You know what the problem with this pie is?

My photos don’t do it justice.

If you like berry pie (though amazingly, there are those who don’t), this is the best gosh-darned dessert you’ll ever taste: à la mode, dans la bouche.

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Now THIS, friends, is what I call chocolate ice cream.

Spare me the wimpy, beige-tone “frozen desserts” that masquerade as chocolate.

Mass-market ice cream with an ingredient label like this: Milk, Cream, Sugar, Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Cocoa Processed with Alkali, Whey, Buttermilk, Mono & Diglycerides, Guar Gum, Flavors, Carob Bean Gum, Polysorbate 80, Carrageenan.

With cocoa the sixth ingredient down, it’s no wonder the ice cream is more milk than chocolate.

Hey, if you happen to like milk chocolate, then store-bought ice cream is probably right up your alley.

But me? I’m a dark chocoholic, and the only chocolate that passes my lips is dark as… well, as a vanilla bean, in a serendipitous pairing of complementary flavors.

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Ah, gelato, newest pop star of the fancy ice cream crowd.

So, what IS gelato, exactly?

Ice cream.

Italian ice cream, to be exact. But it’s a bit more complicated than that…

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Although summer doesn’t officially begin until June 21, I’ve always considered Memorial Day the real kickoff to the season.

Having put away the fleece (at last) and resurrected the outdoor furniture from its winter hideaway in the cellar, I’m ready to kick back on the deck, throw some burgers on the grill, and soak up some rays.

More than ready, after the challenging season we’ve just experienced here in northern New England. Record-breaking snowfall this winter was followed by a “spring” that offered very little in the way of sunshine, LOTS in the way of rain.

Read: dirt roads turned into mud baths, and spring flowers going from colorful to drooping and rusty brown within the space of a day or so.

So far, we’ve had 3 days of sunshine this month. We’re more than due for some good weather this Memorial Day weekend – are you listening, Mother Nature?

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When we went to Kansas in the summer of 2009 to meet some of the family farmers who grow wheat for us, I knew we had to go back with a camera crew. I wanted to get to know them better, find out why they do what they do and what keeps them at it. I wanted to hear their stories. And I wanted you to hear it all straight from them.

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Ah, most beloved of buns…

Soft and golden, butter-brushed, seed besprinkled…

Open thy crust to receive a fat, juicy, grill-charred BURGER.

And ketchup. And relish, onions, a slice of orange cheese, maybe a dab of mayo.

Hold the yellow mustard, though. I’ll take mine dark and honey-sweet.

Are you feeling the (burger) love? Getting ready to break out the Weber?

Hope so. Memorial Day is less than 2 weeks away, and you know what that means:

Grill Season!

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Pie truly is a beautiful thing.

Pie for breakfast? Absolutely. Lunch or dinner? Oh, yeah, it works.

And pie for dessert? Let me count the ways…

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What’s the most searched-for bread recipe online?

Hint: an example is pictured above.

With nearly 1.2 million searches every month for the recipe, this particular bread is obviously a favorite of foodies everywhere. Or maybe it’s simply the Holy Grail of bread recipes: much sought after, never found.

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Raindrops on roses? Whiskers on kittens? Well, perhaps bright copper kettles (especially if someone else was cleaning them) would qualify as one of my favorite things.

But when it comes to favorite recipes, one particular recipe has stood my personal test of time, and comes immediately to mind when a group of bakers gets together to play the “favorite” game.

My all-time favorite recipe? Almond Puff Loaf. (more…)

Confession time. Have you ever stood in your house in the middle of winter, an open plastic container in your hand, taking sniff after sniff of…

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