Well, hello there!

Dearest Readers,
Where has the time gone? First, let me blame technology.  My internet has been down for almost a month, which means I can only blog from work, which I really shouldn’t do (although I’m doing it now… don’t tell!).  I live in a 100-year-old building, and some hungry creature finally chewed through the wires.  Comcast has repaired the line and the electricians are busy rewiring it.  They say I’ll be up and running next week.

Second, I’m back in school for the final semester of my MBA program, after a long and leisurely seven-week break.  Free time will be scarce again until I graduate in May.  Wow — May?!  I can’t believe it’s only a few months away.  Meanwhile, I’m buried in case studies, term papers and midterms.

And just as school started back up, I decided to start a little remodel project on a house I own that’s about 100 miles away.  My long -distance project management skills have been put to the test, but it’s coming together nicely.  I have a crew of painters, handymen and general contractors who are all just total gems.

Let’s see, what else?  I’ve started teaching pastry classes once a month!  I would have written about them sooner but the first few classes sold out almost as soon as I posted the schedule and I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off  just trying to get things in order.  The first class on basic cake decorating was in early January, and the next class is tomorrow.  We’ll be making a chocolate ruffle cake for Valentine’s Day… one of my favorites.  My students are some of the most creative and fun women I’ve ever met and we’re having a blast together.   I’ll try to photograph some of the action in tomorrow’s class and post something next week.

And lastly, I’ve become obsessed with filming my own cooking demos.  I had been thinking for months about how to add more engaging media to my blog, and it seemed that there was an absence of good video content out there.  So I asked around and found a great videographer and we started filming all sorts of things.  (You can see the early stuff here.)  The only trouble is that it has taken me forever to get over my camera fright.  I’m so confident and outgoing, it never occurred to me that this would be difficult!  Giada and Rachael make it look easy, that’s for sure.  But I’m getting better. I finally took the plunge and bought some of my own equipment so I can film in my own apartment on my own time, which gives me more time to practice and play around with it.  But getting the equipment set up and learning to use it has been an all-consuming activity.

Here’s my very first self-directed, self-produced video, filmed last weekend.  Now if someone can help me fix the audio, that would be fantastic.

Anyway, that’s “all” I’ve been up to for the past few weeks.  I do have a delicious recipe for lemon bars to post, just as soon as the electricians are done working their magic.  So please don’t give up on me yet.

Alas, I think I skipped over some of the proportions in the video (hey, I’m new at this!) so here they are:

1/4 cup ginger, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup tahini (sesame paste)
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon hot chili oil [check the Asian foods section]
2 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
pinch cayenne pepper
1 lb spaghetti, cooked
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 yellow bell pepper, julienned
4 scallions, trimmed and thinly sliced
1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro
1 tbsp roughly chopped fresh mint

[See the video for step-by-step instructions!  It’s mostly done in a food processor… super easy.)