furlinedteacup

holiday baking shortcut: gingerbread edition

I made gingerbread cookies yesterday, to take to a holiday party. The royal icing on top is such an amazing thing. It goes from marshmallowy consistency to shiny hard icing in such a short amount of time.

I made the icing from scratch, of course, but I cheated on the cookies. With my wrist repetitive stress injury, I didn't want to deal with molasses. (I have lingering memories of the arm strain from making lebkuchen as a child.) So I did what any other savvy consumer would do -- I bought the Williams-Sonoma mix at the mall last week.

The cookies are yum and no one will ever know my little secret.

'Hats Off!' in the Richmond District

WoW. Chapeau! has long been a neighborhood favorite of mine. Its intimate interior made the meals memorable, but also made it difficult to stop in for dinner. But that is about to change. The chef owner of Chapeau! is taking over Clementine, the neighborhood's other fancy French restaurant.  2008 is looking tasty already.