Aromatics and Sweet Stuff

This past Sunday was a busy day in the kitchen... baking, blanching, whisking, rolling, zesting and glazing to name a few. I had a specific task to complete - cooking a full meal for someone I don't know.

The day started with several aromatics, like carrots, to make Ina Garten's Chicken Stew with Biscuits.


And celery.


And parsley. Beautiful parsley.


A naked lemon.


Fully zested to make Ina Garten's Lemon Cake.


Poor lemons. They got reamed.


And fell down.


All to make this really good!


Next, I'm taking several Cannoli Cream Cake recipes and modifying for cannoli cream-filled cupcakes, laced with a few drops of marsala wine. Meanwhile, I'm still attempting to conjure up the courage to make Julia's Croissants. Not sure if it's really courage that I need, but rather time. A whole 12-hour block of uninterrupted time. Maybe while the rest of the house is sleeping?