it up on the DVR for future viewing. I love Masterpiece Theater, and as I’d never heard of Mrs. Beeton until this week I’m looking forward to seeing what the so-called original kitchen goddess was all about. I wonder if she snuck around by candle light for midnight snacks like Nigella Lawson…

One of my favorite food bloggers, Madeline, of “Everything Rachael Ray” was featured in her local paper. I got a little too excited about her posing with a Macbook Pro, only to realize later that it was a prop that the writer brought along for the photo op. Oops! At any rate, I’m sure she’s one step closer to getting a face to face with Miss Rachael Ray herself.

Who else is super excited about Food Network being available in HD? I’ve been waiting for this day since we bought our HDTV last summer. Comcast kept me in such suspense! And just for all of you people who reach my blog by searching for “Giada’s Breasts” I’d like to point out that yes, her lovely chest is available for viewing in all it’s glory. The only downside so far is that Sandra Lee in HD is positively frightening! OK…I totally just squealed out loud when a commercial for Nigella’s Feast came on. I love this! Hopefully Ellie Krieger will get the HD treatment soon as well.

My original intention for the ham steak I purchased on a whim from Trader Joes was to make the Barefoot Contessa’s Parker’s Split Pea Soup, but as it’s bordered on 80 plus degrees in our top floor apartment for the last 10 days (when I didn’t break down and turn on the central air) I made an executive decision to nix the pea soup and return back to it at a later date…like in a the Fall and maybe paired with a homemade apple pie.

In the meantime though I had a ham steak taking up space in the fridge. I consulted my mom and she suggested making a scalloped potato dish and incorporating the ham. Well heat or no heat, any casserole made with potatoes, cheese, and ham is a keeper in my book so I hurried home and started slicing and dicing. The recipe I opted to use involved making a basic white sauce, layering the potatoes, cheese, ham, and onions, and finally baking it in the oven. I would suggest upping the temperature of the oven to 400 degrees as my potatoes weren’t even close to being done after baking for 60 minutes at 350. Of course that may be because I chose to dice them as opposed to slicing. If only I had one of these gadgets I might have enjoyed the ooey, gooey, comforting goodness sooner.

Dice	Grate
Slice	Melt
Whisk	Simmer
Saute	Layer
Bake	Potato-licious

I’ve been a member of Cork’d since it opened last year, but I honestly really didn’t use it very much. However, since my attempts at keeping a paper wine journal have been woefully unsuccessful at best, I’m determined to utilize the Cork’d website to keep track of wines I’ve tried. As an extra bonus there is a ton of buzz surrounding Cork’d this week as it was acquired by Wine Library TV and the absolutely adorable Gary Vaynerchuk. I watched one of Gary’s wine podcasts today for the first time and I thought it was hilarious, approachable, and extremely instructive. I’m super excited to watch more and of course I’m always up for a great bottle of wine.

While searching online for a recipe to make one of my favorite Indian dishes, Aloo Gobi, I discovered that there is an adorable segment on the DVD extras of the movie “Bend it Like Beckham” where the director of the film (with help from her mother and auntie) demonstrates how to prepare this popular meal. Thankfully I didn’t have an audience watching me in the kitchen because I’m quite certain there would have been a lot to critique. In addition, I quickly learned that I didn’t have a large enough pan to prepare the amount of food that this recipe yields so take that into consideration when you cook this dish at your home. The stock pot that I ended up using made it very difficult to effectively stir the potato and cauliflower mixture. I suppose that’s all the more reason for me to finally break down and purchase the All-Clad 6 Quart Saute Pan that I’ve been eying for months. In the end though the Aloo Gobi came out quite well, although next time I attempt this dish I think I’ll try pre-cooking the potatoes as they do take quite a long time to cook and unfortunately the cauliflower ended up breaking down much more than I wanted it to. Also, in case you aren’t already aware fresh coriander is actually cilantro.

Shop	Heat the Oil
Saute Cumin Seeds & Onions	Chop Coriander Stalks
Stalks, Salt, & Turmeric	Stir in Chillies & Tomatoes
Add Garlic & Ginger	Add Cauliflower & Potatoes. Cover & Cook
Stir in Garam Masala & Chopped Coriander	Better Than Bending it Like Beckham?