World Nutella Day - Nutella/Banana Pastry Purses

That's right, it's World Nutella Day.  This indulgent day was created by Sara Rosso, an American blogger living in Italy who writes Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle Fabio, another American blogger living in Italy who writes Bleeding Espresso.   These two women adore Nutella and wanted to create a day when we all indulge! In the spirit of that day, I've made some Nutella Purses which contain banana - one of the two great combinations in all of food history - banana and Nutella.  These are so easy to make and only take a few minutes.   You can certainly add some nuts to this if you like, which I would have done (walnuts, specifically) but I am the only soul in my household that likes nuts.  If you've never bought Nutella before,  you can find it next to the peanut butter in almost any grocery store.  It's a staple in Europe, even at breakfast.  Please visit The World Nutella Day site on February 9th to see the complete 2009 roundup of Nutella recipes from all around the world.

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The Launch of The Daily Colander

I wanted to announce something that I've been working on for some time now.   I am launching another blog called The Daily Colander.   I love information and I love it when a blog steers me to things I never would have found otherwise.   The Daily Colander is a blog about all things food related.   I will link you to interesting items all around the web, from great cooking videos to the latest in food news to great kitchen items and cookbooks.   I hope you enjoy it.   Come and visit! 

The Daily Colander

line drawing by Nathan McCardel

Daring Bakers: Tuiles/cornets from the French Laundry

This month's Daring Baker's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf.   They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.   Karen is in the Netherlands and Zorra is blogging from Spain.  

The challenge was to make either sweet or savory tuiles and I chose the savory.  The recipe used for the savory ones are from The French Laundry - this batter is what is used to make the cornets for their famous salmon tartare cornet appetizers.  These appetizers are like little ice cream cones.  They are just two or three bites.  I did not want to fill them with salmon tartare, however, because I knew my husband would not eat them so I filled them with a mixture of ricotta and parmesan cheese and then grated parmesan cheese on top.   You can fill them with anything your imagination comes up with!  

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