Sometimes all I want to say to you is: MAKE THIS NOW. Sometimes there isn’t much more to say than: This is a good recipe, and you should make it if you like eating delicious food. This is one of those times. Blueberry biscuit shortcakes with whipped cream cheese don’t really need any more explanation, so: MAKE THESE NOW! read more+++

I am a Zoe Nathan superfan. She and her husband, Josh Loeb, own a bunch of really rad restaurants (Rustic Canyon Wine Bar, Huckleberry, Milo and Olive, Sweet Rose Creamery) in Santa Monica that I eat at whenever I am in town. Zoe also grew up with a bunch of my dearest friends (hi Tini!) and worked at Tartine with another dear friend who happens to own my favorite bakery in Chicago. It is a small world of wonderful people. I convinced Zoe to stop by L + D to share a recipe and answer the ole L+D food quiz—remember that thing? read more+++

Stop the World I Want to Get Off, is the name of a musical I have never seen. It is also how I feel. I’m having hard time being a person this week. Things keep exploding. And flooding. And being shameful. And being racist. And being anti-gay. And being irresponsible. And being ridiculous. And all anyone does is complain about it on Facebook.

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My best friend had a baby last week. Best friend doesn’t really do it justice. We are kin, and the most powerful kind of kin because we adopted each other—there were no obligations. She and her husband made the most beautiful baby that I have ever seen. Yes, I am biased but he really is perfect and I can already sense his extreme intelligence and creativity. He is currently experiencing his 7th day of life. Everything is new to him. Life is stretched out before him—The Future.

There are weeks (like this one) when the future seems completely terrifying to me. My initial response is always flight. I want to move to a forest (I can’t really explain this one). I want to move to another country (What is the name of that country that doesn’t have any problems?). I want to watch American Idol (the final three better be Kree, Amber, and Candice— otherwise I’m coming for you America). Then, I get angry and scream about fucking politicians or those idiots to Bryan who is overwhelmed by my intensity, but sympathetic. read more+++

I thought we’d start off the year the way we’d start off the day, with breakfast. In my case I am also breaking my blogging fast—blogfast? These Liège waffles have been written about before by other bloggers. If you’re anything like me, you skip them because you don’t happen to have any pearl sugar on your shelf—or you read the comments and are annoyed by the discussions of why every recipe is not the authentic recipe. Don’t be like me! Or yourself! These are so good that pearl sugar is worth seeking out, and annoying people are worth ignoring. In fact, a good 2013 resolution is to always seek out unusual ingredients, they’ll teach you something. Also, since the invention of the internet there are not a lot of good excuses for not being able to get your hands on something. It is a wonderful and terrible fact of our time. Pearl sugar is special because it won’t melt under the heat of the waffle iron, leaving little crunches of sugar throughout the waffle. This recipe is not worth making without it. No substitutions! Happy New Year!

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This is probably an odd pick of recipe from April Bloomfield’s beautiful cookbook, A Girl and Her Pig. The young British chef has made a name for herself cooking with animals and all forms of fat. Those recipes looked great, but I got stuck on this one for a fool (like a fool?). For anyone who doesn’t know what a fool is, (insert joke about you being a fool—somebody stop me!) it is a decidedly British treat of fruit and cream. It is about as simple and satisfying as a dessert gets and good for everyone to have in their bag of tricks. There are so many awesome flavor possibilities, but here we are at the start of the growing season and the first “fruit” out of the gate is rhubarb.

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First, some gratitude: Thanks to everyone who sent their good thoughts about Bryan’s grandma. The whole family was comforted by your kind words and warm wishes.

You also helped get me nominated for one of Saveur’s annual Best Food Blog Awards. For the second year in a row (amazing!) I am nominated for best cooking blog. I don’t normally go in for competitions like this—they just aren’t my thing. Everyone wants bloggers to enter competitions so that we send our readers to their website and they make money (sorry! I am getting old and cynical). Saveur very smartly subverts this (sort of) by getting the editors involved. The nominations are not just a popularity contest, the editors hand-selected the finalists. It is why I enjoy these awards and really value being nominated. I already feel like I won. All sorts of sites are finalists, both small and large. It is another instance of Saveur taking food, bloggers and writing more seriously than their peers. I love them for it. And yes, in the end we will encourage our readers to visit their site so they can make money—but at least they worked for it! I hope you will check out all of the blogs that have been nominated and vote for the ones you like best. read more+++

Whoa, 2011 was a pretty great year at Lottie + Doof! I just reviewed the recipes from this past year and impressed even myself. It may have been the best year for recipes yet, what with bagels, savory granola, and crostatas. On top of that, we had a couple of dinners, a cookie sale, a wedding and a honeymoon. It was all pretty terrific. What better way to celebrate than with what is one of the best recipes I discovered in 2011. It snuck in at the end, just in time for our celebrations.

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So many people have problems with raisins, I began to think that I didn’t like them. But that’s crazy, I love them.

My love was unexpectedly affirmed shortly before Halloween when Bryan and I stopped by Hoosier Mama (the best pie shop in the world) to buy a pie. They had a sour cream and apple pie that looked amazing and seemed like the obvious choice. But for some reason I told Bryan he could pick. He picked a funeral pie which I found out was an Amish raisin pie (Hoosier Mama’s version had a healthy dose of rum). I spent the rest of the day asking Bryan: What kind of weirdo picks a raisin pie?! Well, you can see where this is going. Pie in my face. The funeral pie was incredible and it got me thinking about raisins. read more+++

The challenge of summer, at least for us amateur pastry chefs, is that it is hard to beat a perfectly ripe piece of fruit. Why bother with anything else? I mean, have you eaten a peach?

This recipe is brilliant because it is so slight. Throw some raspberries into a gratin dish. Spread some sour cream on top. Sprinkle with brown sugar and broil for a couple of minutes until the sugar is melted. The resulting dish is one of the best things you’ll eat all summer. And it took you all of five minutes to make. read more+++

The elderflower cordial was a wonderful way of preserving some of my elderflower bounty, but what I really wanted to make were fritters. Yes, fritters. These dainty little blossoms can be deep fried into a delicious sweet treat that is as beautiful as it is delicious. read more+++