It's the end of summer, and fruits are in season and to be found cheaply in supermarkets.

My first attempt at striped icebox cookies! I like the concept of having cookies ready for baking, straight from the freezer. And when I saw Dalfour's strawberry jam on sale, I just knew what I had to do! Make strawberry jam stripe cookies, of course.

I made these during the first few weeks of summer this year, but didn't find time to post them up. Half-moon cookies, based on a Martha Stewart recipe. They're meant to have a cake-like base with a yin-yang theme of chocolate and vanilla icing. Not only visually pleasing, they're nice to snack on too. 

For the full recipe and pics-in-progress, please read after the cut!

young zucchini, so lovely and crisp. the only way to do them justice was to toast them very simply! quartered, and then roasted with garlic.

After neglecting this blog for far too long, it's back to business! Starting off, this post of thank-you tiramisu cups, with custom stencilled names :)

did i mention my ambivalence towards showy, frosted-to-death, decorated and tall-filled-with-cream cakes? they're so often filled with the fluffy nonsense that is whipped cream that don't live up to the way they look.

no, the way i like my cakes is a little rustic, a little imperfect and yet oh-so-showy like the jane-next-door who stepped out in heels and knocked every boy in her neighborhood off his feet. i bring to you a slightly unconventional cake that while not exactly planned for the celebration of a birthday, was brought to life only because of a birthday.

oh let's cut the crap here. i just want to call it a birthday cake okay?

today, a brownie ate a blondie.

surely a most controversial and wrong-sounding sentence, and yet it happened. just not the way you think it did, you dirty fella.

the white version of a brownie, with no chocolate melted in the batter, nor cocoa sprinkled over for chocolate heaven. just butter, sugar, an egg and flour, filled with pantry staples.

it was pecans, dark and white chocolate today. mm-mmmm.

bake it up for 20-25 minutes, (always under- rather than over-bake), for a chocolate chip cookie with the texture of a brownie. kinda strange, and almost cloyingly sweet (oh who the heck am i kidding, it WAS cloyingly sweet. bring the milk.)

cool, and slice into tiny squares so you don't die of diabetes right now.

the simplest of cakes requires the least of explanations. the first cake we made, and now baked again at a different point. they mean so much, and yet with such different nuances.

the simple crumb of a pound cake, jazzed up with the tangiest of lemon syrups.

holes so full of air, so light with hope.